Look Up!
Psalm 121 (NIV)
‘I lift up my eyes to the mountains - where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord - the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip - he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.'
The Lord watches over you - the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day - nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all harm - he will watch over your life;
The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.’
Recently I was walking home from school, the same route I always take down an unimpressive-looking street, round to another unimpressive street to the train station and home. Same route, day in day out but this time it was different. This time I was walking with a colleague making small talk when suddenly they stopped, looked up and remarked that this was one of the oldest streets in the town. ‘You wouldn’t notice it at street level.’ They were right - the minute I looked up, I noticed the beautiful architecture; all I needed to do was look up.
Often, in life we find ourselves focussing on what’s on eye-level and forget to look up to see what is in store and what lies beyond our circumstances. The writer of Psalm 121 seemed to be writing from the perspective of being on a journey and looking up and ahead to the hope that awaits. He speaks of the incredible things that happen when we look up and lift our eyes: we find a God who loves, cares and watches over us forever. Such incredible truth!
Charles Spurgeon writes in his exposition of this Psalm, ‘Help comes to saints only from above, they look elsewhere in vain: let us lift our eyes with hope, expectance, desire, and confidence.’ (Christianity.com). So let us lift our eyes again today to the One in whom we can place full confidence.
Prayer – Father, thank you for that our help comes from you and that we have incredible promises we can hold onto when we lift our eyes to you. Help us to look to you today.