“He found him in a desert land,
And in the howling waste of the wilderness;
He encircled him, he cared for him,
He kept him as the apple of his eye.”
Deuteronomy 32:10
Someone asked last night about how God views another person in a group discussion. I immediately said, “She’s the apple of His eye!”
Have you run across this in scripture? That we, who are saved, are the apple of God’s eye? I’ve found it in a couple places, including these:
Psalm 17:8 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.
Zechariah 2:8 For thus said the Lord of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye:
I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty cool to me! I looked up the meaning. It basically means the center of the eye. Figuratively, it means someone, or something, cherished above others.
Does that seem to fit in these verses? I think so.
What’s even more interesting is that there is a keen sense of protectiveness on God’s part. Let’s look at some more of each of these three:
Duet. 32:10-14 He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, the Lord alone guided him, no foreign god was with him. He made him ride on the high places of the land, and he ate the produce of the field, and he suckled him with honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock. Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of Bashan and goats, with the very finest of the wheat – and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.
Psalm 17:8-9 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings, from the wicked who do me violence, my deadly enemies who surround me.
Zechariah 2:8-10 For thus said the Lord of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye: “Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord.
What’s our take-away on this? First, I think it will take a considerable bit of pondering to let the magnitude of this settle in. Try to comprehend the fact that YOU are that special to God. Because God had mercy on you, and Jesus died for your sin, God looks at you in a way that you can only begin to imagine. But, imagine we must if we desire to know God.
Here’s another take away. Don’t mess with God’s elect. Period. Let me remind us of something Jesus said:
Luke 17:1-2 And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.
Jesus said THAT! Now, believers are exempt from the wrath of God, but do you think for a minute that he will simply allow one believer to abuse another without intervening? You better believe he won’t! So, the next time you think it’s just fine and dandy to be all crabby with your spouse, think again! God is protecting her. Fiercely. Do you think he won’t correct you? Do you think he won’t use some of his own wisdom, if necessary? “Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.” (Proverbs 23:13) My advice? Know who you are dealing with and rejoice knowing that you are very, very special to God.
Father, thank you. Amen.
Copyright © 2019 Scott Powers
Photo by Uwe Jelting on Unsplash