APPLE OF HIS EYE

Yes, we grow whopper apples in Washington state. But the saying “apple of my eye” has nothing to do with juicy fruit. Scholars say the English idiom goes back to 9^th century English literature, when it just referred to the dark part of the eye. It was still around for Shakespeare, who dropped it into a conversation in his play Midsummer Night’s Dream. Shakespeare lived about the same time as the 1611 King James translation of the Bible, so it’s understandable that when scholars came across a similar Hebrew idiom, they used the English saying:

Deuteronomy 32:10: "He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye."

Psalm 17:8: "Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings."

Proverbs 7:2: "Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye."

Lamentations 2:18: "Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease."

Zechariah 2:8: "For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye."

Of all these, I like Psalm 17:8 the most. It reminds me that I can appeal to the God who not only created me but cherishes and protects me even more than I try to protect my eyes. Even though I may mess up and fail, He’s there to lift me up and restore me when I honestly and humbly ask for his help. 

CHERISHED
On the window ledge just above my computer, along with an engraved stone, I keep a print of an artist’s rendition of Christ praying over the world. It's a reminder of His agonized prayer at Gethsemane. I cannot look at that without tears stinging my eyes as I recall Hebrews 7:25:

Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Jesus may have returned to heaven some 2,000 years ago, but in the mystery of who He is, He is still very present and inexplicably involved in every detail of our lives—when we love on Him and adore Him, and even when we turn our backs on Him. “Apple of His eye,” and the protective shadow of God (His “wings”)—there’s no better place to be.

LOOK ABOVE (Psalm 57)

Part of a continuing series on the 48 psalms that speak to getting through depression, recommended by pastor and author David Seamands (Healing for Damaged Emotions).

There’s an old humorous ditty that goes like this: “To dwell above with the saints we love, that will be glory. But to dwell below with the saints we know, well, that is a different story.” I think David would have half-laughed upon hearing that, then remarking, “I’m dwelling below with folks who aren’t exactly saints.” In reviewing our work, church, and social networks, we’d probably say the same.  With Psalm 57 comes yet another “they’re after me” complaint.  The preface says David had fled to a cave to try to elude King Saul’s “murder David” campaign.  David likened his pursuers to ravenous beasts (v. 4), and the dangers he faces to net traps and pits. That reminded me of the jungle warfare, especially during the Vietnam era.  Scary.

THE UPWARD LOOK

But Psalm 57 isn’t just a battlefield report. It’s interlaced with remarkable praise, making it a good model for looking “above” when things below are scary, troublesome, and depressing.  Twice David writes this chorus:

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth. (vv. 5, 11)

In other words, look above. I wonder if at times David crept out to the entrance of his cave and then, seeing no enemy about, dared to stand and drink in the skyscape. Perhaps he remembered the poetry of Job, who declared:

He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight. (Job 26:8)

Or as Job’s “comforter” Elihu observed:

Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds, how he thunders from his pavilion? (36:29)

Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who is perfect in knowledge? (37:16)

Then God breaks into the conversation, reminding Job and his friends that He, the Creator, made the clouds as a garment for the newly-born earth.

I’m not saying that looking at the clouds is a quick and cheap way to chase depression. But God can use the skyscape to remind us of His power and authority from all time, and how the threats we face from fellow humans are not beyond His notice.

SHADOW OF SAFETY

Psalm 57 contains another powerful verse:

I take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed. (v. 1b)

“Shadow of your wings,” also a key image of Psalm 17:8, brings forth two possible scenarios.  One is of chicks being gathered to safety under the mother hen.  Jesus used this imagery when He mourned the state of spiritual affairs in Jerusalem:

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing (Luke 13:34) 

But in another interpretation, those “wings” are of the golden cherubim on each end of the sacred Ark of the Covenant, the golden chest containing the Ten Commandments and the most holy piece of furniture in the Jewish worship system. They believed that the presence of God somehow resided under the golden wings stretched out over the chest.  I’ll have to wait until Q&A time in heaven to understand what really went on there. But David, who wasn’t a priest and therefore couldn’t go behind the curtain where the chest was secluded, still considered that a special “God-place.”

Stuck in hiding in a cave, there was no way for him to even get close to that sacred place. But he could fix his heart on God and worship even there.  William Cushing, a 19^th century pastor who turned to hymn-writing after losing his voice, gave us a musical reminder of “looking above” our difficult circumstances when he wrote this hymn:

Under His wings I am safely abiding, Though the night deepens and tempests are wild;

Still I can trust Him, I know He will keep me, He has redeemed me and I am His child.

Chorus: Under His wings, under His wings, Who from His love can sever?

Under His wings my soul shall abide, Safely abide forever.

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For another very "sing-able," encouraging reminder of this psalm, find a copy of Brent Chamber's scripture-based "Be Exalted, O God," copyright 1977 by Maranatha! Music. 

UNDER HIS WINGS

Real feathers—trophies from bird-hunting—graced this Bible verse display given me recently by a friend. As I read the scripture she’d chosen, I thought of how she lived it out in modeling grace through hardship. From the Living Bible she quoted Psalm 36:7:

How precious is your constant love, O God!  All humanity takes refuge in the shadow of Your wings.

It was just perfect for the relational challenges I’ve faced in recent years with troubled people. At times I felt like a little chick scurrying around the scary barnyard while a hungry dog or possum threatened. But when I ran to the Lord—like a hen gathering her chicks underneath her—I felt removed to a place of safety.

This tender image from real life crops up several times in Psalms.

Hide me in the shadow of Your wings. (Psalm 17:8)

I will take shelter in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed. (Psalm 57:1)

I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings. (Psalm 61:4)

Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. (Psalm 63:7)

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge (Psalm 91:4—from one of my favorite psalms)

Poetic analogies help me visualize the invisible, like the constant presence and help of God. But sometimes I run across real-life examples that match up with such scriptural truths.  I found one recently in book by Charles Stanley, The Source of My Strength (Nelson, 1994). I learned that this well-known pastor and author lost his father when he was very young.  Then his mother married an abusive man. They both endured his physical and verbal abuse. It took a long time for Stanley to work through the wounds of his childhood, but he did. He found shelter under the wings of the Almighty, and that made the difference.

I especially appreciated his practical advice on dealing with an abuser, by focusing attention not on your supposed “faults” (according to the abuser) but on the bitterness and wounds that cause the abuser to lash out (p. 77):

If a person criticizes you intensely, say, “Listen, what it is about me that is really at the core of what you dislike? Do you realize that you are constantly at me about something?  It is because something is eating away at you? Is there something you don’t like about yourself that is behind the way you criticize me?”

…Intervening in a person’s abusive behavior is actually an act of love for that person.  It is saying to that person, ‘I don’t want to see you so violently unhappy.  I want to see you live in a way that is not marked by repetitive abusive behavior—either verbal or physical.  I want to see you become whole in Christ Jesus.’

Instead of trying to reason with an abuser, Stanley said, we need to turn that person over to God to deal with.  That might include saying this to the abuser: “I will no longer take your abuse. I’m trusting God to defend me.  I’m turning you over to Him, and I’m trusting that He will deal with you.”

I’ve been through some tough stuff in my life, always at the ready to “fix things.”  But some things only God can “fix,” like troubled minds. That’s when He beckons me, like a protective mother hen, under His wings. It’s safe and warm there as He faces what only He can—and should—handle.