Deuteronomy 32:9-10 (NKJV) 9 For the LORD’S portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance. 10 “He found him in a desert land And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.
Last time we began looking at the true nature of the potential we have as born-again believers. Last time, as we looked at Israel, we saw that everything they experienced and everything they did required the touch of the supernatural. There was no aspect of their journey that did not require supernatural intervention. From the judgments in Egypt to the walls of Jericho, Israel lived in the supernatural power of God. They had supernatural provision, supernaturally maintained clothing and supernatural victory over their enemies. Most important they had a supernatural covenant that gave them a supernatural relationship with the Lord and supernatural laws that maintained it. I think you get the idea that both their potential and ours flows from the supernatural.
The point of their journey was for them to come to Canaan and occupy the land as a supernatural people. Their need for the supernatural power of God did not end with the conquest of the Promised Land. They were to live in that power. When they did, they had victory and prosperity. When they did not they were conquered by their enemies.
In today’s scripture, we read that Israel was to be the “apple of God’s eye.” I have heard this term quoted from Zechariah where the Lord warns those who would come against the people of God that they are touching the apple of his eye. The implication is that God will protect his chosen people. I do not dispute that thought, although I do not think Israel is God’s only chosen people. Paul tells us that the church is spiritual Israel and therefore must also be the apple of God’s eye.
Although this term is used to point to the special nature of Israel’s relationship to God, the first time it appears in the bible is here in the book of Deuteronomy. It is not in the context of God’s being pleased with Israel or protecting her. It is spoken as a condemnation to Israel. The book of Deuteronomy is Moses’ last address to them. In it, he foresees their eventual rebellion and mourns it with his words. Here he is pointing out their failure to walk as the “apple of God’s eye.”
I believe this term indicates the fact that Israel was supposed to live as a special people in the world. They were supposed to occupy Canaan as a demonstration of the love and power of the supernatural God. Their eventual destiny was to produce the Messiah. They could have occupied Canaan for all the years between Joshua and the birth of Jesus as a people demonstrating the existence of the supernatural God. Instead, they walked in constant rebellion.
They had glimpses of the supernatural, but more often than not, they were the most carnal of people. They allowed their flesh to dominate them until all trace of God’s supernatural power left them. When Jesus as finally born, they were living under the dominion of the Roman Empire. They had deteriorated to the point that the Pharisees were the most spiritual among them. They were rigid and uncaring about anything but the letter of the Law. When the God of the Law walked among them in the form of the suffering savior, they did not even recognize him. They were a religious people, but not a supernatural people.
We often confuse the supernatural with the spectacular. Indeed, the supernatural can be spectacular. The parting of the Red Seas certainly was. Jesus walking on water got the attention of the disciples. Many of us have seen spectacular healings or other kinds of miracles. However, not everything supernatural is necessarily spectacular. When Israel was in the wilderness, she was fed everyday with bread that appeared on the ground out of nowhere. That was very spectacular and very supernatural. When they entered the Promised Land, one of the first things that happened was that the Manna ceased appearing.
God said that in Canaan they would live in houses they did not build, partake of vineyards that they did not cultivate and eat food from fields they did not plant. That was just as supernatural but not quite as spectacular. They would have to maintain the houses. They would have to pick the grapes and the grain from the fields. They would no longer go out every morning and find bread; they would have to bake it. However, they would bake their bread with grain provided by the supernatural God.
Eventually the houses they did not build would decay and they would have to build new houses. When the harvest from the first year was gone, they would have to plant seed or they would not have a harvest the next year. They had to live like everyone else but if they maintained their relationship with God, their harvests would be supernatural. They could have rain when others did not. The yield of their crops would be greater because of the presence of the supernatural in all they did.
The same was true in warfare. Israel defeated enemies greater than they were and often we read that they did not even fight the battles. God would cause confusion to come upon the enemy and they would destroy themselves. However, Israel still had an army. They did natural things with a supernatural touch. That is what it meant to be the apple of God’s eye.
The location of Israel in Canaan was not by chance. Canaan was a crossroad of trade for the whole world. Whatever went from east to west and vice versa found its way through Canaan. God placed Israel in a place where they would be seen by the rest of the world. They were to be a supernatural people living their natural lives touched by the supernatural in the middle of the natural world.
I believe that is exactly what God wants to develop in our lives. The church was never meant to be a natural institution. It was always supposed to be supernatural people living natural lives with continual supernatural influence. Through the history of the church, it has often forgotten that. Denominations would rise in supernatural power only to dissolve into natural religious organizations with no supernatural touch at all. Paul described the condition this way.
2 Timothy 3:5 (NKJV) 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
If you read the previous verses, you will see that Paul is also speaking of times very much like our own. I believe the church has forgotten that we are to be a supernatural people. I think God is calling us back to that position in the world. Sometimes we will see spectacular things. Sometimes the supernatural will manifest as the inner strength to resist sin and walk in integrity.
We need to believe to see healings but we also need to believe for supernatural child rearing and supernatural marriage. We need to expect mighty financial miracles that no one will be able to dispute came from the hand of God. We also need to expect God to bless the work of our hands so that we are more productive than those in the world. God wants us to be a supernatural people but he wants us to live as supernatural people in the world. He wants us to prove with our lives that a supernatural God exists and that he cares for all who come to him.
That is what it means to be the “apple of God’s eye.” That is what I pray we will learn to be once again as we live supernatural lives in 2022.
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