Found something really sweet this morning in the Key Word Study Bible. In Psalm 17: 8, the word for pupil or apple of the eye is also literally the daughter of the eye. Lest we think the Bible just for chauvinists, the Lord wants us to know he loves His daughters.
What is it with daddies and daughters? A young man was telling us last night that his little eight month old daughter was saying "Da-da" now. Proud that he was so important in her life. Puffing out his chest as his eyes sparkled with the joy of it. Do you suppose our Father does the same?
I am thinking of some of the daughters of the Bible. Ruth, who Boaz praised for finding her refuge in the under the Lord's wings. Esther who obeyed with prayer and fasting then declared: "If I perish, I perish." She knew she was made for just such a time as the one in which she lived. Hagar, alone in the desert with her son, Ishmael. They had run out of water, so she left the boy under a bush to die. Both then cried loudly. God heard and an angel called to her from heaven and led her to water. He was to her "the God who sees." Hanna at the altar in Shiloh. Desperate for a child. Then Samuel is finally on his way. Bathsheba, pregnant by the king, loses the baby as well as her husband. Her grief seemingly limitless. Soon Solomon is forming in her womb - the only son of David God sees fit to be king in his place. Rahab, a prostitute, hides the spies and lets them down over the city wall. She is subsequently saved along with her family when the city is taken by the Israelites. Her line brought forth the Messiah. Mary, a young girl, chosen before the foundations of the world to carry the Son of God not only in her body but on her hip. Mary Magdalene, used by men for all her adult life, set free by One because God loved her. Bleeding for years without help from doctors, a woman dares to simply touch the robe of God and He stops. "Who touched Me?" Ah, He knows, but He wants her to understand that touch was special. He felt it. He knew power had gone from Him to her and He wanted us to see her face when she acknowledged it.
Then there is me.....and you, if you are a daughter. (This applies if you are a son, too, btw.) The Lord your God is with You. The Mighty One will save you. He will rejoice over you. You will rest in His love. He will sing and be joyful about you. (Zephaniah 3: 17) Can't you just see the daddy lifting his daughter up over his head and adoring her cuteness as her face beams at him? She is safe with him up there in his arms, the apple of His eye.
You have stooped to make me great. (2 Samuel 22:36) Ever seen a daddy get down on his haunches to look straight into the face of his little girl? To speak with her eye to eye - pupil to pupil? There is a touching gentleness about that posture. In fact, the other translation of this sentence is: "Your gentleness has made me great." This Abba who has adopted us is gentle, compassionate and tender toward His little girls.
Ezekiel 16 compares the nation of Israel to a newborn girl the Lord finds abandoned in her blood, umbilical freshly cut. He looks with compassion on this baby girl and commands her to live! He made her flourish like a beautiful plant until she grew up tall and had reached puberty. When she reached the "age for love" He covered her nakedness and made her His. He made her His bride. The young woman was anointed with oil, clothed in the finest embroidery and given expensive leather shoes (every woman's dream). On her wrists He put bracelets of gold, in her ears were diamond studs, and a beautiful crown was placed on her head. The bride ate the finest foods and drank the best wine. Her beauty was so great she was world renowned because it was perfect "through the splendor" He had bestowed upon her.
Alas, her beauty made her proud and she left her husband to give herself away to lesser men. But the love of this God for His "woman" is astonishing. This is the heart of God for His bride. Us. The church. To show how He loves, He lets us see His compassion as Father and as husband. The tenderness of a man for the women in his life is a picture, God tells us, of how His heart is to His people. He found us bleeding and alone. Abandoned by all that was supposed to give us life. He cannot stand that, so He cried: "Live!" And we did. Then He clothed us in His royalty and put a crown on our heads so that the world marvels that this could be the same person who only recently was so destitute.
Oh, let us stay in the royal palace with Him, not straying to other idols. For in the rooms of His mansion are pleasures forever more.
What is it with daddies and daughters? A young man was telling us last night that his little eight month old daughter was saying "Da-da" now. Proud that he was so important in her life. Puffing out his chest as his eyes sparkled with the joy of it. Do you suppose our Father does the same?
I am thinking of some of the daughters of the Bible. Ruth, who Boaz praised for finding her refuge in the under the Lord's wings. Esther who obeyed with prayer and fasting then declared: "If I perish, I perish." She knew she was made for just such a time as the one in which she lived. Hagar, alone in the desert with her son, Ishmael. They had run out of water, so she left the boy under a bush to die. Both then cried loudly. God heard and an angel called to her from heaven and led her to water. He was to her "the God who sees." Hanna at the altar in Shiloh. Desperate for a child. Then Samuel is finally on his way. Bathsheba, pregnant by the king, loses the baby as well as her husband. Her grief seemingly limitless. Soon Solomon is forming in her womb - the only son of David God sees fit to be king in his place. Rahab, a prostitute, hides the spies and lets them down over the city wall. She is subsequently saved along with her family when the city is taken by the Israelites. Her line brought forth the Messiah. Mary, a young girl, chosen before the foundations of the world to carry the Son of God not only in her body but on her hip. Mary Magdalene, used by men for all her adult life, set free by One because God loved her. Bleeding for years without help from doctors, a woman dares to simply touch the robe of God and He stops. "Who touched Me?" Ah, He knows, but He wants her to understand that touch was special. He felt it. He knew power had gone from Him to her and He wanted us to see her face when she acknowledged it.
Then there is me.....and you, if you are a daughter. (This applies if you are a son, too, btw.) The Lord your God is with You. The Mighty One will save you. He will rejoice over you. You will rest in His love. He will sing and be joyful about you. (Zephaniah 3: 17) Can't you just see the daddy lifting his daughter up over his head and adoring her cuteness as her face beams at him? She is safe with him up there in his arms, the apple of His eye.
You have stooped to make me great. (2 Samuel 22:36) Ever seen a daddy get down on his haunches to look straight into the face of his little girl? To speak with her eye to eye - pupil to pupil? There is a touching gentleness about that posture. In fact, the other translation of this sentence is: "Your gentleness has made me great." This Abba who has adopted us is gentle, compassionate and tender toward His little girls.
Ezekiel 16 compares the nation of Israel to a newborn girl the Lord finds abandoned in her blood, umbilical freshly cut. He looks with compassion on this baby girl and commands her to live! He made her flourish like a beautiful plant until she grew up tall and had reached puberty. When she reached the "age for love" He covered her nakedness and made her His. He made her His bride. The young woman was anointed with oil, clothed in the finest embroidery and given expensive leather shoes (every woman's dream). On her wrists He put bracelets of gold, in her ears were diamond studs, and a beautiful crown was placed on her head. The bride ate the finest foods and drank the best wine. Her beauty was so great she was world renowned because it was perfect "through the splendor" He had bestowed upon her.
Alas, her beauty made her proud and she left her husband to give herself away to lesser men. But the love of this God for His "woman" is astonishing. This is the heart of God for His bride. Us. The church. To show how He loves, He lets us see His compassion as Father and as husband. The tenderness of a man for the women in his life is a picture, God tells us, of how His heart is to His people. He found us bleeding and alone. Abandoned by all that was supposed to give us life. He cannot stand that, so He cried: "Live!" And we did. Then He clothed us in His royalty and put a crown on our heads so that the world marvels that this could be the same person who only recently was so destitute.
Oh, let us stay in the royal palace with Him, not straying to other idols. For in the rooms of His mansion are pleasures forever more.
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