Words to Grow On

May 5, 2008

The Apple of His Eye

by

Cheryl Miller

Part III

In Psalm 17:8 it says "KEEP ME AS THE APPLE OF YOUR EYE; HIDE ME IN THE SHADOW OF YOUR WINGS"

This suggests that David was immensely precious to God.  The apple of this verse does not refer to the fruit, but rather to the pupil of the eye.  If I were to suddenly ram my fist towards your eye, your eyelid would instinctively close at the threat, and in the same way David is calling upon God to immediately and instinctively protect him, as a man would the "apple" or pupil of his eye.

It is a comforting thought as Christians to know that God cares for each of us in just such an intimate way as David describes and that we are infinitely precious to Him.  I recall hearing an illustration once of a man who was driving on a freeway one summer night with the windows of his car down.  He had experienced a long hard day at work, and as he drove his weariness got the better of him, and he dozed off.  Just as the car was heading for the ditch, the man awoke to a stinging sensation on his cheek, just in time to veer the car back onto the highway.  Glancing down at the seat beside him, he saw a sparrow lying there, dazed by the impact of hitting his face.  The man was a Christian, and to save him from an accident which would have meant almost certain death, the Lord had sent a sparrow, usually not a night flier, to come in that open car window and smash into his cheek.  The man pulled over and set the sparrow free, and then gave thanks to God for His watchful care.

We are the "apple of His eye" and we are so precious to Him.  Our heavenly Father clothes the lilies (Matthew 6:28), feeds the birds (Matthew 6:26), permits the fall of every little sparrow, and knows the exact count of the hairs on a person's head.  How wonderful to know that if we put our trust completely in Him, nothing comes to us that hasn't gone through God first

 Even when things seem to go wrong, the Lord is in control of every detail of life.  He may allow pain, disappointment and sorrow to come, but they are always intended for our good.  And eventually we'll understand that these experiences were just what we needed.  God is perfect in love, wisdom and power and so we can do no less than trust Him completely because we are "the apple of His eye" and he cares for us.