Proverbs 4:25

Eyes Front

Let thine eyes look right on, And let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Proverbs 4:25.

Did you ever wonder why it is that we have only one pair of eyes and that they are in the front of our head? Some insects have hundreds of eyes and they can see in all directions. Sometimes we wish that we had a pair in the back of our head so that, without turning round, we might be able to see what is going on behind us. I expect your teacher wishes that often.

But, on the whole, I think two pairs of eyes would be rather distracting and confusing. Some of us have hard enough work to manage one pair. Perhaps God had a purpose in giving us only one pair of eyes and in placing them in front. Perhaps it was because we are meant to look straight before us and not turn our head in any other direction.

Now that is just what our text tells us. It says, “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.” And that means that the best way to look is straight ahead. We are to fix our eyes on our goal and let nothing distract us from it.

The odd thing is that a great many people seem to forget this. They look in any other direction but just straight on, and so they get into dreadful difficulties and are terribly hindered. I want to tell you of two big mistakes people make in this way, and if you find you have been inclined to make them too, you can avoid them in future.

1. There are some people who will insist on looking over their shoulder. They are always thinking and talking about what is past and gone, and so they lose time, and heart, and energy, and I don't know what else, and they make themselves thoroughly unfit for the present.

Here is a boy who has worked hard for a prize at school and won it. So he pats himself on the back and says, “Well done, old chap! You can rest on your oars for a bit now.” And he immediately begins to laze. That boy is looking over his shoulder. He is contenting himself with what he has already accomplished. And I can see a strong family likeness between him and “little Jack Horner” who

put in his thumb

And pulled out a plum

And said, “What a good boy am I!”

Well now, if you're inclined to be that kind of boy, remember that it isn't the prize that's going to matter in the years to come, but the knowledge gained in winning it; and if you don't add more knowledge to that knowledge you'll never be anything but a “stick-in-the-mud.”

Here is another boy who says, “Well, it doesn't matter how hard I try, I never get away from the bottom of the class, so what's the use of trying at all? I'll just be in the same place without taking pains to do better.” Perhaps, but you won ' t he the same boy. In the one case you will be a hero, in the other you will be a coward. And besides, you, too, are making the mistake of looking over your shoulder. You sat at the bottom of the class yesterday, but what is to hinder your being two or three places higher up today? Forget about yesterday, and begin again as if it had never been.

What would you think of a racer who kept looking over his shoulder all the time? Do you think he would get along very fast? Well, we are just like that racer if we keep looking back at the past. We shall never get very far out of the bit.

2. But there is a mistake some other people make. Instead of looking straight before them they look all round them, and so they hesitate and falter and sometimes never reach their goal at all.

Some are always looking about them to see what other people are doing and how they are getting on, and so they lose ground. Others are always looking down side-paths instead of keeping to the main road, and so they very often lose their way. Others, again, are always gazing at something else except their own particular bit of work, and so their own particular bit which nobody else can do so well is neglected and left behind, and the world is so much the poorer.

Now if you want to do anything worth doing you will never accomplish it by thinking about something else. You must put your whole heart, and mind, and soul into it. There is an Indian proverb which says, “Do one thing; do it well; do it today,” and that is very good advice. One of Mr. Gladstone's friends said of him that he “could do in four hours what it took any other man sixteen to do”; and John Morley, who writes his life, tells us that when people asked him what was the great secret of his life, he always answered, “Concentration” ( Life of Gladstone, 1: 186). And concentration just means, “Doing one thing; doing it well; and doing it today.”

We have been thinking and speaking of everyday things this morning, but I want you to think of our text in a higher way also.

We are travelling along the road of life, you and I, and at the end of the way Jesus stands with outstretched hands ready to receive us. We can turn our backs on Him if we like. Some people have done that. But it is a mean and shabby thing to do. So I hope all of us here are trying, in however stumbling a way, to walk along the path that leads to Him.

Well, if we are doing that we must remember to let our eyes look right on and our eyelids straight before us. If we turn round to look at our past mistakes and failures we shall get discouraged. If we look longingly down by-paths of sin or folly we shall lose our way. We must keep looking to Him who is the Aim and End of our journey. It is the only safe and sure plan.