Deuteronomy 32:13-1813He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock; 14Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape. 15But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. 16They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. 17They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. 18Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee. (Deuteronomy 32:13‑18)
MOSES goes on to sing of sovereign grace that had taken up Israel and cared for them from beginning to end — everything was of the Lord.
“He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.”
“He found him” — “He led him” — “He instructed him” — and “He kept him.” It was all His doing. Surely this tells of His grace with us.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
“He instructed him” — but what slow learners we are! May the Lord help us to be better scholars in divine things, more easy to teach and quick to learn.
“He kept him as the apple of His eye.” “The apple of the eye” is a beautiful figure of speech and Forays to our minds the very choicest of one’s treasures. How tenderly God cherishes every one of His children, no matter how weak and feeble we may be. It also suggests that part of the eye to be especially guarded and so tells of His loving watchful care over each one of us.
So dear, so very dear to God,
More dear I cannot be;
The love wherewith He loves the Son,
Such is His love to me.
Why should I ever careful be,
Since such a God is mine?
He watches o’er me night and day,
And tells me, “Thou art Mine.”
“As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him.”
Like the mother eagle, the Lord knows when to stir up our nest. How prone we are to settle down and be comfortable in our earthly circumstances! But He wants us to be heavenly-minded, to rise on our wings of faith above this world, to bask in the sunshine of His love and enjoy the pure air of that heavenly scene where He dwells — our heavenly home. Then if we get faint or fearful in the midst of the difficulties and trials of the way, His everlasting arms of love bear us up and carry us onward to our heavenly rest.
ML-05/02/1976