'The Apple of His Eye'

"Jehovah," Self-Existent, Eternal

*Deuteronomy 32:9-10, "For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye."

If you have ever looked into the eyes of a child in a toy store you see something that makes you want to smile. The glow and excitement gives you a warm feeling that makes you feel at least ten years younger. It's when that child has a totally blank look on their face with no gleam in their eye that causes feelings of concern.

They say the eyes are the window of the soul. How we measure a person often depends on how we perceive that person. If we look at their outward appearance we may judge them in that fashion, but looking into that person's eyes, we may have a totally different opinion.

How we live our life can be measured by the window of our soul, the eyes. The course of our life may take us through valleys so deep and so dark that the telling of it can be seen in our eyes. There may be bitterness and sorrow so deep that even the brightness of the day cannot remove the canopy of gloom and doom that seems to cloud over us.

Letting go and letting God do a perfect work in us can sometimes be a very difficult task to accomplish. Letting go of a past wound requires forgiveness. Forgiveness of past pain, past sorrow, past grief, or a past transgression that often the soul does not desire to forgive. Memories of the past that need to die. Often painful, death occurs before life can ever pierce our soul. Death of a wound so deep that even our eyes tell the story.

When Elijah had been taken up into heaven in a whirlwind Elisha  took his mantle that fell and struck the waters of the Jordan and said, "Where is the LORD God of Elijah?" Then the water parted and Elisha walked over on dry land. The sons of the prophets which were watching all this at Jericho saw him and, realizing the spirit of Elijah rested on Elisha, they came to meet him.

The sons of the prophets urged Elisha, until he was ashamed, to send fifty strong men to search for Elijah. Then, most reluctant, he agreed to their request and told them to send them out. They sought for Elijah for three days, but they did not find him. When they returned to Elisha he said, "Did I not say unto you, Go not?"

Then the men of the city said to Elisha, "This city is pleasant, as you can see, but there is no water and the ground barren." Then Elisha said, "Bring me a new cruse, and put salt in it." When they returned with the cruse he went to the spring of the waters, and casting in the salt he said, "Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters. From this time forth there shall not be any more death or barren land." So the waters were healed according to the saying of Elisha.

When Elisha left Jericho to go to Bethel, along the way,  little children came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him, "Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head." When Elisha turned back and looked at them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then suddenly two female bears came out of the woods and tore in pieces forty-two of the children.

The book of James tells us, "But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be," (*James 3:8-10). For one brief moment Elisha turned his back on God, turned his eyes toward the situation, and lost control.

There is no record of this ever being repeated in scripture or spoken of, but, oh how much this must have pressed on Elisha's soul and peace of mind. The scriptures go on to say that Elisha left from Bethel then went to Mount Carmel and from there to Samaria. That was a great distance to travel with the enemy following him every step of the way reminding him of what just happened.

Along life's path there are moments when we just want God to move and take revenge on those who have injured us mentally in some way through use or abuse. We become weary and withdrawn, our eyes become sullen and loose the luster they once had. The soul becomes sick even unto death.

In the Richard Lovelace poem "To Althea, From Prison", he pens "Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage; Minds innocent and quiet take That for an hermitage; If I have freedom in my love And in my soul am free, Angels alone, that soar above, Enjoy such liberty." There are bars and cages that can exist in our souls and  in our mind when there is no forgiveness, compassion, or mercy.

When Elisha left Bethel he went to the mountain where Elijah returned the people to God. Elisha turned His eyes back on God. Where do you run when there is nowhere to run to?  When you have seen everything you want to see, talked to every person you can talk to, who do you turn to when no one else will listen? In the darkness of despair David cried, "I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful. The LORD preserves the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living (*Psalms 116).

There comes a time in our life when we have to just stop and turn our eyes on the One Who loves us and Who knows what we are feeling and going through. Turn our voices in praise to the One Who can carry us through and bring us back into a state of liberty. Just as Lovelace penned, "When, like committed linnets, I with the sweetness, mercy, majesty, shriller throat shall sing And glories of my King; When I shall voice aloud how good He is, how great should be, Enlarged winds, that curl the flood, Know no such liberty." It is only when we turn our eyes on the One Who created us that we can find forgiveness, compassion, and mercy, and freedom for our soul.

Death is not something that is desired but it is a part of life. We have been promised a more abundant life. An abundant life that cannot be achieved without death. Through the death of the One Who first loved us the sting of death has been removed. God can turn your life around, turn your mourning into joy. He can bring health and healing to your soul and restore the joy that the enemy has tried to drive away.  You are the apple of His eye for He watches over those who love Him and who call upon His name.

P Elisha had a great influence on the people he came into contact with; however, much of the good he accomplished was not heeded. Israel continued to backslide and move in a direction that was not part of God's plan for their nation. There are many paths we have to choose from, it is choosing the path of God's direction that often becomes darkened by those who influence us the most in our lives.

*Revised May 27, 2007