Look Up

Recently I was out running late one afternoon. It had been a rough day, and I was probably plodding more than running. Face down, discouraged, simply going through the motions, trying to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Out of nowhere the thought went through my head “Look up!” As Iooked up I was immediately taken aback by the jaw-dropping sunset above my head. I assume it had been up there for a while, but I was so focused on the ground before me, trudging along, that I had not noticed.

As I gazed at that sunset, two verses from God’s word came to mind. The first was from Psalm 121:1-2: “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” Then, a second verse came from Philippians 4:19: “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”Though the discouragements of my day did not disappear, I was deeply reminded that God is an ever-present help in time of trouble (Psalm 46:1), one who knows my every need and has blessed me with every spiritual blessing through Christ
(Ephesians 1:3).

There may be many days or weeks in this life when we feel like we’re simply trudging through the daily grind, one that often seems to be filled with discouragement and hopelessness. We encounter situations that are beyond our ability to fix, relationships that are stressful, goals and dreams that go unfulfilled, health problems that linger, and on and on it goes. And we can get so focused on these things that we forget to look up! I have found that the longer I stare at a problem the bigger it seems, and it is in these times that I need to take my eyes off of the problem in front of me, and look to the Lord. As we fix our
eyes upon him in the midst of our stresses, we are learning to lean on his strength in times of trouble and not our own. May we look up this week and encourage those around us to do the same!

Ben