What You Let In Front of You

I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me. (Psalm 101:3, WEB)

David sings, I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. There is something bracing about how deliberate this is. David is not waiting to see what drifts across his vision and then reacting; he is deciding in advance what he will and will not put in front of himself. The eyes are a gate, and he has taken responsibility for what he allows through it.

In our time this is a harder and more constant choice than it was for him, because the worthless thing is always one thumb movement away, waiting quietly in a pocket. David had to go looking for trouble. We have to keep declining it, over and over, in a device that was built to keep offering. The gate is never closed for long, and the pressure at it never really lets up. That makes his resolve more relevant to us, not less.

Most of what pulls us down did not ambush us. We set it before our own eyes, opened the app, followed the link, lingered where we knew better and told ourselves we were just looking. That is a hard thing to admit, and shame would rather we not admit it at all, would rather keep it vague so we can feel like victims of our circumstances. But it is also strangely hopeful, because a choice you are making is a choice you can begin to make differently. You have more say over the gate than shame lets you believe.

David's resolve was not white knuckled hatred of pleasure; it was a settled love for something better that made the worthless thing genuinely unappealing. Tonight, before you are tired and the hour is late and your judgment thins, decide what you will not set before your eyes. Say it plainly, and ask God to guard the gate with you when your own resolve runs low.