Gaze to Praise
"To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul." Psalm 25:1 (NIV)
I'm writing a women's Bible study based on the first eight chapters of Romans for the fall. I've been studying Paul's great letter for the last several months. Author John Stott calls the book of Romans "the fullest, plainest and grandest statement of the gospel in the New Testament." This summer, however, I wanted to study something a little less rigorous, so I've returned to reading through the Psalms. Last week my morning passage was Psalm 25:1, today's Bible Bits verse, which reads:"To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul." Psalm 25 is a Psalm of David and was written about 3100 years ago. Yet it's words and emotions still speak to us today.
My current Bible is a Hebrew Greek Keyword study Bible. The words "lift up" in Psalm 25:1 were linked to the Hebrew index in the back of the study Bible. Curious, I turned to the index and was surprised to find that the Hebrew word for the English phrase "lift up" is the word "Nasa" and means "to raise, lift up (the face, the eyes, the voice, or the soul); to bear, carry, carry off. Signifies a lifting up whether literally or figuratively." I laughed out loud as I thought about the meaning of our American NASA designation: National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It's certainly no accident or coincidence that the program charged with carrying out our national space exploration program has a name acronym that corresponds to the Hebrew word for lifting up. It's probably not a politically correct designation by today's cultural standards, but the acronym is certainly appropriate.
My devotional time from Psalm 25:1 collided with a recent blog post that I had read. Christy Britton writing for Servants of Grace on June 27, 2019 said that two words have come to reshape her life. "Eyes Up" were words first spoken by her friend Brittany Salmon during a lunch meeting. Christy's words explain how these two words are reshaping her life:
"Eyes up. A high view of God beats man’s high view of me any day.
It’s been months since this conversation, but God frequently brings her words to mind when my vision gets too comfortable looking outward for approval. He calls my gaze upward, and often uses my friend’s words, which echo his own word, to refocus my priorities.
Eyes. Up.
“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2).
“We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen” (2 Corinthians 4:18).
We look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
This last verse has what I like to call, the hokey-pokey effect, because that’s what it’s all about. Our beholding leads to our becoming more like Christ. The beholders are the becomers. The more we see the beauty of the risen Christ, the more we are conformed to his image. As our gaze lingers, our hearts are reshaped. The once formidable snares and traps become easily avoidable with our eyes up.
Reading through the Psalms I realize that the "Eyes Up" phrase effectively captures David's emotions and actions through his life. Read through the Psalms for yourself and see how many times David begins a Psalm by examining his circumstances or his emotions and then ends up praising or exalting God. Psalm 25 is a perfect example of David's "eyes up" strategy. David acknowledges his enemies, personal sins, loneliness, affliction, troubles, anguish, and distress. But instead of focusing on his circumstances or men's approval, David remembers and rehearses God's salvation, truth, hope, love, mercy, goodness, guidance, faithfulness and deliverance. His upward gaze leads to praise.
Wherever we are today, we can follow David's example: Eyes Up. Read through the Psalms and look for the "eyes up" language.
"As our gaze lingers, our hearts are reshaped." (Christy Britton)
Eyes. Up. Gaze to praise!