Have you ever been poked in the eye? Or have you ever gotten a speck of dust in your eye and learned how it takes just the tiniest piece of grit to cause the severest amount of pain? The smallest particle of dirt has the ability to incapacitate the biggest and strongest of men when it lodges in his eyeball. The eye is fragile and precious and we rightly guard it from harm.

There are a number of places in Scripture where God refers to his people as “the apple of his eye”—a delightful phrase that has been translated and adopted by the English language. The apple of the eye is the dark circle, the pupil, the tenderest and most important part. It is the part we protect with the greatest of care.
In Deuteronomy 32 Israel is referred to in this way. “[God] encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.” In Psalm 17 David is desperate for protection and asks God, “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.” The phrase appears again in Proverbs and in Lamentations, and these repeated uses demonstrate the love God has for his people. Just as we protect the pupil as a particularly weak and vulnerable part of the body, God protects his weak and vulnerable people. God’s people plead with him to protect them in the way they so earnestly protect their own eyes.
There is one further reference that comes in the closing chapters of the Old Testament. There Zechariah prophesies and proclaims, “For thus said the Lord of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye…” Here God is warning the nations that if they harm Israel they will effectively be harming God—they will be poking him in the eye. And just as any human being will swat away the finger that attempts to jab itself into the pupil, God will swat away the enemy that attempts to harm his chosen ones. God so identifies with Israel, he so loves them and cares for them, that they are like that most precious and tender part of his body.
We do not need to look hard or look far today to find people who mean to do damage to God’s people—no longer ethnic Israel, but the church God has called from all nations, tribes, and tongues. The laws of many countries, and increasingly those in the West, are turning against God’s people. Those who pass such laws and those who enforce them should be warned—they are reaching out a finger toward the eye of God. And even where the laws have not been militarized against God’s people, many individuals, many organizations, and many corporate policies have been. Here too people ought to know and consider—they are poking God in the eye.
But I think there is another application that ought to concern you and me. We need to know that when we turn on our fellow Christians, when we hurt or harm them, when we belittle or insult them, we are likewise poking God in the eye. When we exaggerate their faults or diminish their graces, we are reaching out a finger toward his pupil. When we treat them poorly instead of well, when we tear them down instead of build them up, when we curse them instead of bless them, we are like a piece of grit in the eye of God.
And we should not expect that God will stand idly by while we do damage to what he regards as most precious. We should not expect that God will sanction such violence or that he will long tolerate such sin. We should not expect that he will shrug his shoulders in apathy as a finger repeatedly gouges his eye.
God loves his people—the people he called and justified, the people he sanctified and glorified, the people who belong to him. He loves them and will protect them. So be warned. Be warned when you are tempted to mistreat them, be warned when you are tempted to do or say what would harm them—he will protect his very own people in the way you protect your very own pupil. For they, for we, are the apple of his eye.
Note: My understanding of the original Hebrew phrase is that it translates most naturally to something like “the dark part of the eye” and the “apple” is an especially evocative English translation.

I’m very grateful to BJU for sponsoring the blog this week to provide a A Biblical-Theological Examination of Melancholy. Sponsors play a key role in keeping this site going, and I’m grateful for each one.
Westminster Book is wondering if you know of an aspiring pastor, missionary, counselor, or teacher. If you do, they’ve got a gift they’d like to send them.
There are pretty much always some new Kindle deals on Saturdays, and today is no exception.
(Yesterday on the blog: Like a River)

While writing a book about deconstruction, Tim Barnett wondered “why so many who deconstruct their faith end up leaving the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” He puts the pieces together in this article at Stand to Reason.

“If you spend any time in Christian missions, you’ll almost certainly notice more women serving than men. That’s what I’ve observed wherever I’ve traveled overseas, and the statistics bear this out. For over a century, women have made up the majority of the evangelical missionary workforce.” Elliot Clark reflects on that reality.

Anne Kennedy has a helpful assessment of what Sheila Wray Gregoire teaches about sex in her books and podcasts.

“15,409 days. That’s how long my dear wife lived on this Earth. When we were dating, we obviously had no idea. When we got engaged, there were no mystical revelations. And when we got married, this number certainly wasn’t written on the back of the marriage certificate for us to see.” Andy considers what might have been different had they known.

“Unless and until adequate answers can be given to these questions, the claim that the Pastoral Epistles are the work of the apostle Paul himself, and not of a pseudepigrapher, or even of a close disciple writing after his death, must be allowed to stand as a valid position based on proper scholarly criteria.”

“Shepherd feet make paths. Up hills and through fields. As shepherds do what shepherds do. Tending flocks. And keeping watch. Under sun and stars and moon. Alert for thieves and predators. Protecting the sheep. And little do they know. Their ordinary feet are about to change. Into the extraordinary. Beautiful feet.”

John and Cindy Raquet parent as weirdly as any of us, but their weirdnesses generally overlap with my own, and it’s for that reason that I so enjoyed reading their book Purposeful and Persistent Parenting.

Grace does not make sin safe. But grace does make sinners safe.
—Matt Chandler

This week I spoke at my first conference since COVID … and came away with a pretty good case of COVID (of the “bad cold” variety). So I’m moving a bit slow and catching up on a bit of TV, but hoping to be back on my feet by Monday.

There are a few Kindle deals to take a look at.
(Yesterday on the blog: On What Basis Could The Rings of Power Completely Fail?)
“Elizabeth the Faithful”—a Small Reflection on our Queen
I really enjoyed Michael Haykin’s tribute to Queen Elizabeth II. “Having been born in the mid-1950s, Elizabeth II (1926–2022) is the only monarch I have ever had. And so, it is very strange to hear the time-hallowed refrain, ‘The Queen is dead. Long live the King!’”
God save the Queen
This is also a lovely tribute. “The rain is falling outside the window, the sound of students from the Westminster school drifts over and blends with the sound of sirens. And there flies the flag on top of Parliament, still not yet at half mast. Soon it may be lowered, tethered, like a million waiting souls, to the frail, fluttering life of an old lady surrounded by doctors and family in Balmoral. That slight, whisper-light weight will drag behind it a freight of emotion and uncertainty that will bury the country for days and weeks to come.”
How Manti Te’o’s Fake Girlfriend Helps Explain Transgenderism
Brett McCracken: “More than its insights about sports stardom, media hype, or the perils of online dating, Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist, reinforced for me a theory I’ve had about contemporary culture: transgenderism and social media are inextricably linked, and the plausibility of trans identities is a unique byproduct of the digital age.”
Did Jesus take on our sin nature? (Video)
Michael Reeves does a great job answering the question.
What is the House Church?
This article offers a helpful explanation of the Chinese house church.
Then Comes the Breaking
“Something within me broke. Tears began to flow down my face as he came and sat down beside me. He shared that he had some idea of the unspeakable pain I was experiencing because he and his wife had miscarried many years ago. He asked how I was doing, and I jokingly said, ‘I was doing fine until you stopped by.’”
Flashback: The Glory of Children Is Their Fathers
While our ultimate desire is to hear God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” we all also want to hear our children say, “Well done, good and faithful dad” or “Well done, good and faithful mom.”

Love is not only doing others no harm; it is doing them all the good that it is in our power to do. —J.R. Miller