The Eye Trap

Verse of the day: Judges 16:4, Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

With every step and decision Samson takes, he puts himself closer to suffering a consequence that will ultimately cost him his life. Repeatedly we see that Samson is driven by the lust of his eyes and his lustful desires toward women. In respect to meeting his first wife, Judges 14:1 tells us, “Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.” In Judges 16:1 we read, “Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her.” It is likely that Samson’s relationship with Delilah started the same way. It was the lust of the eyes that got Adam and Eve in trouble in Genesis 3:6, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” It is through the lust of the eyes that covetousness infects us. It is through the lust of the eyes that we open the door to be tempted to take that which is not our to take or to desire that which God has either prohibited, or does not have in store for us as part of His plan for our lives. It is through the lust of the eyes that we become ungrateful as God chooses to give us what He knows is best for us, but we allow our corrupt desires convince us that we know what is best for us to have. This can apply to either material things or relationships that we have no business being involved in. In Matthew 5:27-29, Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” When we fail to guard our eyes, and what we put before them, we open the door for the devils to tempt us. Satan tried to use this same tactic with Jesus when the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness in Matthew 4. This is the gateway that the devils use to get us hooked when we fail to guard our eyes from pornography on the internet. King David wrote this in Psalm 101:3, “I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me.” He knew personally the failure that follows when we choose not to guard our eyes. In 2 Samuel 11:2 it says, “Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold.” It was what he saw that led King David to commit both adultery and murder (2 Samuel 11). The solution to avoiding the lustful “eye trap” is to do as Job did in Job 31:1, “I have made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I look upon a young woman?” The best way to do that is to keep our eyes on Jesus. We must strive to do what Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” If we set our eyes and our affections on Jesus, we leave little room for us to set our affections on the things of this world (1 John 2:15-17).

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).