David, hunted by predatory enemies who surround him like hungry lions, appeals to God as the righteous Judge with a tested heart: lips without deceit, hands free of bribes, feet held to God’s paths. He asks to be kept as the apple of God’s eye, hidden in the shadow of His wings — yet even David’s checklist of favor is missing the one thing Jesus made explicit: forgiving our enemies so that we may be forgiven. And the psalm ends not with rescue from lions but with the reward of the tested heart: “When I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.”
Psalm 17
Guarded as the Apple of His Eye: Psalm 17 on the Checklist of a Tested Heart
A prayer of David.
1 Hear me, Lord, my plea is just; listen to my cry. Hear my prayer— it does not rise from deceitful lips.
2 Let my vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right.
3 Though you probe my heart, though you examine me at night and test me, you will find that I have planned no evil; my mouth has not transgressed.
4 Though people tried to bribe me, I have kept myself from the ways of the violent through what your lips have commanded.
5 My steps have held to your paths; my feet have not stumbled.
6 I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.
7 Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes.
8 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings
9 from the wicked who are out to destroy me, from my mortal enemies who surround me.
10 They close up their callous hearts, and their mouths speak with arrogance.
11 They have tracked me down, they now surround me, with eyes alert, to throw me to the ground.
12 They are like a lion hungry for prey, like a fierce lion crouching in cover.
13 Rise up, Lord, confront them, bring them down; with your sword rescue me from the wicked.
14 By your hand save me from such people, Lord, from those of this world whose reward is in this life. May what you have stored up for the wicked fill their bellies; may their children gorge themselves on it, and may there be leftovers for their little ones.
15 As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.
Recently I called someone in the church out because they were not praying with the rest of us prior to worship team rehearsal. I said “does this not involve you”? He was not in the worship team but he was present. I apologized to him for my harshness some days later. He said “don’t worry, you’re ok (with him)”. A couple of weeks later I was reminded what Jesus responded to him when someone called him “good” – only the Father in Heaven is truly good. So I started thinking along this line “wow with that endorsement and $5 I can get a small Starbucks coffee”. Here though, in Psalm 17 prayer, David asks God for protection for himself, vindication against the charges and accusations of his enemies and lays out a kind of checklist to establish if one is in God’s favor. Something like this:
My heart, in prayer to You, Lord, is true, not deceitful.
You have eyes that see and with Your righteous observation I stand vindicated against all charges.
If You test me and examine my heart, you will find that I plan no evil and my mouth has not defiled me.
I have refused any and all bribes from the unrighteous in accordance with Your commandments.
I have stayed on the narrow road that leads to the one door out – faith in You and Your only Son, Jesus.
And so I pray You keep me, as Israel, which has done so much to drive a wedge between you and they, as the apple of Your eye.
The main thing that I see David has left out is that he has not forgiven his enemies, and as in the Lord’s Prayer, it is a requirement in order to be forgiven by God. In fact he asks God to strike down David’s unrighteous enemies. Lastly, David requests of the Lord in verse 15: As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.
I believe that if one has kept to the essential two commandments as distilled from the 10 by Jesus and has forgiven trespasses against one then it makes for a strong checklist.
Classic Commentaries Corner
Charles Spurgeon, in his Treasury of David, marvels at verse 8: “Keep me as the apple of your eye.” He notes that the apple — the pupil — is the body’s most precious and most fiercely guarded member, shielded by brow and lid and lash; and so God’s care for His child is not distant providence but the instinctive, reflexive protectiveness of an eye for its own pupil. The “shadow of thy wings,” he writes, is the nearest shelter of all — the place where the fledgling runs when the hawk circles.
Matthew Henry sees the whole psalm as an appeal to the God who tries the hearts of the children of men. David does not plead his cause before flattering friends but before an all-seeing Judge, and therefore his integrity is his confidence: he submits to the nightly examination of his own heart, “though you examine me at night and test me.” Henry observes that sincerity gives a believer boldness in prayer that mere formality can never counterfeit.
John Calvin, on verse 15, hears David lift his eyes above deliverance itself to the summit of all blessing: “I will be vindicated and will see your face.” Calvin writes that the godly have their satisfaction nowhere but in God’s presence — worldly men, as the psalm says, have their reward in this life, but the believer’s treasure is to behold God’s face and be satisfied with His likeness, a desire the world cannot even understand.
Augustine, preaching on that same fifteenth verse, recognized the psalm’s final horizon: “When I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.” For Augustine this is the beatific vision — the awakened soul, the resurrection morning, the face of God beheld at last. He notes the order of David’s hopes: first vindication, then vision; first the Judge clears him, then the Father delights him; and the satisfaction of seeing God leaves no room for any other longing.
Corroborating Scripture & Christological Connections
Deuteronomy 32:10 — “He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye.” David borrows Moses’ song of Jacob: the phrase every Hebrew knew, the picture of a nation — and a soul — carried in the pupil of God’s eye.
Psalm 91:4 — “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.” The shadow of the wings David hid beneath is the same refuge the Most High spreads over every Whomsoever who dwells in His shelter.
Matthew 19:17 — “Why do you ask me about what is good? No one is good — except God alone.” The verse behind the $5 Starbucks coffee — every human endorsement, including “you’re ok,” is pocket change next to the verdict of the only One who is good.
Matthew 6:14-15 — “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” The item David’s checklist lacked, the requirement Jesus made explicit: forgiveness in, forgiveness out.
Matthew 22:37-40 — “Love the Lord your God with all your heart… Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” The two commandments that, with forgiveness, make Zeb’s checklist strong.
1 John 3:2 — “We know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” John carries David’s “when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness” across the centuries into the believer’s resurrection hope.
Essential Takeaways
- Tested Hearts Pray Boldly: David’s confidence was not perfection but integrity — a heart examined by God, lips without deceit, hands free of bribes, feet on the paths.
- Guarded as the Pupil: God’s care for His own is the reflexive protectiveness of an eye for its apple — He hides us in the shadow of His wings when lions crouch.
- The Missing Item: Even David’s checklist lacked forgiveness of enemies — the requirement Jesus made explicit in the Lord’s Prayer, without which we are not forgiven.
- The Face Is the Reward: The end of the tested heart is not merely rescue from lions but beholding God’s face — satisfied, when we awake, with seeing His likeness.
Prayer For Whomsoevers
Father God, test us and examine our hearts. Use this checklist or any other in adherence to Your word. If You find us worthy then we request may we be in Your favor and allowed to see Your Face. We request this knowing that the only thing which qualifies us to be fully forgiven and in your favor is if we are covered by the Holy blood of Jesus, Your only Son and our only Saviour. In His holy name of Jesus we say “amen”.
