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.
Proverbs 7:2-3
Guard the Word – Proverbs 7:2-3
If you have not read The Apple of His Eye (A devotional from Deuteronomy 32:10), read that first to understand the meaning of the Hebrew phrase which is interpreted “apple of His eye”.
The last two devotionals (The Apple of His Eye and Keep Me) explore how we are the apple of God’s eye. Proverbs 7:2-3 turns this phrase in a different direction.
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.
Proverbs 7:2-3
Reflect the Word
We are instructed to guard the Word of God as the apple of our eyes. After what we have learned about the “little man of the eye”, this phrase takes on a greater depth. “Apple of the eye” denotes great affection, but “little man of the eye” indicates that the object is looked upon so intently and extensively that it is reflected in the pupils of the gazer.
We read God’s Word and study it so often and intently that we become reflections of it. It becomes part of us, so that we see the world through it’s reflection. We view people through a lens of the teachings of Wisdom Himself – of Love Incarnate.
Tips to Guard God’s Word
How do we learn to keep His commands? How do we guard His teachings as the apple of our eyes?
Verse three gives us some tips:
1. “Bind them on your fingers”
Keeping them with you – always in front of your eyes. In Biblical times, a phylactery, or small leather box of Hebrew scriptures was bound to the left arm and wrapped around the middle finger. In modern times, this might mean scripture on jewelry or on your phone case or as a background on your phone screen or in your purse. Perhaps you post scripture on your refrigerator or bathroom mirror or on your desk at work. Anywhere you will see repeatedly throughout your days.
Keeping God’s Word always in front of our eyes helps it to become part of us and us to become reflections of it to the world. It also helps us with the next tip…
2. “Write them on the tablet of your heart”
Writing God’s Word on the tablets of our heart means truly making them a part of our minds and hearts. Memorizing them will help with this, but if we are to write the Word of God on our hearts, we must also apply it to our lives. Not just learn it for knowledge’s sake, but take it in to let it transform our lives.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
Transformative Power
The Word of God has power to transform and renew our minds and hearts. Studying, memorizing, and applying the wisdom of the scriptures writes them on the tablets of our hearts, making them a part of us. Causing us to reflect that wisdom to the world.
Something wonderful happens when we do these two things: we the world and other people through the lens of the truth of God’s Word instead of our own desires and hurts. We are truly transformed.
Action Step:
Where will you see the Word of God everyday?
Choose a scripture that you want to become a part of you and post it there. Keep it in front of your eyes. Memorize and apply it today and everyday until it becomes a part of who you are at your core.
Prayer:
Dear God, help us to study your Word so intently and consistently that it becomes a part of us. Let us reflect Your Word to those around us. Transform us through the washing of Your Word. In Jesus’ name, amen.