Encouragement
The Apple of His Eye
Old sayings, idioms, fill our conversation, often without us fulling understanding how we got them. The little we know is enough that we can use them liberally to spice up our discussions. But there is one idiom that I’ve been pondering for almost a month, “The Apple of His Eye.” Believe me it’s the sweetest idiom ever!
It’s a little cool today. It’s raining and Wayne’s mom is wrapped up in a blanket on the back porch enjoying the feel of Fall in the air. We don’t get much fall color in the leaves in Florida, but I have tons of sweet (crunchy and sweet) memories of apple picking in Hendersonville, NC, so for me nothing says Fall like apples.
Grandad’s
I don’t know of anyone in Hendersonville that allows customers to pick their own apples or peaches anymore, but oh how we loved to pick our own apples at Granddad’s in past years. Even though they stopped the apple picking, they have tons of fun activities waiting for families.
- Beautiful apples.
- Corn Maze.
- Rides.
- Pumpkins of all sizes and colors.
- Great family fun with a majestic mountain view. It doesn’t get any better than that!
Check out their beautiful website. Such beautiful pictures. https://grandadsapples.com/
I never realized until we started going to Hendersonville regularly for apples that they are the 3rd largest apple producer in the United States. I just know the apples orchards twist through the mountain valleys like a painting. It is a beautiful, quaint place to visit.
Lake Lure
We always drive through Lake Lure and have lunch there before we go the Hendersonville. The roadside markets have the biggest cabbages I’ve ever seen and each little stop has its own local charm.
- Crates of orange pumpkins.
- Local honey.
- Apple donuts.
- Apple cider.
- Did I mention dozens of crates and baskets of every color of apple imaginable. Don’t let the ugly apples fool you, they are delicious too! Every year we discover new varieties of apples to taste and almost always walk away with more apples than we could ever eat. Our kids and grands love the overflow and we enjoy sharing them!
We love all the apple stuff at my house.
Apple pies.
Golden cobblers
Even plain ole sliced apples.
Although, I will admit, most of the time, I smear a plain apple slice with peanut butter.
Or better yet, my favorite apple dip is cream cheese and brown sugar. If you’ve never eaten it. It is so easy to make.
Just add brown sugar to room temperature cream cheese to suit your taste buds. Cream together until smooth. It doesn’t last long at my house, because everybody loves it as much as I do!!!
More than just the crunchy kind of apple.
I invited you here for a reason beyond talking about the crunchy deliciousness of an apple or its fragrant beauty. I want to talk about an apple idiom tucked in the Old Testament. Maybe you have used it or maybe you’ve even heard your name placed in the idiom. I’ve used it like this, “Oh, I can see that she is the “apple of his eye.””
What a beautiful idiom. “Apple of His eye.”
It rings like fine crystal, explaining the depth of love that he for his precious daughter.
Ever wonder where an idiom originated?
I have searched numerous times to find the root meaning behind an obscure idiom? It’s kinda a game for us to look up “old sayings.” I knew where this idiom came from, but the more I read about it, the richer my understanding grew.
Did you realize that this idiom originated from Moses’ song found in Deuteronomy 32. (I didn’t even know Moses could sing. Maybe, he only wrote it.) He wrote this song shortly before he died.
Verse 10 says “He (Moses is referring to God.) found him (He is referring to Israel) in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.
I chuckle every time I think about the book of Deuteronomy.
The same man that tells God, barefooted beside a burning bush that he can’t obey Him because he can’t talk, is orally recounting the faithfulness of God and the importance of obeying and following God. AND, he talks enough to fill a whole book of the Bible. He was doing what he thought he couldn’t do! Don’t you love how that happens when we obey.
Look at verse 10 again. Can’t you hear Moses’ gratitude and awe at the greatness and goodness of God as he reminds the people, the nation of Israel about all the things that God had done for them. Moses says in my words, “God, found the Israelites in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness.
Can I please interrupt this verse with a reality check?
The desert?
The desert is a barren place.
Do you know how haggard you would look if you were trekking through a desert…that is with one “s” not two…a desert is a far cry from a dessert! It’s a hard place to survive.
We understand that if we want to be liked and favored, we must present ourselves at our very best. Even our Facebook pictures represent our attempt to present ourselves in a positive light.
This moment in Israel’s history wasn’t a picture-perfect moment for them! God wasn’t withholding His love until they were looked attractive, or obeyed perfectly, or until they had a better attitude. God was faithful even while they drug their feet through the dust of the desert…God loved them even when they were right smack dab in the middle of the consequences of their disobedience.
They were still the apple of His eye even when they…
- rebelled against Him.
- refused to trust Him.
Yet, even there…
- He instructed them.
- He guarded them as “the apple of His eye.”
There is the idiom.
In spite of their rebellion or disobedience God guided them and guarded them as the apple of His eye. Please don’t miss this powerful picture tucked in this song.
I want to let an expert Charles Spurgeon, explain this idiom from his timeless classic The Treasury of David.
“No part of the body more precious, more tender, and more carefully guarded than the eye; and of the eye, no portion more peculiarly to be protected than the central apple, the pupil, or as the Hebrew calls it, “the daughter of the eye.” The all-wise Creator has placed the eye in a well-protected position; it stands surrounded by projecting bones like Jerusalem encircled by mountains. Moreover, its great Author has surrounded it with many tunics of inward covering, besides the hedge of the eyebrows, the curtain of the eyelids, and the fence of the eyelashes; and, in addition to this, he has given to every man so high a value for his eyes, and so quick an apprehension of danger, that no member of the body is more faithfully cared for than the organ of sight.
Moses is saying God has protected Israel like His divine design protects eyesight.
Make this idiom personal.
David did.
David makes it personal in his prayer. “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings” Psalms 17:8 NIV
Keep me as the apple of your eye…but he doesn’t stop there. Hide me in the shadow of your wings. Nothing describes safety and protection better than a baby chick hiding under its mama’s wings.
Make it personal.
He loves you. Knows you. Designed you. I am so thankful that because of His relentless love you can make David’s prayer your prayer. “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.”
To enjoy that hiding place in His shadow requires that we stay close to Him. Obey Him. Return His love. Trust Him.
Now look at Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:7-14 (Read Deuteronomy 32:7-14)
Moses gives particular instances of God’s kindness and concern for them. The eagle’s care for her young is a beautiful emblem of Christ’s love, who came between Divine justice and our guilty souls, and bare our sins in his own body on the tree.
And by the preached gospel, and the influences of the Holy Spirit, He stirs up and prevails upon sinners to leave Satan’s bondage.
In verses 13,14, are emblems of the conquest believers have over their spiritual enemies, sin, Satan, and the world, in and through Christ. Also of their safety and triumph in him; of their happy frames of soul, when they are above the world, and the things of it.
This will be the blessed case of spiritual Israel in every sense in the latter day.
This is a powerful picture of a triumphant, overcoming believer. Sin doesn’t have to defeat us. We can overcome through Jesus!
But wait there’s more. You gotta see this.
Moses song didn’t end on the backside of the desert. It will be song by a group of overcomers in heaven. That fact makes me so happy!
The same God that watched over the children of Israel, even when they rebelled is watching and loving and calling His church to repent and return to their first love. He is calling His church to be filled with His love, obey Him and be filled with His power. Because of His finished work on the cross He is calling us to be like Him in word and deed. To declare and demonstrate His love and power in the Earth today.
Revelation 15:2And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, beside which stood those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name. They were holding harps from God,
3 and they sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:
Only now it is the song of Moses and the Lamb of God. Jesus overcame the world, so you could overcome!!! So thankful He let us know ahead of time, He wins!!!!
“Great and wonderful are Your works,
O Lord God Almighty!
Just and true are Your ways,
O King of the nations!
4Who will not fear You, O Lord,
and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy.
All nations will come and worship before You,
for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”
So dear one…never forget God is bigger than you can imagine. He is great and glorious and He has the power to help you be the overcomer you were destined to be!
This link was so good I had to share it with you. Song of Moses – What Is it and Important Lessons (biblestudytools.com)
Want Change? Think God’s Way:
NC Apple Festival : Labor Day Weekend, Hendersonville