Lift up your eyes. These words are taped above my office window to remind me to lift my eyes past my circumstances...past my troubles...past my fears...to Jesus.
Lift up your eyes is a phrase seen throughout Scripture. I first noticed it in the story of Abraham in Genesis 13. Abraham and his nephew are overlooking the land choosing where they will settle. Lot lifts up his eyes and sees the portion of the land that looks “like the Garden of the Lord” and chooses this portion because it is lush and pleasant and offers abundance and comfort. Abraham gets the leftover, not nearly as beautiful or lush as what Lot chose. Abraham got the wilderness. But the Lord God came to Abraham after Lot left and said, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are....” and God began to tell Abraham what He was going to do. He would give him all the land that he saw and fill it with Abraham’s offspring.
What was Abraham looking at? A barren wilderness. What was God asking him to see? A land filled and full. God was asking Abraham to lift his eyes beyond what was seen to the unseen. Hebrews 11:10 tells that through the eyes of faith, Abraham had lifted his eyes to see the “city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”
Lot and Abraham had two different perspectives. Lot’s perspective was on the here and now...the temporal. But with the help of the Lord, Abraham’s perspective was lifted from the temporal to the eternal and he put his trust in the God of promise instead. Did the landscape that Abraham was looking at change? No. But Abraham changed. He was able to be content in the wilderness because of the God in whom he believed.
As you look at the landscape of your life, what do you see? Is it a barren wilderness like Abraham saw? Is the view that you are seeing one filled with uncertainty, instability, and fear? Allow the Lord to draw near to you and hear His voice say these words to you: “Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of His might and because HE is strong in power not one is missing.” (Isaiah 40:26)
God is calling us through His Word to lift our eyes to the WHO of creation. To His greatness, His power, His might. Our contentment and rest is not found in our circumstances, which may be a barren wilderness, but in the One who calls us to lift up our eyes and see Him. It is He who fills our emptiness with Himself!
No matter what life is like for you right now, lift up your eyes to the heavens today and every day. Seek the One who is calling you to Himself!
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