Posted on 04/23/2022 12:32:45 AM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats” (Proverbs 23:5-6).
There are people that want things, there life is all about what they can acquire. They want food, they want money, and those things are not the priority of life—at least should not be for the child of God. Money flies away. They say that money buys happiness, well, money flies away, too. Again, he says, “Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?” That is, things that are not certain, even as Paul says in First Timothy 6: “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy” (I Timothy 6:17).
Don’t trust in riches—they are nothing but uncertain. A man could spend the rest of his life working and scraping, digging, bleeding, and sweating to get a bank load of money. That bank could fail, and you would be lined up with everyone else like in the days of the depression.
“Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness” (Isaiah 55:2).
A man that is rich in the Lord Jesus Christ—who can steal that? There has never been a bank robbery in heaven.
“Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?” That is the biggest source of trouble that the Bible talks about—our eyes will get us into trouble. In Genesis 3, the woman looked on the tree. In Joshua 7, Achan looked at the Babylonish garment. In Second Samuel 11, David looked upon Bathsheba.
Riches are certain to fail you, and riches are uncertain. “. . . they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.”
“Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye,” this is a type of the Antichrist: “Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened” (Zechariah 11:17).
Have you ever seen a man with an evil eye? He has that wild 40-mile stare. You need to be careful with a fellow like that. It seems like there are some people that you can look at and you just know that they are crawling with demons. Best to put some distance between yourself and that guy.
In the verse from Zechariah, the Antichrist has lost his right eye so his left eye is the evil eye.
“. . . neither desire thou his dainty meats,” the heart devises evil, that is where he gets his evil eye. How can you tell that a man is all fouled up on the inside? Jesus gave us the answer: “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23).
The single eye is interested in one thing, the right things. If the eye be single, it is interested in pleasing God, and setting its sight on heavenly things. It’s single, one thing, living for the Lord. “But if thine eye be evil,” there is the evil eye, “thy whole body shall be full of darkness,” they eye reflects the darkness that is in the heart and that wickedness controls the thoughts and actions of the man. So, out of the man comes perverse sayings and a forward look.
“. . . neither desire thou his dainty meats,” Paul expounds on this thought on watching who we eat with: “But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat” (I Corinthians 5:11).
Jesus said that the first thing that comes out of an evil heart are evil thoughts: “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19). After evil thoughts follow the sins listed. It all begins from the heart.
If anyone would like to be added to the ping list, please let me know either by post or by p.m.
For more books on all topics of the Bible, visit my web site at:
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.