You Are The Apple Of My Eye Series

You are the apple of my eye! Have you ever heard that expression? Probably not recently in common usage, but maybe in an old movie or a historical novel.

There was actually a song that made the charts by that name in 1956. It was sung by Frankie Valli and the Four Lovers. The group later changed their name to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and re-released the song in 1961.

Interesting story, songwriter Otis Blackwell had originally written a different song for the group and sold it to them for $25.00. Another artist wanted the original song, and Blackwell decided to take a chance. He offered Franki and his group the song Apple of my Eye, and they took that for their $25.00. The other artist only offered Blackwell a percentage of the record sales. That song was, don’t be cruel, and the singer was Elvis.

See, you learn stuff at church.

Collin’s dictionary defines the phrase this way: The Apple of my eye: If you say that someone is the apple of your eye, you mean that they are very important to you and you are extremely fond of them.

This is week two of our summer series. Say What? And we are going to be looking at everyday phrases that are found in the Bible. They may have their origin there, for example, “Cast the first stone” and “the Good Samaritan” or it may simply be where they first became popular.

Last week we looked at the phrase, Am I my brother’s keeper, from Genesis chapter 4. It was the story of the murder of Abel by his brother Cain. And we looked at what it means to be our brother’s keeper, or more broadly what it means to be responsible for those in our family, especially when it comes to being a part of the family of God.

Now, to be truthful, this particular phrase didn’t even make my original list.

I didn’t actually realize that it was found in the bible until a friend of mine posted a picture of her new apple tattoo along with the scripture reference. So, thank you, Lindsay, I owe you this message.

The phrase Apple of his eye or apple of my eye is found in five different places in various translations of the bible. You can find the phrase in the books of Deuteronomy, Proverbs, Lamentations, Zechariah and of course in the scripture that Euan read for us earlier in Psalm 17:8.

Now to be fair, the phrase “The apple of my eye” was not used in the original language, but when translators sought a suitable phrase to convey the thoughts of the original writers that is what they’ve come up with.

So let’s go back to Collin’s definition. When God’s word says you are the apple of God’s eye it means that you are very important to God and God is extremely fond of you.

Do you feel special? Do you rejoice in who you are? Do you rejoice in what you are? Or do you feel like sitting in the corner and crying out, "nobody loves me, everybody hates me, I’m gonna eat some worms, long thin slimy ones, short fat juicy ones, I’m gonna eat some worms."

Some times in a world that moves as fast as ours, in a society that dotes on the Harry and Meagans of the world, it's easy to feel ordinary or maybe even less than ordinary.

It's easy to feel like we don't matter to anyone and to feel like we are worthless or less than worthless. But I’m here to tell you that you are special to someone, not just anyone you are special in the eyes of God the master of the universe. You not only matter to God, you are the apple of his eye. So, why is that? And what does it mean to be the apple of God’s eye?

And that’s a good question, it’s certainly one that I’ve struggled with. After all, why should someone as insignificant as a commercial fisherman on the east coast of Canada be invited to not only meet the creator of the universe but to share a relationship with him. To not only come into his presence as a subject but to leave as a son? Why should God care for you? For the same reasons that he cared for me.

The first thing I want you to realize this morning is that you’re not ordinary. You’re not an accident or an afterthought. From the very beginning, you were part of the plan.

King David of David and Goliath fame summed it up best when he wrote in Psalm 139:13 You (God) made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.