The Apple of Your Eye

Posted on Sep 1, 2020 in Uncategorized |

Psalm 17 
 

Prayer for Deliverance from Persecutors

A Prayer of David.
 

1 Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry;

    give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit.

2 From you let my vindication come;

    let your eyes see the right.

 

3 If you try my heart, if you visit me by night,

    if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me;

    my mouth does not transgress.

4 As for what others do, by the word of your lips

    I have avoided the ways of the violent.

5 My steps have held fast to your paths;

    my feet have not slipped.

 

6 I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;

    incline your ear to me, hear my words.

7 Wondrously show your steadfast love,

    O savior of those who seek refuge

    from their adversaries at your right hand.

 

8 Guard me as the apple of the eye;

    hide me in the shadow of your wings,

9 from the wicked who despoil me,

    my deadly enemies who surround me.

10 They close their hearts to pity;

    with their mouths they speak arrogantly.

11 They track me down; now they surround me;

    they set their eyes to cast me to the ground.

12 They are like a lion eager to tear,

    like a young lion lurking in ambush.

 

13 Rise up, O Lord, confront them, overthrow them!

    By your sword deliver my life from the wicked,

14 from mortals—by your hand, O Lord—

    from mortals whose portion in life is in this world.

May their bellies be filled with what you have stored up for them;

    may their children have more than enough;

    may they leave something over to their little ones.

 

15 As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness;

    when I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness.
 
 
The apple of your eye (verse 8). What does that phrase mean to you?
 
I did some research on this. Wikipedia states, “The phrase apple of my eye refers in English today to something or someone that one cherishes above all others. Originally, the phrase was simply an idiom referring to the pupil of the eye.”
 
It shows up elsewhere in the Bible, but the word “apple” isn’t used. This was a translation first used in the King James Version back in 1611. From Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers:
 

“’Apple of the eye’ translated literally is ‘little man, daughter of the eye.’ The mannikin is, of course, the reflection seen in the pupil. Daughter is either a contraction of a word meaning cavity, or is the common Hebrew idiom which by son or daughter of expresses relation, as sons of the bow = arrows. In fact, the curious Hebrew phrase is substantially like the Greek κόρη and Latin pupa, or pupilla, even to the gender.”

That’s probably more than you wanted to know!
 
One comment I read said, “The apple of the eye is the place where you can see your own reflection in the eye of another.”
 
God, your focus on me; look at me. I remember my preschool-aged daughter grabbing my face and making sure I was looking right at her when she wanted to get her point across to me. She wanted to make sure I was seeing her.
 
I find that in preaching, I connect with people if I can see their eyes. I know I am connecting. I do remember one member at my previous church coming to the 8 a.m. service on Sunday morning after a late Saturday night Ohio State game on TV. He entered wearing sunglasses. He told me he had some eye issues and needed to keep his eyes shaded. I am pretty sure he didn’t want me to see the eyes were not focused on the sermon that day.
 
A song from the musical Hamilton is titled, “History Has Its Eyes on You.” How does it feel to know God eyes are on YOU? Reassuring? Comforting? Challenging? Discomforting?
 
The promise we have in Jesus Christ, the message of the cross, is this:
 
  1. God knows you. Inside out. Upside down. Through and through. God knows your joys, your sorrows, your hopes and your fears, your successes and failures, your outward appearance and inward things you hope no one will ever see. God knows you.
  2. The one God knows is the one God loves. Don’t believe it? Look at the cross. For God so loved… For God so loves.
 
You are God’s beloved. The apple of God’s eye.
 
As the God the Father character states in the book The Shed, when talking about various people, she says, “I am especially fond of that one.”
 
I don’t know about you, but there are definitely some days I need to hear that about me. And there are definitely some days I need to hear that about my neighbor.
 
I encourage you to take time to read the rest of these verses. What words cause you to pause? What challenges you in these verses? What gives you hope?
 

Let us pray:

Dear God, thank you for your great love for us. As we are loved, may we so love one another. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Leave a Reply

^