“If my heart has been led…”

       I was reading through the Gospel of John when an unusual cross-reference brought me to Job 31:7— “If my heart has been led by my eyes…then may others eat what I have sown.” Job wanted to live righteously. In order to treat people fairly and justly, he had to search deeper than the obvious, or what just appeared to his “sight”.

        This was the very problem the Jews had in Jesus’ day. In just two chapters, John records at least four times when, by “sight” so to speak, they thought they knew all about Jesus. In 6:35, their eyes saw the physical bread he had multiplied for them; in 6:42, they “knew” his father was Joseph; in 6:60, they were repulsed by the thought of eating his body and blood; in 7:41, they “knew” that no prophet could come out of Galilee. But Jesus was right there in front of them, showing them all kinds of signs. Why not believe him? Why not follow him? Sadly, as our verse says, their hearts were following their eyes. This all reminds me of the character in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress: “There was a man that could look no way but downwards, with a muck-rake in his hand. There stood also one over his head, with a celestial crown in his hand, and proffered to give him that crown for his muckrake.”

        I recently heard a preacher describe some of the defining moments in the life of Elisabeth Elliot:— a year’s worth of translation work stolen; getting a unique translator into one of the South American Indian languages, only to find him murdered; her husband losing all his translation notes in a flood; then losing her husband, Jim Elliot, to Auca spears after only 27 months of marriage; losing her second husband to painful cancer. None of these events showed the love of God to her; they seemed so pointless. What kept her going, through all these years? She never let her “heart be led by her eyes”. She had confidence in what she hoped for and assurance about what she did not see. (Heb.11:1) She trusted in God’s love for her and that kept her strong.

        And so it is for us. Prayers answered? Maybe. Maybe not. Is God good all the time? Yes, we know He is—it is one of His attributes! (But don’t force me to say it if my heart is broken with the loss of my house, or someone’s child!)

        Let’s go back to those examples from John’s Gospel. In 6:35, we see that Jesus is the true bread; if they ate of him they would live forever. In 6:42, Joseph was only the “step-father”, His true Father is God. In 6:60, there was no intention of “eating His body”, but trusting Jesus would give eternal nourishment and life. And finally, in 7:41, Jesus was from Galilee, but He was also from Bethlehem (as the prophecy required). They misunderstood Jesus on every count.

        To put our verse into simpler, harsher, less poetic language, it might read, “If my attitude is guided only by shallow first impressions and presumptions, I deserve to suffer for my stupidity.” Let’s strive for honesty in our dealings with others. Let’s go for justice and truth and mercy. These are things the Lord Himself never got much of while He was here on earth. Let’s be like Job, and work at understanding people, and especially understanding the Lord. Otherwise, “What will I do when God confronts me? What will I answer when called to account?” (Job 31:14)