Keep Me as the Apple of Your Eye

I was planning on blogging on Judges today, but after reading a verse in Deuteronomy a few days ago, I have to go back to the Torah for one more week.

"In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye."
     -- Deuteronomy 32:10 (NIV)

This verse, which is echoed in Psalm 17:8, appears in my favorite non-Divine service in the Liturgy: Compline. The apple of one's eye, in this context, refers to the pupil. This is the most sensitive and delicate part of the eye, and without it we wouldn't be able to see a thing. No wonder we protect our pupils so obsessively! By asking God to keep us as the apple of his eye, we are imploring him to protect us at all costs. And he does. He protects us so obsessively that he sent his Son to die for us so that we might be protected from the torment of hell. And through his protection, we will one day inherit his kingdom, and see with our own eyes the apple of his.

-- Jonathan