Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me under the shadow of Your wings. Psalm 17:8
My wife, Karen, and I have been blessed with four children. I was enter-acting with our nine year old daughter yesterday morning when the thought came to me, “I love her so much, can I have more than one favorite?” I love all four of them so much and yet the love for each one is so specific and special, they all feel like my favorite.
Just a few minutes later, while I was doing something else, I sensed Him say to me, “That’s how I feel and every one of my children are my favorites.” I immediately remembered Psalm 17:8 where David said, “Keep me as the apple of your eye.” Was David so bold as to think that out of all the people in the earth at that moment in time, that he was actually the “apple of Gods eye?”
What if someone said to you (and they were really serious), “I’m the apple of Gods eye.” An initial response to a statement like that might be, “who do you think you are” or “isn’t that very presumptuous of you?” But, David actually said it and he was serious and God’s responds to David by saying that “he was a man after His own heart.”
How is it possible for God to have so many favorites? Well, to be honest, I really can’t explain it, but I know it’s true. The only way I can come close to understanding this concept, is to see it from the perspective of my children. All four of our kids know that they have a special and unique relationship with Karen and me. Our younger ones don’t hesitate getting in our laps, or snuggling close to one of us and enjoying our attention. They know we love them and our love is specific to them, which makes them feel like a “favorite.”
If you really knew you were “the apple of His eye” like David, would it change anything for you? Would you get the sense how much you were worth to Him and that He would spare no expense to see to it you had everything you needed to be successful in this life? And, that you could come to Him freely with any need or concern at any moment? In Romans 8:32 (NLT) Paul says, “Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?”
You’ve probably heard it said, “If you were the only one, God would have sent His son just for you,” but I really believe it’s true. Could believing this even change the way you see yourself?
Several years ago I went on a ten day mission trip to India with my brother, Russ. It was an awesome experience and during those ten days we had so many opportunities to share the love of God and minister to people. The last place we where scheduled to visit on our trip, as we were headed back to Deli to fly back home, was a leper colony.
Although I knew all along that we would be going there, I have to be honest and say that I really wasn’t looking forward to it. I’m not really sure why I was feeling that way, maybe I didn’t feel like I would be able to relate to them, I’m really not sure, but I do know I had a knot in my stomach for days knowing that this visit was in my future.
As we arrived, lots of children came pouring out of all the small buildings to meet us. We later learned that these were the children of the lepers. There was no place for them to go. They lived there with their parents where they would be doomed to follow in this same dreaded disease.
All of the children and many of the adults gathered with us in one of the buildings as we began to share the Good News of Jesus. As I was standing off to the side, I noticed an older man who was sitting on the floor looking down the whole time. He kept trying to cover his marred face with the the nubs that used to be his hands. I could just feel the sadness, condemnation and rejection radiating from him. I couldn’t take my eyes off of Him as I kept hearing the Holy Spirit say, “Go tell him I love him.”
When the program was over I went to him and nervously knelt beside him. With the help of a translator I said, “Sir, I just want you to know that I love you and God wants you to know that He loves you too. In fact He wants you to know that He loves you so much, that if you had been the only one on planet earth, He would have sent His Son to die just for you.”
I really can’t describe the look on his face as He heard those words, maybe for the first time in his life. He began to beam with love, gratitude and acceptance. He really got it and I believe it was a life changing experience for Him.
Today, your Heavenly Father wants you to know that you’re His favorite and the apple of His eye. The closest illustration on earth we have to His heavenly expression of love, is the out stretched arms of Jesus on the cross.
Today’s Thought: Knowing that you’re the “Apple of His eye,” you can not fail.