The Apple of His Eye | Raymond Woodward

you may be seated this morning psychologists call it atunement atunement is the ability to accurately recognize and appropriately respond to someone else's emotional needs most of us would probably just call it mirroring a person who's well attuned can easily read someone else's emotional state and they can react with empathy and sympathy but a person who's Miss attune they simply don't read those cues very well they may be too busy or too distracted or they may even be just too self-centered to bother with reading the cues that someone else is giving off and for that reason those people that don't do Attunement well uh they leave other people feeling invisible or unimportant or taken for granted without a tune tment in our relationships marriages suffer from unhappiness and friendships suffer from distrust and resentment even a good marriage can get messed up if you're not attuned together even a friendship can be fractured even um misunderstandings with your family and your children relationships can grow distant and loneliness can become epidemic if we don't have Attunement with one another but here's the thing to have Attunement you have to pay attention you can't have Attunement with someone else without paying attention and that has become more and more challenging in this modern world where we constantly don't raise your hand we constantly interrupt face-to-face conversations with real life Flesh and Blood people sitting in front of us and we constantly interrupt our visit with them for this we answer a ding on our phone ding aing I just got a text message right now literally and so that takes us away you see attention is one of the most precious gifts we can ever give another human being um that's why attention is so valuable we don't say that we give attention we say that we pay attention um and nowhere brothers and sisters and church family and your family nowhere is this more important than in the life of those precious little babies that we saw on this platform this morning along with food and water to sustain them physically a baby must have the attentive gaze of a human face the baby's emotional development will actually be stunted unless that baby can see its own Joy or excitement or sorrow or pain reflected in the face of another that kind of reflection that kind of mirror that kind of Attunement it allows that little one to recognize something so important I am connected with I am attuned to somebody else and the face that's looking at them becomes a mirror through which that child learns I'm a source of delight or I'm a source of disappointment a child simply cannot survive without that face because that face tells the baby you matter to me can I just interject dear church family that's why we love everybody that walks through our doors that's why our faces say to them our handshake says to them our hug says to them you matter to me and that's why even as an adult you know this there are certain people that you look for in a crowd certain faces that you seek out people that encourage you and the reason you seek them out is because they pay attention we never outgrow the need to be seen by those that we love the Helix nebula known by astronomers at nasau as NGC 7293 it's located in the constellation Aquarius about 655 light years from Earth and it is a planetary nebula formed by a low mass star that's shedding its outer layers near the end of its life the Helix nebula now it's near the end of its life but just let me tell you its life will Outlast our lives uh it's got a long life but you see because that star's core can no longer sustain nuclear fusion it collapses over time to form a very compact very dense white dwarf star and from Earth's perspective through telescopes gases from that collapsing star they look like a threedimensional spiral curve or what scientists call a helix and in the case of the Helix nebula the phenomenon is even more unique because it consists of two gaseous trails that are nearly perpendicular to each other it's quite a phenomenon in space 655 light years from here now that's the scientific explanation and I know you all got that and you'll remember that forever but popular culture has given the Helix nebula a much more interesting name popular culture calls that nebula the eye of God and it's not hard to see why they call it the eye of God no wonder the scripture says the heavens declare the glory of God the firmament above us displays his handiwork everywhere you look in beautiful Tennessee the hand of God has formed mountains and lakes and rivers and it's a wonderful thing to know the God who formed the universe and gave it to us as our home for Generations our literature and our music music not just church everywhere our literature and our music reflects this idea that someone up there is paying attention to our everyday ordinary lives nearly 35 years ago when the whole world was anxious over the Gulf War it involved Iraq and Kuwait and a coalition of 42 Nations led by your country and everybody was anxious I was an an assistant pastor at the time I remember that the church literally filled up overnight people that were so scared and so concerned and we'd never even seen them before they just piled in because in a time like that in a time of turmoil and trouble there's something in people in that human heart that wants to reach out for someone up there and during that time there was a secular singer you've heard name and she had a number one song and it became an unofficial Anthem around the world 35 years ago her name was B Midler and her song said God is watching us from a distance but that's not just sentimental wishful thinking because the Bible specifically tells us over and over again God is watching us his eyes are upon this service this morning you haven't wasted one micr second of worship every time you've lifted your hands every time you've opened your mouth every time you've lifted up praise God's been watching you and he's been receiving your worship today over and over again the Bible tells us that his eyes are on us every day he's paying attention to everything we ever go through the scripture declares in Psalm 8 that he is mindful of us the scripture says in John 15 that he loves us and first Peter Peter tells us that he cares for us God himself promises us that he is with us that he will never leave us and that he will carry us this is a good scripture for a few of us he will carry us even into our old age now there's no old people in this room this morning but if you've got family that are old you tell him that he'll carry us into our old age God is attuned to us why because his heart is touched with the feelings of our infirmities he was here he walked the roads and the streets the cities and the fields and the lak shores of Israel when he came to this world 2,000 years ago and so he understands us we are not just part of God's world we are the center of God's world it was beautiful this morning wasn't it to see these little babies in arms and all of these sweet family members gathered in behind them do you know what that is that's a brand new precious life who's for a moment the center of everything and it's beautiful and it's fun and it's exciting and we all get behind that cuzz we knew what it felt like when we had children or when we had grandchildren and we think that's absolutely beautiful but I want to tell you God is our heavenly father and his eyes are on us just like the eyes of these families couldn't go away from those precious little babies God saved a lady named Hagar and her son from certain death in the wilderness of beeba and when God saved her she called God by a name in Genesis 16 she said the name of the Lord that spake unto her she said thou God seest me in Hebrew that's El Roy she said you're the God who sees me I want to tell you I'm far removed from Hagar I'm not a destitute woman I'm not in a Wilderness I didn't live 3 or 4 thousand years ago but I want to tell you this morning that's a good name for God oh God you're the one who sees me you walk with me you talk with me you watch me you help me you guide me the oldest book in your Bible not the first book but the oldest book is the Book of Job And when job was in the middle of such a terrible devastating trial he lost his livestock he lost his houses he lost everything he lost his children most of all but in the middle of that trial job took great comfort in knowing this job 31-4 doth not he see my ways and count all my steps and then he says in chapter 34 for his eyes are upon the ways of man and he seeth all his goings here's what job said this is terrible what's happened to me I've lost my family I've lost my houses I've lost my livestock I've lost everything that is pre ious and dear to me I don't have much left you know job had a wife she's not really what you'd call a winner we only know two things that she said to Job one directly and one indirectly the direct thing is is bad the other thing's just insulting she said to him directly one day she said job why don't you just Curse God and die I don't know if she was going through his life insurance papers I'm not sure what she was doing why don't you just Curse God and die but then there's another uh phrase later in the book where he says my breath is strange to my wife and so that lady and I use the term loosely all she said to her husband was two things Curse God and die and your breath stinks you're not helping lady but seriously when job went through that trial and everything fell apart here's his comfort I can get through today cuz I know God's walking with me I can get through today because God sees what I'm going through I can get through today cuz somewhere up there there's someone who created me someone who's been with me someone who knit me together in my mother's womb and I just believe that if he knows what I'm going through I'm going to make it through if he knows what I'm feeling there's a better feeling coming someday soon if he is walking with me I am never ever alone this hymn an old one was inspired by the words of Jesus himself in Matthew 10 and we sometimes sing it when we're doing one of those Sundays and we're looking back and and that old hymn says I Sing Because I'm happy and I sing because I'm free His Eye Is on the Sparrow and I know that he watches me I get up this morning with joy in my heart I get up this morning with peace in my mind I don't know what the rest of the day will bring but I know this I can sing because I'm happy in the Lord I can sing because I'm set free from sin I don't know about you but I'm grateful that His Eye Is on the little sparrow that falls how much more is his eye on you God is attuned to you and your life but here's the thing about our great God he doesn't just see us he responds to us that's the deal if it would it'd be one thing if he was just up there and you knew he was watching but boy that could be cold and distant and maybe harsh or judgmental but he doesn't just see us he responds to us whenever we call on him Psalm 34:15 the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous but look at this and his ears are open unto their cry see God's watching us he knows everything that happened in your life from the moment you open your eyes this morning until right now but let me tell you what's even better God is listening for your voice and if your voice ever gets raised to God he's immediately present he's immediately invested he's immediately involved that's why you need to learn to pray to him that's why you need to learn to pray praise him that's why you need in the darkest night of your soul you need to figure out a way to get one feeble little hand in the air and you need to get your voice lifted and say God I worship you in the middle of the pain in the middle of the strain in the middle of the trial in the middle of the Temptation I worship you his ears open for that could you give God something great to listen to right now would you lift up your voice like a trumpet and just thank him for his beautiful presence we're blessed because God is listening for our Cry 2 chronicles 16 and9 for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth now there are people in our church at home I'm not talking about marville now this is nigh unto a perfect church but I'm talking about a church like ours we've got some good godly people at home they're just like the Lord when they're in a service their eyes roam to and fro all the time they just never stop they their eyes go to and fro throughout the church uh but you don't have people like that here but the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth why because he's just waiting for a moment to step in and show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him God's always looking for an opportunity opportunity to intervene God's always looking for an opportunity to intersect your life God's always looking for an opportunity to step into your family God's always looking for just that one moment of time where you'll reach up to him and let me tell you if you'll take one step toward God he'll take 10 steps toward you if you'll just reach up to him it's amazing it's amazing the King James Bible uh translated into English just a little over 400 years ago it's the King James Bible that first introduced us to an expression we reserve for someone that we cherish above all others you've maybe said this to your spouse or to your little boy or girl the King James Bible gave us this you are the apple of my eye and if you've ever said that you got that from the Bible the apple of my eye we use it for our loved ones our spouses our children our grandchildren you're the apple of my eye it literally refers to the pupil of the eye because there's no place on the body that we protect as automatically and fully as we do the pupil of your eye at the tiniest sign of approaching danger we Flinch and instantly we close our eyelids and if the threat is big enough we automatically without thinking raise our hands to our face because there's no sense more precious to us than our eyesight and so the apple of my eye is someone who is precious to me I have her here this morning Beverly is the apple of my eye it's a beautiful expression and it comes from the Bible but the Hebrew expression is even more descriptive because it literally means the little man of the eye if you've ever had a conversation with one of those people um you know those people that they have no uh no consciousness of personal space don't don't point at them because they'll come over and sit right in front of you if you point at them but they have no concept of personal space you'll be talking to them and they keep getting closer and if you you notice this don't point just raise your hand has that ever happened to you they get right here well the next time do something biblical when they get so close do something biblical it'll take your mind off the breath uh just just that was not necessary if you look straight into their eye and straight at their pupil you can see your reflection in the pupil of their eye that's what that expression means in Hebrew pupil the apple of your eye is the little man of the eye and what it's meant to indicate to us is that's how close God is to you he's so close to you that if you just become aware you can see your reflection in his eye you can see your reflection everything that concerns you concerns him if it's big to you it's big to him if it's important to you it's important to him if it's frustrating to you God wants to step in and do something about it if it's fearful to you God wants to come to your Aid and to your side if you would just kind of take the time you'd be able to see your reflection in his eyes because the Bible tells us that we are made in His image and I just want to leave you with a couple of scriptures here uh this morning that reflect this in Deuteronomy 32 and verse 10 God is talking about his people Israel and he found him in a desert land and in the waste howling Wilderness he led him about he instructed him and he kept him he protected him as the apple of his eye God found his people his nation in a desert land there's a descriptive phrase and in a waste howling Wilderness now I know we're all kind of dressed up there was a baby dedication this morning we needed to dress up some of us it was beautiful but you know what we weren't dressed up when God found some of us some of us he found us in a waste howling Wilderness everywhere around us was addiction and destruction everywhere around us was sadness and depression everywhere around us was pain pain and frustration but our great God he reached down you could hardly believe it but he reached to where you were and when you could not get to where he was he came to you he found some of us in the waste howling Wilderness of addiction he found some of us in the waste howling Wilderness of perversion he found some of us in the waste howling Wilderness of alcoholism but today we're here and God has kept us as the apple of his eye we're close to Jesus today not because of the great things we did but because of the great Mercy he showed my family's different because I'm kept as the apple of his eye my future is different because I'm kept as the apple of his eye oh my goodness I think we could take a timeout and just clap our hands and thank Jesus for his goodness to us to The Children of Men he's so good to us oh my goodness all my life you have been faithful all my life God you have been so so good so it's not strange that with every breath that I am able I will sing of the goodness of God there's an old song we used to sing eons ago in my hour of struggle so many times I found he's as close as the mention of his name just to breathe the name of Jesus can turn everything around he's as close as the mention of his name if you could only see it God's eyes are on you this morning his heart is for you today his ears are listening for the least little cry from your mouth he wants to be close to you the prophet Zachariah received a powerful word of restoration from a mighty Angel who was sent by the Lord to punish people who had plundered God's people and God was not happy about it God was angry because they had dared to touch the ones who were most precious to him and here's the word that was given to the prophet Zachariah for thus saith the Lord of hosts after the glory hath he sent me unto the Nations which spoiled you God said for he that touches you touches the apple of God's eye I am a child of God he calls me his friend anybody that dares to mess with me you're messing with my God because I am the apple of his eye but it's not just some Canadian preacher who happens to be standing in Pulpit every one of the children of God God says you touch them you're dealing with me you hurt them you're dealing with me you come against them devil you're coming against me I am the apple of God's eye the ey is the most sensitive part of your body and God said Satan enemy trouble trial you're poking your finger in my eye and that irritates me so you beware world you beware devil you beware spirits of the age you touch God's Church you're irritating God God said you touched that church you've touched the most precious sensitive thing to me it's my church I gave my life for that church when I purchased it with my own blood shed on the cross of Calvary I am the foundation of that church I am the Chief Cornerstone of that that church I am building that church and the Gates of Hell shall not cannot will not Prevail against it the church you are the apple of God's eye music come on back if you would and so I just came to tell you this morning that God loves you so very very much you can't even imagine how much he loves you he doesn't just love you cuz you're in this building this morning he's loved you every day of your life somebody said and I think it's kind of cute but it's really probably true if God had a wallet your photo would be in it if God had a refrigerator your photo be plastered all over the front of it my my mom she's got great grandkids now you can't see her refrigerator top to bottom side to side it's just all magnetic pictures everybody in the family tree some of them are wackos in our the distant branches of our family tree but they're there shouldn't have said that in the Pulpit either that's not anointing that's just a slip of the tongue here's the thing God loves you with an everlasting love if God had an iPad he'd have the one with the most memory and it wouldn't have anything else on it but photo photos of his kids now we we we are in that generation where we can use these things and we can take pictures y'all that are in this generation you don't know what it was like to take pictures a roll of 24 pictures go get them developed you don't even know what that is only two of them were any good and you threw the rest out now you're blessed you know that's why they do those selfies they're just looking for the perfect one watch a young person taking a selfie sometime it's really entertaining sometimes it's excruciating but they're just trying to get the perfect pose and the perfect expression and just get all the friends in is just want can I tell you God doesn't keep bad pictures of you the minute you ask God for forgiveness he deletes those pictures you know what pictures God keeps of you pictur pictures of you with your hands lifted in his presence pictures of you kneeling in prayer pictures of you bringing your little family to church you say you're you're you're smoking something that's not true oh yeah it's true you remember that Book of Job I referred to do you know how job's trial got started God was going through his pictures with with the devil you know anything about my servant job look at him worshiping look at him sacrificing look at him the devil said oh no if you take all that away job will curse you to your face and God said you can prove me on that and he allowed the devil to take away job's stuff job's houses job's family job's possession job's wealth and when job was right down at the bottom he knew one thing there's a God who's watching me I don't understand what's going on in my life right now but there's a God who's watching me I've worshiped him too many times I've been in his presence too many days here's how much I trust him though he slay me yet will I trust him here's how much I trust him I can't see him in front of me in back of me on my left or on my right but here's what I know God knows the way that I Take God knows what I'm going through God's watching me and job said when he has tried me I shall come forth as gold I don't know when I'm coming out of this but whenever I come out of this I'm going to come out the same as I went in I'm going to come out with my hands lifted I'm going to come out with a praise on my lips because all the way my savior has led me all the way God has watched me all the way God's been listening to my cry and that's why in conclusion over and over the psalmist prayed God if you're going to do that that then I want to pray a prayer I want to pray to you God don't ever hide your face from me I need you looking down upon me I'm not trying to hide from you I'm not trying to run from you I'm not trying to get away from your presence God I just want to tell you don't hide your face from me keep your eyes on me every day that I live Jesus Keep Your Eyes on my family my kids and my grandkids God watch them I pray that today standing right over here God watch your my kids and my grandkids today and just keep your face turned toward them and so the psalmist would pray this Psalm 178 God keep me as the apple of your eye and hide me under the shadow of your wings very simple little message this morning um but I just came to talk to somebody for a second that for some reason your family you yourself your kids your grandkids your siblings somebody that's in your world they're going through this horrible time and nobody knows how to fix it if you could have fixed it you already would have fixed it if you could have healed it you already would have healed it if you could have restored it you already would have restored it and you can't and I just want to tell you that God's watching you right now but more than him just standing up there like this just thinking well you get through it yourself no no he's not like that at all you've never met my Jesus if you think he's like that he's not only watching you he's listening he's listening for somebody this morning that would just say you know what since I'm here I'm going to call on the Lord since I came to church today I might as well use this time to just reach out to God since I'm among all the these people that know how to pray and worship wouldn't this be a great day to let the God of all the universe the god that's watched me every day of my life wouldn't this be a great day to let God intervene in my situation could I ask everybody to stand right now and here's what we're going to do everybody included nobody excluded this church just loves people believe me I'm a witness of that and so in just a moment we're going to come to the front it's our custom and it's a good one we're going to come around this Altar and we're just going to stand together and we're going to pray and as we pray together let me tell you with that many voices lifted you want to believe the ear of God is open over fac marille I can't see in the spiritual Heavens but if I could I know God's got Angels ready to dispatch I know he's got a healing touch ready to give he's watching and he's listening listening but you got to step out and you got to call on him and you got to reach for him and the minute you do I promise you he's going to reach back for you would you bring your family today it's kind of a family weekend isn't it would you come with your family and your friends and would you make your way down here when you get here just lift up your hands and just begin to call on the Lord just worship him just love him he's going to love you back he's going to touch your life he's going to heal you he's going to restore that problem he's going to do something great in your family as you're coming please come right in close and make room for everybody that's still coming up those aisles we got lots of room for everybody today oh thank you great church thank you guests thank you friends thank you families this is so beautiful this is so beautiful just keep keep coming we still got a little bit of room that's beautiful thank you thank you fac thank you guests now I'm just going to ask you to do one more thing and they're going to sing and worship we're going to pray and worship here's what I'd ask you to do that book that I told you about the oldest book in your Bible The Book of Job in the very last chapter there's this sentence and God turn turned the Captivity of job when job prayed for his friends there's something about having that attitude that God has it's not just about me it's not just about my little group no it's about everybody getting what they need from God so if it wouldn't be too much out of your comfort zone would you and your family reach out to somebody else and their family would you brother reach out to another brother would you sister reach out to another sister and just pray for them right now in the presence of God somebody's going to get something beautiful from the Lord this morning thank you Jesus thank you beautiful beautiful beautiful s wonderful how how pre how awesome take me back to again than anything to to you beautiful beautiful beautiful J how sweet is Wonderful Merciful Mir how how preious how awesome wonderful is the of Jes oh just something something it's like nothing I can't explain there's just something something about the name Jesus Jesus see there just something something about about the nothing nothing I can't way there just something something about the name Jesus Jesus Oh beautiful beautiful beautiful Jes so wonderful how wory how wory how prous how awesome beautiful beautiful beautiful sweet Wonder h wory how wory how pre how something something about it's like nothing nothing I can explain there just something something about name Jesus J so beautiful beautiful beautiful Jes see how howy how preious how awesome Jesus how how precious us oh he loves us how he loves oh how he yes he loves us oh he loves us oh he loves my his portion he a PR I'm drawn to tion by the grace in his eyes of Grace he in Ocean We R seeking so heav me it's earth like a beautiful kiss in my heart turns of me inside of my CH I don't have time to take me bre when I think about oh how he how he love he oh how he oh how he He Loves Us oh he he oh oh how he now we are his and he is our Christ I'm dra to Redemption by the grace in his eyes in gra is an ocean we're all see oh yeah so heav me a beautiful K my heart turn my I to take me reget when I think about L us oh how he L us oh oh how he love you never oh how oh how help me oh yes oh yes let's sing it together today let's sing it now oh yes come on just one more time one more time oh yes oh yes oh yes now just tilt your head back and give God praise and let God take a picture of you right now come on just let God take a picture of you right now oh thank you Lord thank you Lord thank you Lord the apple of his eye the apple of his eye oh the apple of his eye thank you Lord thank you Lord thank you Lord thank you Lord well