“And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof” (2 Kings 16:10).
TEXT — 2 Kings 16:10-18
Message
King David sought God’s help as he looked for a check on his tongue. He prayed in Psalm 141:3: “Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips”. What King Ahaz of Judah needed hundreds of years after David was a different type of request. He ought to have pleaded with the Lord to “set a watch” over his eyes. Unbridled eyes led him irretrievably into going against God concerning idolatry.
When Ahaz went to the ungodly king of Assyria, he “saw an altar” there, which he sent to the priest in Jerusalem to duplicate. Returning home, his eyes again lured him into straying from the ways of the Lord. The Bible says, “And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon”. The replicated altar the king saw drove him to idol worship.
Achan also fixed his eyes on the accursed thing that brought him and Israel sorrow. He could not keep his gaze from the “goodly Babylonish garment”, which he saw, coveted and took. A similar experience was the lot of King David when he did not look away from a Bathsheba stripped of her clothing.
The Lord gives us useful parts of the body to put to honourable use. As saints, we must subject these members to levels of caution and spotlessness. We must not permit our eyes direct gaze to images or personalities that defile the soul or cause enticement into breaking the laws of God. Like Job, we must make “a covenant with [our] eyes” so that our words and the meditation of our hearts will be acceptable to God and bring glory to His name. Our eyes must not be a tool for corruption and defilement.
Thought for the day
Self-discipline and self-restraint will prevent corruption and defilement.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
I am blessed
God help me to practice self discipline restraint 🙏🏿