Apple of His Eye

“Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings”Psalms‬ ‭17:8‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬

In Psalm 17, David was once again crying out to God from a position of danger from his enemies. In the Psalm, he started by asking God to examine him and declare him innocent of any sinful behaviour, and reminding God that he has followed His ways, keeping the faith. The latter half of the Psalm details what David would like God to do about his enemies. But in verses 6 and 7 David prays out to God to show him His great love, and he knows that God will answer him.

A wonderful and beautiful picture of the relationship between David and God is almost hidden in verse 8, where David asks God for protection. He asks his Father to keep him as the apple of His eye. The surface of an eye is convex so reflected images appear to be much smaller than they are in real life. David is asking God to keep a reflection of him, an “apple”, constantly in His eye, touchingly asking his Heavenly Father to watch over him. And this request is reinforced in the second half of the verse, where David asks God to hide him from his enemies, as a mother bird hides her chicks under her wings.

We too, through our relationship with God, can enjoy His protection and be “the apple of His eye”. We too can nestle under His wings of love. We have an amazing Heavenly Father who loves us with a depth far beyond our understanding. As the song lyrics declare, “What kind of love is this, Greater than all I’ve seen, Perfection bends to kiss, Unworthiness like me” (Phil Wickham).