Skip to main content

As The Apple Of Your Eye

          I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer. Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings from the wicked who are out to destroy me, from my mortal enemies who surround me. (Psalm 17:6-9)

          If you read about plotting a novel, it’s all about man versus… man, nature, himself, God, etc. The reason that resonates is because life is like that. So often, it seem like it’s me against everything, or perhaps more accurately, everything against me. Oh, I know it’s not true. Most of the time everyone else is going about their lives just as I’m going about mine, and I know the weather doesn’t have anything against me, but this weekend is a big project and I can’t get started on the biggest part of it until Friday, so everything is looming large and theatrically threatening. I’m no good at looking forward positively unless I’m moving forward.
          This morning’s passage is one of those prayers I need to turn my mind toward. David didn’t seem to face the future, even the “I can’t get started yet” future, with trepidation. Or did he? He spends a lot of time praying about people who oppose him. I’d like to think those were prayers of confidence and real need, not amorphous anxiety.
          There are parts of this prayer that I really love, and that I think I need to incorporate into my life more often. First, confidence. “…you will answer me.” I was going to say that I struggle with this, but I really don’t. I think I expect God to answer just as much as David expected it. The difference is that I expect the answer God gives to be “No.”
          Secondly, audacity. “Show me the wonders of Your great love,” and “Keep me as the apple of Your eye.” Right now, those are translating into two ideas. First, a safe and easy trip home, no snow and ice, particularly in the mountains. And secondly, a beautiful trip home. Usually, we travel through those mountains in the dead of night and I’m stressed because there’s no knowing when or where we’re going to be able to stop. This time, we’re stopping in Columbia and Beckley. I think that will mean part of two days driving through the Appalachians during the day.
         Which means – attitude adjustment needed. Trust needed. Do I believe that God will keep me as the apple of His eye, as He did David? That doesn’t mean there won’t be danger, but do I trust?


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more