In Job 31, Job defended his righteousness, telling how he had lived his life and the choices he\u2019d made to remain pure before God. When Job said that he made “a covenant with [his] eyes,” he meant he had determined to be pure toward members of the opposite sex. Job understood more than 2000 years ago what many people today still don’t understand. The only way to defeat sexual temptation is to refuse to take even a second look.<\/p>\n
Although men are the worst offenders, many women struggle too. In our sexually-charged culture, everyone is being bombarded by sexual images. It is almost impossible to shelter our eyes from them. They jump out at us on the TV screen, in the supermarket checkout line, on billboards, in the mail, and right in front of us as we walk down the street. The question for Job, and for us, is what do we do once we see a sexually appealing image? Jesus said, \u201cThe lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness\u201d (Luke 11:34). Job understood that even in his day it was impossible to go through life without seeing things, but he did have a choice about taking a second look and dwelling on it. Job wisely said, “I\u2019ve got a contract with my eyes. I immediately look away, and I don\u2019t look back again.” He was keeping his eye good.<\/p>\n
Years ago I saw an old movie about some shipwrecked men who were drifting aimlessly on the ocean without water.\u00a0 Under the scorching sun, they grew deliriously thirsty. One night, while the others were asleep, one of the men gulped down salty ocean water, which contains almost 7 times more salt than our kidneys can safely handle. The man quickly died. The more salt water someone drinks the thirstier they get, so they continue to drink, their thirst never abating, until they die. Lust is just like that. We thirst for something and try to satisfy it with what looks attractive. What we don\u2019t realize is that it will only create a more desperate thirst in us, drying up our lives and relationships until there’s nothing left.<\/p>\n
“LORD, keep us in the fresh living water of You and away from the deadly water of lust.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n Job 31 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0For what portion of God\u00a0is there\u00a0<\/em>from above? and\u00a0what\u00a0<\/em>inheritance of the Almighty from on high?\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0Is\u00a0<\/em>not destruction to the wicked? and a strange\u00a0punishment\u00a0<\/em>to the workers of iniquity?\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.\u00a0\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0Then\u00a0<\/em>let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out. 9<\/sup>\u00a0If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or\u00a0if\u00a0<\/em>I have laid wait at my neighbour\u2019s door;\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0Then\u00a0<\/em>let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0For this\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>an heinous crime; yea, it\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>an iniquity\u00a0to be punished by\u00a0<\/em>the judges.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0For it\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>a fire\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0If I have withheld the poor from\u00a0their\u00a0<\/em>desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0(For from my youth he was brought up with me, as\u00a0with\u00a0<\/em>a father, and I have guided her from my mother\u2019s womb;)\u00a0\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0If his loins have not blessed me, and\u00a0if\u00a0<\/em>he were\u00a0not\u00a0<\/em>warmed with the fleece of my sheep;\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0Then\u00a0<\/em>let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.\u00a0\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0For destruction\u00a0from\u00a0<\/em>God\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure. 24<\/sup>\u00a0If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold,\u00a0Thou art\u00a0<\/em>my confidence;\u00a025<\/sup>\u00a0If I rejoiced because my wealth\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>great, and because mine hand had gotten much;\u00a0\u00a026<\/sup>\u00a0If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking\u00a0in<\/em>brightness;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a027<\/sup>\u00a0And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:\u00a0\u00a028<\/sup>\u00a0This also\u00a0were\u00a0<\/em>an iniquity\u00a0to be punished by\u00a0<\/em>the judge: for I should have denied the God\u00a0that is\u00a0<\/em>above.\u00a029<\/sup>\u00a0If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:\u00a030<\/sup>\u00a0Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.\u00a0\u00a031<\/sup>\u00a0If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.\u00a032<\/sup>\u00a0The stranger did not lodge in the street:\u00a0but\u00a0<\/em>I opened my doors to the traveller.\u00a033<\/sup>\u00a0If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:\u00a034<\/sup>\u00a0Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>went not out of the door?\u00a035<\/sup>\u00a0Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire\u00a0is, that\u00a0<\/em>the Almighty would answer me, and\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>mine adversary had written a book.\u00a0\u00a036<\/sup>\u00a0Surely I would take it upon my shoulder,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>bind it\u00a0as\u00a0<\/em>a crown to me.\u00a037<\/sup>\u00a0I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.\u00a038<\/sup>\u00a0If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;\u00a0\u00a039<\/sup>\u00a0If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a040<\/sup>\u00a0Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In Job 31, Job defended his righteousness, telling how he had lived his life and the choices he\u2019d made to remain pure before God. When Job said that he made “a covenant with [his] eyes,” he meant he had determined to be pure toward members of the opposite sex. Job understood more than 2000 years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7656"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7656"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16471,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7656\/revisions\/16471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}