Job 31:1-16: a reflection

1“I made a covenant with my eyes; how then should I look lustfully at a young woman? 2For what is the portion from God above, and the heritage from the Almighty on high? 3Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity? 4Doesn’t he see my ways, and count all my steps? 5“If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit 6(let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity); 7if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands, 8then let me sow, and let another eat. Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out. 9“If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door, 10then let my wife grind for another, and let others sleep with her. 11For that would be a heinous crime. Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, 12for it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase. 13“If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me, 14what then will I do when God rises up? When he visits, what will I answer him? 15Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb? 16“If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

As Job defends his integrity, he speaks of guarding himself against sin at its very source. I made a covenant with my eyes, he says; how then could I look with lust? He did not merely resist sin once it had grown, but made a covenant with his eyes, guarding against temptation at its beginning, in the look, the glance, the first stirring. And he speaks too of his integrity in dealings, his refusal to despise the cause of his servants, his awareness that the same God made them, all rooted in the knowledge that God sees his every step.

Notice how Job guards against sin: at its source, by a covenant with his eyes. He knew that sin often begins in the look, the glance, the first entertaining of temptation; and so he made a covenant to guard even there, before the sin could grow. This is wiser than waiting to resist sin only once it has taken hold; it deals with temptation at its beginning. And underlying it is his awareness that God sees his ways and counts his steps; he lived as one watched by God.

That guarding of sin at its source is wisdom for us. Many sins begin small, in a look, a glance, a first entertaining of a tempting thought; and if we do not guard there, at the source, they grow beyond our resisting. Job's covenant with his eyes was a guarding at the beginning, before the sin took hold. Guard against sin at its source, then, as Job did, rather than waiting to resist it only once it has grown strong. Make your own covenants to guard the eyes, the thoughts, the first stirrings, dealing with temptation at its beginning. And live, as Job did, in the awareness that God sees your ways and counts your steps. It is easier to guard the source than to master the flood; guard against sin at its beginning, as Job guarded his eyes, living as one whose every step God sees.

Lord, as Job defended his integrity, he spoke of guarding against sin at its source: I made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I look with lust? He did not wait to resist sin once it had grown, but guarded against temptation at its beginning, living as one whose every step you see. Give me that wisdom of guarding sin at its source. Many sins begin small, in a look, a glance, a first entertaining of a tempting thought; and if I do not guard there, at the source, they grow beyond my resisting. Job's covenant with his eyes was a guarding at the beginning, before the sin took hold. Help me guard against sin at its source, as Job did, rather than waiting to resist it only once it has grown strong. Help me make my own covenants to guard the eyes, the thoughts, the first stirrings, dealing with temptation at its beginning. And help me live, as Job did, in the awareness that you see my ways and count my steps. It is easier to guard the source than to master the flood; help me guard against sin at its beginning, as Job guarded his eyes, living as one whose every step you see, Lord.