July 7th, 2006
Happy Friend’s Day!!!
Friendship Study – Edition #16: Is Person B an Apple?
It’s been a whole week since I have posted. I do apologize. A friend had once told me that I have quiet times that are like “meat” instead of milk. And if that is the case, these days, it seems like I’ve been having “fast food.” One thing that has really been on my heart of late is that of friendship. I spoke with a brother a few weeks ago who moved in from another city, I guess a year ago, and he’s been struggling quite a bit with friendships. And I was thinking, not necessarily about his situation, but in general, of a social experiment, of where person A is brought into a group unknowingly and is showered with love, attention, and generosity. Person B comes along and is introduced to the group at the same time as person A but is not shown the same experience, but the exact opposite. Person B is ignored, gets little attention, and is greeted only when he makes himself known.
Happy Friend’s Day!!!
Friendship Study – Edition #16: Is Person B an Apple?
It’s been a whole week since I have posted. I do apologize. A friend had once told me that I have quiet times that are like “meat” instead of milk. And if that is the case, these days, it seems like I’ve been having “fast food.” One thing that has really been on my heart of late is that of friendship. I spoke with a brother a few weeks ago who moved in from another city, I guess a year ago, and he’s been struggling quite a bit with friendships. And I was thinking, not necessarily about his situation, but in general, of a social experiment, of where person A is brought into a group unknowingly and is showered with love, attention, and generosity. Person B comes along and is introduced to the group at the same time as person A but is not shown the same experience, but the exact opposite. Person B is ignored, gets little attention, and is greeted only when he makes himself known.
I actually have a diagram to go along with what I am talking about. Person A is welcomed into the “Circle of Friends.” Or I could phrase another way, person A is welcomed into the house, the heart of the people, whereas person B isn’t. And when I made this little “Circle of Friends” clip art or whatever you want to call it, I purposely made it to look like that of an eye, because I’ve heard that the eyes are the doorway to the soul. It’s somewhat poetic.
Oh, and just think… a year from today, it will be a “Perfect Day.” A bit random, but rather interesting… Hey, the date will then be “7/7/07”. I guess there should be a movie called the “Un-Omen”? I don’t know…
I guess I should forewarn you, I am taking an Old Testament Survey class in school, which I am excited about, so look for a bunch of posting to be coming from the old side of things. My paper is going to be on Malachi!
Deuteronomy 32:1-47
Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. They have acted corruptly toward him; to their shame they are no longer his children, but a warped and crooked generation. Is this the way you repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you? Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you. When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For the LORD's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance. In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. The LORD alone led him; no foreign god was with him. He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him with the fruit of the fields. He nourished him with honey from the rock, and with oil from the flinty crag, with curds and milk from herd and flock and with fattened lambs and goats, with choice rams of Bashan and the finest kernels of wheat. You drank the foaming blood of the grape. Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; filled with food, he became heavy and sleek. He abandoned the God who made him and rejected the Rock his Savior. They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols. They sacrificed to demons, which are not God - gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your fathers did not fear. You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth. The LORD saw this and rejected them because he was angered by his sons and daughters. “I will hide my face from them,” he said, “and see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children who are unfaithful. They made me jealous by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols. I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding. For a fire has been kindled by my wrath, one that burns to the realm of death below. It will devour the earth and its harvests and set afire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap calamities upon them and spend my arrows against them. I will send wasting famine against them, consuming pestilence and deadly plague; I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts, the venom of vipers that glide in the dust. In the street the sword will make them childless; in their homes terror will reign. Young men and young women will perish, infants and gray-haired men. I said I would scatter them and blot out their memory from mankind, but I dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest the adversary misunderstand and say, ‘Our hand has triumphed; the LORD has not done all this.’” They are a nation without sense, there is no discernment in them. If only they were wise and would understand this and discern what their end will be! How could one man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up? For their rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede. Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are filled with poison, and their clusters with bitterness. Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras. “Have I not kept this in reserve and sealed it in my vaults? It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.” The LORD will judge his people and have compassion on his servants when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free. He will say: “Now where are their gods, the rock they took refuge in, the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up to help you! Let them give you shelter! See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand. I lift my hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever, when I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries and repay those who hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood, while my sword devours flesh: the blood of the slain and the captives, the heads of the enemy leaders.” Rejoice, O nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants; he will take vengeance on his enemies and make atonement for his land and people.
Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, he said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you - they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
Deuteronomy 32:10 apple:
'îyshôn
ee-shone'
The little man of the eye; the pupil or ball; hence the middle (of night): - apple [of the eye], black, obscure.
Deuteronomy 32:10 eye:
‛ayin
ah'-yin
An eye (literally or figuratively); by analogy a fountain (as the eye of the landscape): - affliction, outward appearance, + before, + think best, colour, conceit, + be content, countenance, + displease, eye ([-brow], [-d], -sight), face, + favour, fountain, furrow [from the margin], X him, + humble, knowledge, look, (+ well), X me, open (-ly), + (not) please, presence, + regard, resemblance, sight, X thee, X them, + think, X us, well, X you (-rselves).
In a relationship, I think it would be good to be the apple of God’s eye, rather than say, the outer limits. Israel, or Jacob, was the apple of God’s eye. In the diagram, the outer limits would be the nose, cheek, or eye brow area… flesh. I would think another way would be worldly, and God isn’t that at all. But still, when I turn my back on God, it would be ME turning my back on HIM, not the other way around. I’m still the apple of HIS eye. In the NIV, the word apple is used ten times. With the word eye in the same verse, it is used four times. The first, listed above, the others (all Old Testament)…
Psalm 17:7-8
Show the wonder of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings…
Proverbs 7:1-3
My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
I remember thinking about putting God’s word on my heart, because with the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks… but this is interesting. To put God’s teachings as the “apple of my eyes”…
Apple-of-My-Eye (Urban Dictionary):
One’s favorite person; the one you love most.
The urban dictionary went on to explain (and I should note, my wonderful wife did so earlier…) “In Old English, the pupil of the eye (the round, dark center) was called the 'apple'. It was thought that the pupil was a round object much like an apple (a piece of fruit). When you look at someone, their reflection appears in your pupil. So if someone is the 'apple of your eye', he or she is someone that you look at a lot and enjoy seeing.”
So, the question remains: is person B an apple? Or at least, no experiments, am I making that person feel accommodating, am I opening my home up? Am I doing as much as I can to get to the apple of the eye with my friends as God is with me? Because, to be honest with you, that brother that I spoke with, he didn’t sound so good. I’ve been praying for him. Anyway, Johnny Out.
Oh, and just think… a year from today, it will be a “Perfect Day.” A bit random, but rather interesting… Hey, the date will then be “7/7/07”. I guess there should be a movie called the “Un-Omen”? I don’t know…
I guess I should forewarn you, I am taking an Old Testament Survey class in school, which I am excited about, so look for a bunch of posting to be coming from the old side of things. My paper is going to be on Malachi!
Deuteronomy 32:1-47
Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. They have acted corruptly toward him; to their shame they are no longer his children, but a warped and crooked generation. Is this the way you repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you? Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you. When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For the LORD's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance. In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. The LORD alone led him; no foreign god was with him. He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him with the fruit of the fields. He nourished him with honey from the rock, and with oil from the flinty crag, with curds and milk from herd and flock and with fattened lambs and goats, with choice rams of Bashan and the finest kernels of wheat. You drank the foaming blood of the grape. Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; filled with food, he became heavy and sleek. He abandoned the God who made him and rejected the Rock his Savior. They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols. They sacrificed to demons, which are not God - gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your fathers did not fear. You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth. The LORD saw this and rejected them because he was angered by his sons and daughters. “I will hide my face from them,” he said, “and see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children who are unfaithful. They made me jealous by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols. I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding. For a fire has been kindled by my wrath, one that burns to the realm of death below. It will devour the earth and its harvests and set afire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap calamities upon them and spend my arrows against them. I will send wasting famine against them, consuming pestilence and deadly plague; I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts, the venom of vipers that glide in the dust. In the street the sword will make them childless; in their homes terror will reign. Young men and young women will perish, infants and gray-haired men. I said I would scatter them and blot out their memory from mankind, but I dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest the adversary misunderstand and say, ‘Our hand has triumphed; the LORD has not done all this.’” They are a nation without sense, there is no discernment in them. If only they were wise and would understand this and discern what their end will be! How could one man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up? For their rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede. Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are filled with poison, and their clusters with bitterness. Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras. “Have I not kept this in reserve and sealed it in my vaults? It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.” The LORD will judge his people and have compassion on his servants when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free. He will say: “Now where are their gods, the rock they took refuge in, the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up to help you! Let them give you shelter! See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand. I lift my hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever, when I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries and repay those who hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood, while my sword devours flesh: the blood of the slain and the captives, the heads of the enemy leaders.” Rejoice, O nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants; he will take vengeance on his enemies and make atonement for his land and people.
Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, he said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you - they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
Deuteronomy 32:10 apple:
'îyshôn
ee-shone'
The little man of the eye; the pupil or ball; hence the middle (of night): - apple [of the eye], black, obscure.
Deuteronomy 32:10 eye:
‛ayin
ah'-yin
An eye (literally or figuratively); by analogy a fountain (as the eye of the landscape): - affliction, outward appearance, + before, + think best, colour, conceit, + be content, countenance, + displease, eye ([-brow], [-d], -sight), face, + favour, fountain, furrow [from the margin], X him, + humble, knowledge, look, (+ well), X me, open (-ly), + (not) please, presence, + regard, resemblance, sight, X thee, X them, + think, X us, well, X you (-rselves).
In a relationship, I think it would be good to be the apple of God’s eye, rather than say, the outer limits. Israel, or Jacob, was the apple of God’s eye. In the diagram, the outer limits would be the nose, cheek, or eye brow area… flesh. I would think another way would be worldly, and God isn’t that at all. But still, when I turn my back on God, it would be ME turning my back on HIM, not the other way around. I’m still the apple of HIS eye. In the NIV, the word apple is used ten times. With the word eye in the same verse, it is used four times. The first, listed above, the others (all Old Testament)…
Psalm 17:7-8
Show the wonder of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings…
Proverbs 7:1-3
My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
I remember thinking about putting God’s word on my heart, because with the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks… but this is interesting. To put God’s teachings as the “apple of my eyes”…
Apple-of-My-Eye (Urban Dictionary):
One’s favorite person; the one you love most.
The urban dictionary went on to explain (and I should note, my wonderful wife did so earlier…) “In Old English, the pupil of the eye (the round, dark center) was called the 'apple'. It was thought that the pupil was a round object much like an apple (a piece of fruit). When you look at someone, their reflection appears in your pupil. So if someone is the 'apple of your eye', he or she is someone that you look at a lot and enjoy seeing.”
So, the question remains: is person B an apple? Or at least, no experiments, am I making that person feel accommodating, am I opening my home up? Am I doing as much as I can to get to the apple of the eye with my friends as God is with me? Because, to be honest with you, that brother that I spoke with, he didn’t sound so good. I’ve been praying for him. Anyway, Johnny Out.
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