Warga Emas

 

One of David's many prayers had to do with apples.  Are you surprized?  Look at the prayer he wrote in Psalm 17:8 (NIV),

"Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings."

The other day I was lined up at a local government clinic to be registered for my appointment.  Almost every time I visit they have new arrangements and rules - it must help keep their brains nimble but it kind of confuses the patients to have to get up to snuff at the latest switch-a-roo.  Some arrangements are more efficient than others.  Yesterday's was not so, however, I was tickled pink to see the queue line label was for the "warga emas".  Sheepishly, I admit, I qualify - this group is for the aged 60 and up folks.

Double-checking with handy Google translate, I found that a literal translation of 'warga emas' equals 'golden citizen'.  Hah!  That compensates for the categorization.  

Actually, I already suspected thus, as I'd learned what the Malaysian language idiom of 'anak emas' means quite some time ago.  It's 'golden child'.  It felt good to have finally gotten  gold medal status in something.  Ha, ha.

A more fluent translation would be the English idiom "apple of the eye".    This means that someone or something is very precious to a person who refers to another person (or thing) as the apple of their eye.

Apples are a fruit that are the apple of my eye. Oh especially those grown in the Canadian Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia.  The crunch and the juicy goodness is definitely something to write home about.  Associating such apples with the idiom really works for me.

As mentioned at the outset, the Bible has used this idiom a couple of times.  God told the Israelites they were the apple of His eye and if anyone were to touch them they'd better watch out as they'd have to deal with Him (see Zechariah 2:8).

I like the idea that those of us who belong to Jesus Christ - His Church, collectively, are the apple of His eye, that we are precious in His sight and He loves and cares for us.  Bring that down now to the individual and say, "I am the apple of My Heavenly Father's eye and I am precious in His sight".  To me, this is something to be very thankful for because I am His child.

How does this make you feel when you claim this for yourself?

Hopefully it creates a golden opportunity to praise the Lord!

                                             ~ERC  March 2023~

Based on Psalm 17:8; Zechariah 2:8; additional references to the apple of His/your eye:  Deuteronomy 32:10 and Proverbs 7:2 NIV.

Sing, Jesus Loves Me, along with Sing Hosanna, Bible songs for Kids.  I know this is a children's song but sometimes it's good to be reminded of how much Jesus does love us.