"I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust upon a young woman." (Job 31:1)
If you rake you get leaves, if you dig you get diamonds. That's how Minnesota Pastor John Piper describes what we put into our reading & subsequently what we get out of it. It could be applied to many different things in life. We reap what we sow. Whatever effort we put into something, we will see that effort come back to us, whether positive or negative, little or much.
With 30 plus chapters of Job behind us, it's easy to get caught up in the banter and miss some of the underlying themes in the book. For instance, Job mentions how he has not neglected the poor, widows, or orphans. God is not punishing him for a lack of pursuing justice for those that need it. How many of us can say the same thing?
We also Job's friends giving godly wisdom to Job, it just doesn't apply to Job's situation most of the time. For instance in Job 22:21-25 Eliphaz says, 21"Stop quarreling with God! If you agree with him, you will have peace at last, and things will go well for you. 22Listen to his instructions, and store them in your heart. 23If you return to the Almighty and clean up your life, you will be restored. 24Give up your lust for money, and throw your precious gold into the river. 25Then the Almighty himself will be your treasure. He will be your precious silver!" He instructs Job to put away any idolatry in his heart. Rid himself of his wealth that has obviously taken God's place in his heart. He says, "Then the Almighty will be your treasure." What a great truth for us! We think that we need financial or material wealth to make us happen when really if we forsake those things, God will be our treasure and he is much better!
I think you get my point.
There is plenty more to Job than just the story of a suffering, godly man and his friends. Don't miss the good stuff in between. We can't get lost in the rhetoric. We have to have digging minds, not raking minds. We can easily get into the habit of feeling like we just read this same chapter 20 times, where the Bible just becomes black ink on white paper. If we do though, we miss all the things that God wants to say to us. Remember, God doesn't waste words. There is life in these verses and it's easily missed. "The Word of God is living and active" Hebrews 4:12 says. We must let it interact with our hearts. We must adjust our lives to it.
One such diamond is hidden away in Job 31:1. Job says that he has made a covenant with his eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman. One verse in the middle of speeches, arguments, & debate. Easily missed, but if caught, it can be life-altering!
The book, "Every Man's Battle" is called every man's battle because it is just that. Every man battles with his eyes. A man's eyes are the gateway to his soul. What we see can easily become internalized in our minds and hearts. Job here, gives us some practical instruction as well as some great spiritual insight. We need to guard our eyes against lust. Jesus said in Matthew 5 that if we just lust after a woman then we have committed adultery with her in our hearts. Our eyes are very powerful. Job doesn't just say that he hopes to be clean and pure this way. He doesn't say that he intends to be right. He says that he has made a covenant with his eyes.
Covenants in the OT are very important. They are not broken. It's a life or death kind of promise. Job has made a covenant with is eyes that he is just not going to do some things. He is just not going to defile his eyes, his marriage, and his fellow human being by making her an object of his lust. He is not going to do it for himself and the consequences of the sin in his life but also for the pain it would cause others. He is not going to commit this sin because of what it does to God. Job was indeed a righteous man and his life is worth emulating. I think Job realized his need for help and protecting his eyes. It's good to know that lust is an ancient sin and we are not the first to struggle.
What about us? Have we made a covenant with our eyes? Are we walking in purity? What would it take to make that happen for us?
My covenant with my eyes is multifaceted:
(1) I have a program on my computer named for this verse called Covenant Eyes. It monitors every site I go to and sends it to two people I am accountable to.
(2) My phone has safari disabled so that I can't access the internet or youtube unprotected. I have an app that has a filter on it that my wife can adjust the level on.
(3) Our TV has many channels blocked on it. MTV, VH1, Spike, E!, etc. These channels have a lot of questionable if not godless, sexually charged content and so we block them. We also have the rating on our TV set to block most TV-14 material.
(4) I meet regularly with an accountability partner who asks me about my covenant and keeps me focus on walking in purity.
(5) My spouse is a great encourager and accountability as well.
This is every man's battle and we must do everything we can to make a covenant with our eyes. We must protect ourselves and wear our armor into the battle.
How are we doing?
Where do we need to improve?
What boundaries can we set up?
Imagine this, Jesus lived every day of his life without sin, never lusting once after a woman. What an amazing Savior, Lord, & God.
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