The Apple of Your Eye

Think about your eyes.
Think about the importance of your eyes.

What will you do to protect your eyes?

The wind kicks up a little dust; you turn your head. Out of your peripheral vision you see something moving toward your eyes; you react. People are sometimes comical when a gnat zeroes in on one of their eyeballs. They swat, clap, dip, dodge, and sway to avoid the tiny insect...that no one else sees.

Eyes are important. We cherish our eyes. We protect our eyes.

The “apple of your eye” is an old phrase that is generally used for something or someone that is deeply cherished. But don’t think about sweet apples that the eye sees and desires. Rather, the 'apple' of the eye is the 'pupil.'

The English phrase, "the apple of the eye" come from a Hebrew phrase that is literally: "the little man of the eye." Language scholars accept this to be the pupil of the eye where a person might see their own reflection in another person's eye, therefore, the 'little man.' So, the phrase is not about something precious that the eye sees, but something of greatest importance, the pupil, or the eye itself!

Not only do we blink, swat, and dodge physical things that endanger our eyes, we protect our eyes from intense light that might cause blindness. The ‘apple of your eye’ is something that we all cherish, but also something that we will do almost anything to protect.

  Solomon wrote:
    Keep my commandments and live, 
    And my teaching as the apple of your eye.
                                                   --Proverbs 7:2

God’s word is to be cherished and protected. The idea is not that God’s word is so delicate that it needs protection. Rather, God’s word is of such great importance that we should do anything to make sure we hold to it and follow it.

Can you think of anything in life that is so important that you would give your eyes?

Is God’s instruction as important to you as the ‘apple of your eye’?