Week 29: July 14 - July 20, 2003

Key Passage: Genesis 13: 10-11

And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other.

“And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw ….” Of all the five human senses (sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing), the sense of sight is the most prominent. That is obvious, because, the eye is the human sensory organ with the farthest reach, the quickest action, the clearest impression and the greatest memory. However, the eye has a great weakness in that there is only very little it can see at a time. Satan, knowing this great power and great weakness of the human eyes, uses them to deceive and manipulate mankind into doing the wrong things in life.

Lot was enticed by what he saw of Sodom – a land of beauty and plenty. He quickly jumped into it and settled, without regards to his God-given vision of the Promised Land, the evil and decadent life style of Sodom and the impending judgment over the land.

The power of worldly enticement has been one of Satan’s greatest instruments of temptation against mankind. The Scripture speaks of “the lust of the eyes” (1 John 2:16), which is an unwholesome and sinful desire provoked by what a person sees. Satan uses it to allure people into sin, immorality, perversion, abuse, falsehood and other unwholesome conducts.

Satan has been using this same device of outward attraction in destroying the testimonies and lives of many of God’s people. Eve “… saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes” (Gen. 3:6). She immediately lost sight of the commandment of God and ate from the forbidden tree to her own destruction. Achan “… saw among the spoils a Babylonian garment” (Josh 7:21). He coveted and stole, and entered a curse that left him dead under a heap of stones. King David wandered lazily on his rooftop and “… saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon” (2 Sam 11:2). He lusted and fell into adultery, deception and murder that almost destroyed him.

God expects you as His child to watch over your heart (Pro 4:23) and shut your eyes from unclean, immoral and vain things (Hab 1:13, Is 33:15). Like Job, you should make a covenant with your eyes never to look lustily (Job31:1). Pray like the Palmist, “Turn away my eyes from looking at worldly things, and revive me in your way” (Ps 119:37). If you do these faithfully and persistently, you shall not fall.

 

Written by – Evangelist Oguazi Onyemobi