"....if my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has been led by (literally, 'walked after') my eyes...." (Job 31:7, NIV)
What really stood out to me today is that phrase, "....if my heart has been led by my eyes...." And it will be.
This happens more often than we would like to admit. Did you ever realize just how much of covetousness/lust has to do with the eyes, what we can literally see, e.g., fashions, cars, houses, church buildings, opposite gender, movies, "Face Time," vacation spots, etc., etc.? Earlier in chapter 31, Job says, "I made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I look upon a young woman." And, I can say with absolute certainty that for many women, young and older alike, Elvis' appeal was as much in what they saw as what they heard.
We can be sure from our text that one of the most dominating influences which turn people, "from the path," viz., the "Way," Who is Jesus Christ, is the eyes. Job lamented the very real possibility that what his eyes beheld was a great, if not the greatest, danger of leading us astray. I am not underplaying the power of words, but I could write a paper on the overwhelming power of, "my eyes." We need to renew Job's "covenant."
The great power for "heart-walk[]," is, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus." No, we do not "see" Jesus with our eyes, but people of "The Book" are those who are most equipped not to be, "turned from the path," because, "Blessed is he who reads (sees?) and those who hear the Words...." The two main "entrance points" of our lives, our eyes and ears, are protected from, "turned from the path," by the Wonderful, "God-Breathed," Words.
Daily, you and I are confronted with what our eyes see and what our ears hear. I have no doubt that if our eyes behold, "the Words of God," and if our ears hear, "the Words of God," no power from the Pit can make us "walk away."
Father, in Jesus' Name, It is just amazing that after all these years, You still speak to me "the first time." Amen.
What really stood out to me today is that phrase, "....if my heart has been led by my eyes...." And it will be.
This happens more often than we would like to admit. Did you ever realize just how much of covetousness/lust has to do with the eyes, what we can literally see, e.g., fashions, cars, houses, church buildings, opposite gender, movies, "Face Time," vacation spots, etc., etc.? Earlier in chapter 31, Job says, "I made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I look upon a young woman." And, I can say with absolute certainty that for many women, young and older alike, Elvis' appeal was as much in what they saw as what they heard.
We can be sure from our text that one of the most dominating influences which turn people, "from the path," viz., the "Way," Who is Jesus Christ, is the eyes. Job lamented the very real possibility that what his eyes beheld was a great, if not the greatest, danger of leading us astray. I am not underplaying the power of words, but I could write a paper on the overwhelming power of, "my eyes." We need to renew Job's "covenant."
The great power for "heart-walk[]," is, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus." No, we do not "see" Jesus with our eyes, but people of "The Book" are those who are most equipped not to be, "turned from the path," because, "Blessed is he who reads (sees?) and those who hear the Words...." The two main "entrance points" of our lives, our eyes and ears, are protected from, "turned from the path," by the Wonderful, "God-Breathed," Words.
Daily, you and I are confronted with what our eyes see and what our ears hear. I have no doubt that if our eyes behold, "the Words of God," and if our ears hear, "the Words of God," no power from the Pit can make us "walk away."
Father, in Jesus' Name, It is just amazing that after all these years, You still speak to me "the first time." Amen.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
