3-20-2015

Good Morning All,

        Deuteronomy 32:10; “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.”

     There is a story about a young teacher who gave an apple to each of her students.  She told them to look at them closely, study them.  She told them to feel the shape, notice the texture, the different bumps and nicks on the skin.  She told them to carefully study their apple, to close their eyes and to visualize and imagine what it looks and feels like.  Next, the teacher collected the apples and put them in a basket.  She mixed them up and then had the students come forward and pick out their apple.  Each student was able to pick out their apple.  They knew the apple that they had studied and claimed as their own.

    In our verse, we read about being the apple of God’s eye.  This thought or idea is referenced four or five different times (depends on translation) in the Old Testament.  Its meaning in the Bible is the same as what we normally use it as; to have or to be someone special and that we keep close tabs on.  For some of us we may keep a close eye on a nephew or niece or a neighbor kid that has a special attachment.  Maybe they share your interest or hobby, maybe they just are the apple of your eye.  You feel an affinity for them so you always watch for them and always look out for their well-being.  Perhaps you send them a card for their birthday or just a note saying you are thinking of them.

    We see that God has that same yearning for us.  He knows us, personally and intimately.  He reached down into our messy world and picked us out and knows us.  He knows each of us by our own bumps and marks.  He knows them by the way which we got them; through the struggles and battles of life.  Yet through all our struggles, he never left us; he never abandoned us.  He sends us his words of love and encouragement; he sends us his words of hope.  He feeds and cleanses us with his sacraments.  We are never out of his sight or out of his love.  He rescues us because of his incredible love for us.

    So in spite of our struggles in this life, we are never alone; we are never left to battle the fear and the despair on our own.  We never need to feel lonely because we are never truly alone.  God is always there to give us the comfort and the hope that we need.  We are the apple of his eye.

Father, your love for us is beyond what we can ever imagine.  Keep us in the shadow of your wings of mercy and nurture our faith that we may stand strong in facing this life’s battles.  You give us the courage and the hope to overcome.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret