Lift Your Eyes Up

"Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens; Who created all these?" Isaiah 40:26 (NIV)

My sacred echo over the last several weeks has been "Eyes Up!"  I first saw the phrase in Christy Britton's article on Words to Remember (Servants of Grace blog post June 27, 2019) and mentioned the concept in our last Bible Bits. Over the last two weeks those two words "Eyes Up!" or at least the concept they represent have been front and center in almost everything I've read or heard. Last Sunday in Sunday School, our guests teacher's subject was Psalm 16, one of his favorite Psalms. Like many of the King David's Psalms, Psalm 16 begins with David acknowledging his current circumstances:

"Keep me safe, O God.

for in you I take refuge." (Psalm 16:1)

David's words are a prayer of protection. I'm not sure what or who was threatening David at the time when he penned those words. David had plenty of enemies and not just from other armies. King Saul threatened his life for a number of years before David assumed the throne of Israel. David's own son Absalom orchestrated a coup attempt in an effort to attain the kingdom for himself.  Whatever the cause, the threat was real. But David knew where to take his fears. Just a few verses later, David writes these words:

"I will praise the Lord who counsels me,

Even at night my heart instructs me.

I have set the Lord always before me,

Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken." (Psalm 16:7-8)

David quickly moved from prayer to praise by setting his eyes on the Lord. His gaze shifts from looking at his circumstances to looking upward at God. The result is "even at night my heart instructs" him. I don't know about you, but whenever I'm worried, anxious, upset, or afraid, the nights are always worse than the days. When everything else is still and quiet, my heart can churn and burn and my fears run away with me. My guess is the same was true for David and is probably true for you too. David strategically changes his focus from his circumstances to the character and goodness of God. Read Psalm 16 for yourself and you'll see that when David gets his eyes up, he recognizes God's counsel, instruction, faithfulness, confidence, security, joy, knowledge, pleasure and life. (Psalm 16:7-11) Many of the other Psalms reflect the same pattern: prayer to praise when our gaze becomes Eyes Up.

Yesterday while attending a friend's funeral, one of the scripture passages read by the pastor was Isaiah 40:25-31. As soon as I heard verse 26 being read, I recognized the "eyes up" terminology. "Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these?" My thoughts turned from shock, grief, and sorrow toward God and His sovereignty and faithfulness.

James Bruce has also been part of my three-week "eyes up" sacred echo. One morning while studying the Psalms, I was right in the middle of tracing the "eyes up" theme through some passages. James Bruce came into my bedroom insistently saying, "Mama, Mama!" Absently I answered without looking up at him, "What James Bruce?"

"God is good," he replied.

I put my notebook and Bible down and focused on him as I answered, "Yes, He is!"

He turned to walk out of my room, but before he left James Bruce said, "Yep! God is good at being faithful!"

"Eyes Up...indeed He is," I thought.

My Psalm reading that morning took on new meaning as I considered the goodness and faithfulness of God in and through the life and words of my special needs son. Read the Scriptures and look for the "eyes up" language. You'll find it throughout the Bible with passages such as:

"My eyes are ever on the Lord." Psalm 25:15 (NIV)

"Our eyes look to the Lord our God" Psalm 123:2

"My eyes are fixed on you." Psalm 141:8

"We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you." 2 Chronicles 20:12

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith." Hebrews 12:2

Whatever we are facing today, we should certainly acknowledge our circumstances and pray about them. And then, we should follow David's example and focus, not on circumstances, but on our God, His character (who He is) and What He has done.

"God is good at being faithful!" (James Bruce Evans, Jr.)

Eyes Up!