Harbor Stop 20: The Apple of God’s Eye

Today we arrive at Harbor Stop 20: The Apple of God’s Eye

Anchor Scripture: Psalm 17:8 (NKJV) “Keep me as the apple of Your eye;Hide me under the shadow of Your wings.”

To be kept as the apple of God’s eye is to be precious, deeply loved, and carefully guarded by Him; even in the wilderness.

🏠 Safe Harbor Awaits

Have you ever wondered what someone really means when they say, “You are the apple of God’s eye”?

We often use the phrase to describe someone who is special or deeply loved. Biblically, however, the picture is even stronger.

The apple of God’s eye describes one who is extremely precious, deeply loved, and fiercely protected by God. The expression refers to the pupil of the eye, one of the most sensitive and carefully guarded parts of the body.

Think about what happens when something suddenly flies toward your eye. You do not have to stop and decide what to do. Your eyelids close. Your head turns. Your hands may rise instinctively to shield your face. The response is immediate because your eyesight is valuable and the eye is vulnerable. We naturally protect it from harm.[1]

That is part of the picture Scripture gives us. God used this image when describing His care for Israel in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 32:10). David used it when crying out for God’s protection (Psalm 17:8). Zechariah used it when speaking to a people who had already experienced devastation (Zechariah 2:8).

But there is another beautiful thought connected with the pupil of the eye.

When you are close enough to look deeply into another person’s eyes, you can see your own tiny reflection in the pupil. The Hebrew expression itself primarily points us toward something precious and carefully guarded, but that reflection gives us a beautiful picture of nearness.

God does not desire a distant relationship with us. He invites us to draw near. To know Him. To trust Him. To remain close enough that our identity is shaped more by how He sees us than by how the world sees us.

And yet there is something important we must understand: Being precious to God does not mean nothing painful will ever touch our lives.

Israel was still in the wilderness. David still had enemies. Judah had already been plundered.

God’s protection is not a promise that every storm will turn away before reaching us. It is the assurance that the storm never causes God to look away. You may walk through wilderness, experience rejection, carry wounds others cannot see, may even wonder whether anyone notices what you are carrying. But Scripture repeatedly reveals a God who sees, knows, remembers, and cares for His people.

You have never been hidden from His sight.

⚓ Drop Anchor

Pause and Pray: Father, sometimes the circumstances around me make me question whether You see me. When I feel unnoticed, remind me that Your eyes are upon me. When I feel forgotten, remind me that You know exactly where I am. When I am walking through a wilderness I do not understand, help me trust that the wilderness has not carried me beyond Your care. Draw me closer to You. Teach me to see myself through Your eyes rather than through the opinions, rejection, or expectations of others. Keep me near and hide me beneath the shelter of Your wings. In Jesus’ name, amen.

🧭 Check Your Bearings

Before we go any farther, consider where you are today. Do you feel truly seen; your heart, your burdens, your disappointments, and the things you carry quietly?

Maybe you have been faithful behind the scenes and feel unnoticed or life has changed and you no longer feel like the person you once were. Maybe rejection has left you questioning your worth, or you are surrounded by people and still feel alone.

Perhaps you are wondering: If I am truly precious to God, why does this hurt so much?

When we are overlooked, rejected, hurting, or waiting, our bearings can begin to shift. Without realizing it, we may let circumstances or the way others treat us define our worth.

Ask yourself:

–   Do I feel forgotten or unseen?

–   Has suffering caused me to question whether God is still watching over me?

–   Have I allowed what happened to me to create distance between my heart and God?

These struggles are not new. Scripture is filled with people who could easily have felt the same way. Their stories may be different from yours, but each point to the same truth:

Being unseen by people does not mean you are unseen by God.

📖 Voices from the Harbor

When God Reminded Me - I Was Seen

I have walked through many difficult seasons in my life, but a more recent journey awakened something in me that I thought had been lost completely.

In 2020, amid the COVID-19 outbreak, I met my biological father. I traveled to meet him in him for the first time where he lived in Kentucky. During this time, I was working the COVID response as a Health Emergency Operations Manager for our county.

Only a year later, in 2021, he was diagnosed with transitional cell carcinoma. Surgeons removed his right kidney, ureter, and part of his bladder. I traveled back to Kentucky to be there for him. After surgery, while he was recovering, his bowels shut down. As doctors worked to get them functioning again, his heart went into atrial fibrillation (AFib) and he was transferred to critical care.

I called the hospital and asked whether I could speak with him. I was told he was extremely weak, but they put him on the phone. I told my Dad that I wanted to pray for God to heal him. Then I told him something else. If anything happened to him, I wanted to know that I would see him again. I asked whether he wanted to pray and receive Jesus as his Savior.

He did!

Dad recovered and was released from the hospital a few days later. I stayed with him for several months while he regained his strength. At the same time, still working through the COVID response as a Health Emergency Operations Manager.

When Dad was finally able to travel, I brought him to Arizona to meet his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Two days later, he was in the emergency room struggling to breathe.

His heart went into AFib again. Doctors discovered extensive cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and several other health concerns. They planned to restore his heart rhythm through cardioversion, but imaging revealed a clot in his heart, so he was placed on blood-thinning medication instead.

That began nearly five years of hospital visits, medical appointments, caregiving, uncertainty, and trying to keep everything else in life moving at the same time.

In 2023, I took a promotion at work partly because I needed the financial stability and a hybrid schedule that would allow me to continue caring for Dad. My boss offered some flexibility, but communication was difficult and the expectations of the job remained high. At the same time, relationships within my new team became painful.

In early-to-mid 2024, I had two foot surgeries, which made things difficult for me at work. There were many moments when I felt ostracized, misunderstood, and completely worn down by the way my I was treated by my colleagues during this time.

Still, I kept going. I needed to care for Dad. I needed to provide for our needs.

I tried to continue trying to treat others with kindness even when I did not always feel that same kindness in return.

There were many times during these past several years when I felt very much alone in the fight.

In the latter part of 2025, something began to shift. Two different pastors, at different times, spoke words over my life that stayed with me. One reminded me that I had enough faith, giving me the scripture where Jesus said that even faith “as a mustard seed” can move what seems impossible (Matthew 17:20). Another pastor gave me a much longer word, but its heart was simple: God was continually shaping me into the woman He desires me to become. Those words began restoring something I thought had been lost. God had not forgotten me. He was still working.

Perhaps the years that felt like they were breaking me were not evidence that God had stopped seeing me. In January 2026, Dad’s health declined to the point that I placed him on home hospice.

During the final week of his life, I watched him rapidly weaken. I remained beside him until Jesus called him home.

But another storm had already begun.

The week before Dad died, my boss called to tell me that leadership had decided to eliminate my position. He wanted to give me time to begin looking for another job. I knew this was more than a business decision, this was personal and he had an agenda to take my salary and use it for someone he wanted promoted to a higher position. Which would later prove to be true.

Then the losses came one after another.

April 10, 2026 - Dad passed away.

April 17, 2026 - I had to put down my dog, my constant companion of fifteen years.

April 23, 2026 - my position was eliminated.

Three losses in thirteen days!

After years of caregiving, workplace struggles, exhaustion, and trying to hold everything together, there was very little left that felt familiar. Yet during Dad’s time on hospice, God gave me something I would carry beyond that season.

The hospice chaplain shared the meaning of “the apple of God’s eye” with me. He explained the image of standing close enough to another person that you can see your own reflection in the pupil of their eye.

That picture stayed with me.

The biblical expression speaks first of something extremely precious and carefully guarded. But the chaplain’s illustration helped me see something more personal about my relationship with God: His Nearness.

What if God was not standing far away watching everything happen? What if, through all those years when I felt isolated and overlooked, He had been nearer than I realized? What if the invitation was not simply to know that God could see me from heaven, but to draw so close to Him that I began seeing myself differently because I was learning to see myself through His eyes?

I had spent years feeling overlooked. God saw me.

I felt alone. God was near.

I wondered whether the struggle was changing me for the worse. God was still shaping me.

Somewhere through the caregiving, exhaustion, rejection, grief, and loss, God began awakening something in me that I thought was gone.

The assurance that I was still seen. Still known. Still being shaped. Still held.

Perhaps that is why this phrase has become so meaningful to me. The apple of His eye.

Not because being precious to God protected me from every painful thing. It did not. But because none of those painful things ever caused Him to lose sight of me.

The Unnamed Woman; Completely Known by God Judges 13:2–24

There is an easily overlooked woman in Judges 13. We know her husband’s name: Manoah. We know her son’s name: Samson. But Scripture never tells us her name. History remembers her simply as Manoah’s wife.

Yet before Manoah understood what God was doing, the Angel of the LORD appeared to this unnamed woman. God spoke to her. God gave her instructions. God entrusted her with a promise concerning the child she would bear. She may be unnamed on the page, but she was not unknown to God. Perhaps you understand that feeling.

You may sometimes feel known primarily by your relationship to someone else:

–   Someone’s wife.

–   Someone’s mother.

–   Someone’s daughter.

–   Someone’s employee.

–   Someone’s caregiver.

–   Someone working quietly behind the scenes.

People may overlook you. God never does.

Ebed-Melech; The Servant God Remembered Jeremiah 38:7-13; 39:15-18

Then there is Ebed-Melech. His story appears briefly in Jeremiah 38–39. He was an Ethiopian servant in the king’s household when Jeremiah was thrown into a cistern and left to die. Ebed-Melech courageously went before the king, spoke up for Jeremiah, and helped pull God’s prophet from the pit.

Later Jerusalem fell. Think about the chaos surrounding that moment. A city was collapsing. Judgment had come. People were fleeing. Lives were being overturned.

Yet in the middle of everything happening to an entire nation, God sent a specific word concerning one servant. God had not forgotten Ebed-Melech. The Lord promised to preserve his life because he had placed his trust in Him.

Imagine that! While a city was falling, God still saw one faithful man.

Perhaps your life feels small compared with everything happening around you. There are billions of people in this world. Wars rage. Families struggle. Communities suffer. People everywhere are praying, and somewhere in the middle of all of that, you may quietly wonder: Does God really see me?

Ebed-Melech’s story reminds us that God’s ability to see the whole world never prevents Him from seeing the individual. He sees the crowd and He sees the individual.

Still Held When Life Hurts; Vaneetha Rendall Risner

Vaneetha Rendall Risner also knows what it is like to experience circumstances that could make someone wonder whether God had looked away.

She contracted polio as an infant and spent much of her childhood in and out of hospitals, often feeling like an outsider. As an adult, she buried an infant son, developed post-polio syndrome, and later experienced an unwanted divorce while caring for her daughters.

Her testimony is not that God prevented every painful thing from happening. It is that she discovered His presence inside those painful things.

Vaneetha has written openly about asking why a loving God would allow suffering to continue when one hardship seemed to follow another. Over time, she wrote that she realized she needed to find God in the present rather than waiting for her circumstances to improve.

She describes His care this way: “The One who holds the universe, holds me tenderly.”[2]

That is a beautiful picture of what we have been learning. The hands capable of holding the universe are not too occupied to hold one hurting person. Being precious to God did not mean Vaneetha was spared every loss. Being loved did not mean every prayer received the answer she wanted. Being watched over did not mean her body never suffered.

Instead, her testimony points toward a God who remained present and faithful through circumstances she never would have chosen. Sometimes we pray for delivering grace:

Lord, take this away. And sometimes God gives us sustaining grace:

I am with you here. The form of His care may not always look the way we expected.

But the storm does not mean He stopped seeing us.

⛵ Adjust Your Sails

Perhaps your view of God’s love has been shaped by what has happened to you.

When life goes well, it can be easy to say: God loves me.

But when the diagnosis comes…

When someone leaves…

When the job disappears…

When a child struggles…

When grief moves into the house…

When prayers seem unanswered…

When loneliness stretches longer than expected…we may quietly begin to wonder: If I am precious to God, why did He let this happen?

Scripture never promises that being precious to God means being untouched by suffering. Instead, it shows us Israel in a wilderness. David surrounded by enemies. Judah after being plundered. An unnamed woman whom God knew. A servant remembered while a city collapsed. A widow noticed in a crowd. And believers today who continue discovering God’s presence in circumstances they never would have chosen.

Through every story runs the same truth: God sees.

Perhaps the question is not always: Why didn’t God keep this from touching my life? Sometimes the deeper question becomes: Will I trust that what touches my life still matters to Him?

Maybe the question is: Will I draw closer rather than allowing the storm to convince me that God has moved farther away?

You may not understand the storm. But keep Jesus, our Lighthouse in view. You may not know how long the voyage will take. But the One guiding you knows exactly where your boat is.

🌅 Harbor Reflections

There is something deeply comforting about the picture behind “the apple of God’s eye.”

By God’s perfect design, the eye instinctively protects what is vulnerable and valuable. If something tries to get in your eye…You react. You guard. You protect.

But I have come to appreciate another picture as well. His Nearness. When two people are close enough, one can see a tiny reflection in the other’s eye. Again, that is not the primary biblical definition of the expression. But it gives us a beautiful way to think about the intimacy God desires with us.

Maybe the question is not simply: Does God see me?

Perhaps it is also: Am I drawing close enough to God that His view of me is changing the way I see myself?

Manoah’s wife was unnamed. God knew her.

Ebed-Melech was one servant in a city falling apart. God remembered him.

Vaneetha experienced suffering few people could fully understand. God met her there.

Through some of the hardest years of my own life, I am learning the same truth.

God sees me, and He sees you. Not merely the polished version you show everyone else. You. The tired you. The hopeful you. The grieving you. The hurting you. The faithful you. The questioning you. The one still trying to follow Jesus when the waters become rough.

You do not have to become important enough to attract His attention. You already have it. Draw near.

🧹 Maintain the Deck

Sometimes the hardest place to believe we are precious to God is inside our own heart and mind.

–   Rejection tells us: You weren’t worth staying for.

–   Failure whispers: You weren’t good enough.

–   Comparison says: Look how much more valuable they are.

–   Shame says: If people really knew you, they would see how little you are worth.

But none of those voices gets the final word.

Ask yourself:

–   Where have I been measuring my worth by someone else’s treatment of me rather than by God’s love for me?

–   Have I mistaken a wilderness season for God’s abandonment?

–   Has a wound caused me to believe God stopped watching over me?

–   Have I allowed rejection to create distance between me and the One who invites me to draw near?

–   When I look at myself, whose eyes am I looking through?

Bring those thoughts into the light. Sweep away the lie that being wounded means being worthless. Pain can tell you that something happened to you.

It does not get to tell you who you are.

🙏 Cast Your Cares

Father, Thank You that I never disappear in the crowd. You see the places in my heart no one else can see and know the burdens I carry. When suffering makes me question whether You are near, remind me that wilderness does not mean abandonment. When I feel forgotten, remind me that You see me. When I feel insignificant, remind me that my worth is not determined by the attention of people. Draw me close enough to see myself through Your eyes. Keep me near. Guard my heart. Steady my faith. And when storms surround me, hide me beneath the shelter of Your wings. In Jesus’ name, amen.

“Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” ~ 1 Peter 5:7 (NKJV)

🗺️ Plot Your Course

This week, when something causes you to feel overlooked, rejected, or forgotten, stop before allowing that feeling to define your worth.

Return to Psalm 17:8: “Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me under the shadow of Your wings.”

Then remember:

–   Unnamed does not mean unknown.

–   Overlooked does not mean unseen.

–   Wounded does not mean worthless.

–   Wilderness does not mean abandoned.

When the voices around you begin defining your worth, draw closer to God and ask:

Lord, help me see myself through Your eyes. Follow Jesus, your Lighthouse. Keep God’s Word, your Compass, open before you.

When you cannot see beyond the fog, trust that He still sees you.

Follow Jesus. Make Him known.

🛟 Your First Step Home

Maybe you have spent much of your life wondering whether anyone could truly know you and still love you. Jesus does. God’s love does not begin after you repair your life, clean up your past, or prove your worth. Jesus died for our sins and rose again so that we could be forgiven, reconciled to God, and given new life. You do not have to find your own way into the harbor.

Jesus is the way home. If you are ready to turn toward Him, you can pray:

Jesus,

I know that I am a sinner and I need You. I believe You died for my sins and rose again so I could be forgiven and made new. I turn from my old life and place my trust in You. Forgive me, save me, and help me follow You. Thank You for seeing me, loving me, and calling me Your own.

In Your Name, amen.

If you prayed this prayer sincerely, your first step home is not the end of the journey - it is the beginning of a new life with Jesus. Keep your eyes on Him, your Lighthouse, and let His Word become the Compass that guides your way. Begin spending time with Jesus each day; read your Bible, talk with Him in prayer, and take time to listen as the Holy Spirit helps you understand His Word and follow His leading.

Find a Bible-believing church where you can grow in your faith, worship with other believers, serve God with the gifts He has given you, and walk alongside others who are following Jesus. You were never meant to make this journey alone.

Until Our Next Harbor Stop...

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The harbor is always open.

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Sources

[1] GotQuestions.org, “What does it mean to be the apple of God’s eye?”

[2] Vaneetha Rendall Risner: About Vaneetha Risner and “Why Is God Letting Me Suffer?”