Wondering eyes and wondering minds

Psalm 119

³³ Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees;
then I will keep them to the end.

³⁶ Turn my heart toward your statutes
and not toward selfish gain.

³⁷ Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
preserve my life according to your word.

Since the creation on Adam and Eve, Satan constantly tries to break man's fellowship with God. He does this by presenting temptations that are always attractive. Such temptations distract us from God and create guilt in our heart that makes us want to break our fellowship with Him.

Temptations come in all forms - greed, lust, pride, power and so on. They also come during times of success, failure, stress and loneliness. It does not happen only to the "greatest" golfer of our times or to a notable man of God. We are all tempted, over and over again.

But praise be to God that our Lord was also made to go through all temptations and overcame each and every one of them, for our sake. For that, Paul was able to declare to us that "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."1 Cor 10:13

The psalmist puts it well in 119:33-40 that the way to avoid all temptation is to keep following God's decree, set our hearts on His statues and keep our eyes from worthless things. This is the only way to keep our eyes and hearts from wandering.

Let's set this as our daily prayer "Lord, turn our eyes from worthless things and preserve my life according to your words."

God bless.

Steven