
This is what I would call the iPhone 5 proverb. Now, before you think that I've become a sellout to the Apple Corportation, let me explain myself. This proverb has to do with the fact that since the fall of man there has been a condition called "sin" that radically affects man. One of the conditions from which we suffer is the "lust of the eyes." That is the specific thing this proverb addresses.
Let me start from the back side of this proverb first. We read that the eyes of man are not satisfied - in fact we see that they are NEVER satisfied. Now let me return to the iPhone 5. This was released within weeks of this post - and I believe was greeted with over 2 million people who wanted it as soon as it was released. The vast majority of these people had bought the iPhone 4S, which was an upgrade from the iPhone 4, which was an improvement over the iPhone 3. I hope you can see what is happening here. We are never satisfied with what our cell phones can do. We want something else - and all it takes for us to stand in line for the next upgrade is for Apple to dangle a few "exciting" changes before our eyes. When they do this, we are soon hooked - and just "have to have" this newest phone. Want to know why? It is because the eyes of our lusts are never satisfied. There will always be another "new and improved" that will command our attention - command our lusts - which will command us to lay down another several hundred dollars so that we have the latest. This is the case until the latest becomes outdated by the new latest, which is bound to come within a year of the last "latest" we had to have. Thus I have explained, I hope to your satisfaction (or possibly conviction) the iPhone 5 proverb. Next year, I'll have t rewrite this post to be the iPhone 6 proverb. By the way, the post will be new and improved, and will contain words that you will just have to read in order to be truly satisfied and fulfilled.
How strong is this desire of our eyes? That is where the opening part of our proverb comes into play. We read that Sheol and Abbadon are never satisfied. To the extent that these two are now satisfied - that is the extent to which we won't be either - at least in what we want to see. What are Sheol and Abaddon? They are two Hebrew names for the place of the dead - and the place of ultimate punishment. If we were to truly translate these two words they would be translated, "Death and Hell." One would think that after thousands of years of consuming mankind and all of nature that Death would be satisfied. (Note that these two - Sheol and Abaddon - are personalized. They are not just a state of being - they are almost humanized so that we feel we are dealing with an actual entity.) Death is not satisfied with the billions that he has. He consumes daily those who join his ranks. Wars, disease, violence, and old age swell the ranks of those in his grasp. He consumes kings and paupers and everyone in between. Yesterday he consumed thousands - and yet today his appetite for more is not satiated.
Abaddon is also placed before us. Many Hebrew scholars consider this to be the "second death" which is equivilent to hell. Whereas death consumes mankind in general - hell consumes the wicked of mankind with the same voracious appetite. No matter how evil man is in this generation - there will be more in the next. And just as the previous generation was consumed by the judgment and by hell itself - it seems that the next does not heed the warning, rushing headlong into the same eternal destruction. Does hell ever reach a point of being satisfied with his latest meal of the wicked and the ungodly? Contrary to the thought, hell wants even more men and women - never being satisfied with the last batch of fools who ignore God's call to their eternal damnation.
It is truly fascinating that God chooses to compare our unsanctified and uncontrolled eyes to both death and hell. So many wind up with a liberal harvest of death and hell because they never learn to submit what their eyes see to the will and Word of God. Lives are consumed, marriages destroyed, fortunes lost, and families disintegrated all because the eyes of men run wild.
So what is our response to such a terrifying proverb? It should be to come to God and to cry out for grace to redeem our eyes from their natural course and uncontrolled desires. We need to call out to God for His work of salvation - that we would be saved from the sins of our eyes. We need to also continuously call out to Him for His work of sanctification - that He would purify our eyes and keep us from having them be a starting point for all kinds of wicked thoughts and actions. Here is a promise of God for all of us. Jesus says to come to Him - all of us who are weary and heavy laden and He will give us rest for our souls. We do not have to be lead by our eyes into every sin - and every new iPhone - that comes our way, or is dangled before our eyes. We can take His yoke upon us and learn of Him - of a life satisfied with the only thing that will bring fullness to our souls. We were made for God - and anything but Him will never satisfy us. When we do this - we will no longer be driven by the deathly and hell-bent desire of our eyes, which only want something new to see and to lust after. We will learn, in participating in our Lord's life, that there is rest for our souls. Who knows - if we learn to look at Jesus, realizing that true fullness of life is found in Him - we might even find ourselves manifesting enough self-control and satisfaction to resist the iPhone 6.