I call on You, God, because You will answer me. Listen closely to me. Hear what I say. Display the wonders of Your faithful love, Savior of all who seek refuge from those who rebel against Your right hand. Protect me as the pupil of Your eye. Hide me in the shadow of Your wings. (vs 6-8)
Not too long ago I had a really bloodshot left eye. For several days, when people saw me they would ask, "What in the world did you do to your eye?" I was embarrassed to tell them that I had stuck the bristles of a hairbrush into it when I was hurriedly fixing my hair. In my rush, I had not protected my eye, which watered profusely for hours.
There are a few places on our bodies that are in need of special care. We wear protective glasses so that stuff won't fly into our eyeballs and blind us. Our eyes lead us around. We need them. So when David cries out to God to protect us as He would protect the pupil of His eye, I get it. A rock comes flying in and our hands go up to protect our eyes from the missile coming our way. Eyes shut tight, arms around our face, we have multiple layers of security to keep our vision safe. Therefore, David is asking God to cover us so.
There is another verse in Zechariah, though, that gives a little different slant to God's pupils. Anyone who touches you touches the pupil of His eye. And that hurts. Leaves it bloodshot, if not blind. So think about what that means. He loves you so much that it hurts like sticking something in His eye when someone hurts you! It also makes Him fighting mad. "I will move against them with My power, and they will become plunder for their own servants." He will display the wonders of His faithful love and protect those who belong to Him because when you hurt, He hurts.
This is a God we can know will hear us, then. He says about us as He said about Jacob and Israel:
He found him in a desolate land, in a barren and howling wilderness. He surrounded him, cared for him, and protected him as the pupil of His eye. He watches over His nest like an eagle hovers over her young. He spreads His wings, catches him and lifts him up on His pinions. (Deuteronomy 32)
That's me! Right there. Found me desolate. Swooped down and gathered me up in my misery, set me in His Nest, and watches over me. The baby bird falls from the nest, the mother bird catches it on her wing and brings her safely back home because the mother has been hovering over her babies and sees when they are in distress. Ever really pictured our God as a mother bird? That is a very specific heart.
If there is any doubt that God hears you when you pray, dismiss that now. He is hovering over you and me today. God is the one who found you desolate in a howling wilderness. His heart always wants to protect and defend you because of the wonder of His love. What was it about you that made Him see you there alone and in need of a savior? Were you so beautiful in your dust-covered state that He just could not resist? Or was there something in Him that is touched by our affliction? A heart that seeks to bind up the broken heart to stop the bleeding?
This God we can trust. This God loves us more than we can imagine. He has chosen to love us because He has chosen to love us, dry-mouthed and scorched. It is a wonder.
Not too long ago I had a really bloodshot left eye. For several days, when people saw me they would ask, "What in the world did you do to your eye?" I was embarrassed to tell them that I had stuck the bristles of a hairbrush into it when I was hurriedly fixing my hair. In my rush, I had not protected my eye, which watered profusely for hours.
There are a few places on our bodies that are in need of special care. We wear protective glasses so that stuff won't fly into our eyeballs and blind us. Our eyes lead us around. We need them. So when David cries out to God to protect us as He would protect the pupil of His eye, I get it. A rock comes flying in and our hands go up to protect our eyes from the missile coming our way. Eyes shut tight, arms around our face, we have multiple layers of security to keep our vision safe. Therefore, David is asking God to cover us so.
There is another verse in Zechariah, though, that gives a little different slant to God's pupils. Anyone who touches you touches the pupil of His eye. And that hurts. Leaves it bloodshot, if not blind. So think about what that means. He loves you so much that it hurts like sticking something in His eye when someone hurts you! It also makes Him fighting mad. "I will move against them with My power, and they will become plunder for their own servants." He will display the wonders of His faithful love and protect those who belong to Him because when you hurt, He hurts.
This is a God we can know will hear us, then. He says about us as He said about Jacob and Israel:
He found him in a desolate land, in a barren and howling wilderness. He surrounded him, cared for him, and protected him as the pupil of His eye. He watches over His nest like an eagle hovers over her young. He spreads His wings, catches him and lifts him up on His pinions. (Deuteronomy 32)
That's me! Right there. Found me desolate. Swooped down and gathered me up in my misery, set me in His Nest, and watches over me. The baby bird falls from the nest, the mother bird catches it on her wing and brings her safely back home because the mother has been hovering over her babies and sees when they are in distress. Ever really pictured our God as a mother bird? That is a very specific heart.
If there is any doubt that God hears you when you pray, dismiss that now. He is hovering over you and me today. God is the one who found you desolate in a howling wilderness. His heart always wants to protect and defend you because of the wonder of His love. What was it about you that made Him see you there alone and in need of a savior? Were you so beautiful in your dust-covered state that He just could not resist? Or was there something in Him that is touched by our affliction? A heart that seeks to bind up the broken heart to stop the bleeding?
This God we can trust. This God loves us more than we can imagine. He has chosen to love us because He has chosen to love us, dry-mouthed and scorched. It is a wonder.
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