Article Index

Does it cause me to see things I ought not to see, and hear things I ought not to hear?

Who shall dwell on high in the safety of the LORD?

He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; (Isaiah 33:15)

God is no less concerned with those who willingly set violence and evil before their eyes and ears than He is with those who actually commit the acts.

I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? (Job 31:1)

Job identified a connection between the things he saw and lustful thoughts of his mind. It is true that certain things come into our view without our intention, but how much wickedness, lust, and evil do we set before ourselves needlessly? For example, it is unlikely that an hour of television programming of the most educational sort today will go by without setting before your eyes covetousness, fornication, idolatry, and violence through even the most innocuous of commercials. Think also of the profane language and music that accompanies it. Can you, before God, profess yourself to be more righteous, or more spiritually-minded than Job?

I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me? (Psalm 101:3)

David's covenant mirrored Job's. Where Job's speech focused on one aspect of the lust of the eye, David's encompassed all wickedness entering through the so-called eye-gate.