THE APPLE OF THE EYE

PSALMS 17:8

A. "KEEP ME AS THE APPLE OF THE EYE"
  1. What is the apple of the eye?
    1. It is the little round black spot in the very center which we call the pupil
    2. Of all the parts of the eye that we can see, the pupil is the most important because it is through it that the light enters, and if anything happens to injure it seriously we become blind
  2. When the Psalmist wants the Lord to keep him very safely:
    1. He wants him to keep him like the apple of the eye
    2. God uses a similar expression when He speaks of those who touch His people, "He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye" - Zech. 2:8
    3. Moses reminds Israel, "He kept him as the apple of His eye" - Deut. 32:10
B. "KEEP ME AS THE APPLE OF THE EYE"
  1. How God protects the eye:
    1. First there are the outworks - the eyebrows, and the eyelashes and the eyelids
    2. And what are their uses? The eyebrow prevents the moisture of the brow from running down into the eye
    3. That moisture is really poisonous and besides blurring our vision would injure our eye
    4. The eyelashes act sort of as a curtain to keep out small insects or specks of dust that might hurt
    5. The eyelids are like strong spring doors that close immediately and involuntarily at the approach of danger
    6. The eyeball is surrounded by a bony socket which is like a strong wall all around it and it rests sort of on a bed of fat on which it can move with ease and safety
    7. Above the eyeball and a little to the outer side is the tear gland which provides another safeguard; every time we wink a tear from this gland pours over the surface of our eyes and washes the eyeball
  2. The Psalmist must have known the protection God gives to the eye:
    1. And he seeks the same protection for himself
    2. Being surrounded by many enemies, he felt that God and God alone could give him safety
  3. Then think, the Psalmist asked to be kept as the apple of the eye and its implications:
    1. Of all the five senses, sight is the most valuable; we could get along far better without any of the others then without sight
    2. Just think how helpless a blind man is compared with the deaf
C. WHAT A LESSON TO CONTEMPLATE
  1. Our heavenly Father's paternal care:
    1. "Casting all your cares upon Him; for He careth for you" - I Pet. 5:7
    2. "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He will strengthen thine heart; wait, I say, on the Lord" - Psalms 27:13-14
    3. "The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me" - Heb. 13:6-7
    4. "Like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him" - Ps. 103:13-14
  2. The apple of the eye:
    1. The Hebrews called the apple of the eye "little sons" and at times they spoke of the eye as "little daughters"
    2. God's undeserved loving care for us ought to fill our hearts with humble gratitude to a point where our very being is an expression of love and adoration
  3. Where would I, your humble servant be, were it not for the tender care of my heavenly Father all the days of my life:
    1. When he was a little child he was sick and not expected to live
    2. When in great danger, the hand of God covered him, this happened so many times that he is unable to count those undeserved mercies
  4. So dear soul:
    1. "Cast not away, therefore, your confidence which hath great recompence of reward" - Heb. 10:35
    2. Writes Paul to the Philippians, "But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" - Phil 4:19


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