Blink!
Protect me as the pupil of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings
Psalm 17:8a (CSB)
“Don’t blink,” cautioned the technician at the ophthalmologist’s office, all the while flashing a light directly in my eyes, making it almost impossible not to blink. I could not stop thinking, “Just how much longer will this misery last?”
“Now, blink, blink, blink,” she said, as she finally clicked the light off while I heaved a sigh of relief!
Coincidentally, later that day, I discovered a jewel while reading Psalm 17 in the Christian Standard Bible translation. A prayer written by King David jumped off the page as I focused on one phrase where he asked for protection— as the pupil of God’s eye. Perplexed for a moment, because most translators choose ‘apple’ instead of ‘pupil,’ I searched several other comparable versions of the passage and found the same surprise word—pupil. The Holy Spirit then taught me a lasting truth about God’s miraculous creation of the human eye.
After a little research, I learned that the pupil isn’t a structure in the eye at all; it is actually an open space in the center of the eye. Since the pupil is, in fact, an open space through which light enters the eye and is controlled by the muscles in the colored part of the eye—the iris—the pupil becomes smaller with more light and larger with less light.
This comparison is even more meaningful because David asked God to protect him—as his own pupil. Did David ask to be in God’s open space? Or did he ask God to be in his open space? Or Both? I believe these questions present a perfect picture of what righteousness means—to live and breathe in God’s space, which covers my space.
Friends, God’s blink of an eye, or His time table, is incomprehensibly different from ours. It is higher, more far-reaching and vast than we can ever imagine. But the miracle of it all is that He invites us to join Him and to live in his presence.
David’s promise to God in Psalm 17:15 says it best—“But I will see your face in righteousness; when I awake, I will be satisfied with your presence.”
When we choose to surrender to our magnificent Creator Father, we allow ourselves to learn more about His thoughts and ways. Ask Him to protect you and lead you. Then wait until you begin to experience His peace with the assurance that He is holding you in the center of His eye —in His pupil—while hiding you in the shadow of His wings.
Jill Hendrix
