Let’s Look Up

But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me.

Micah 7:7 (ESV)

I wind my rental car through sharp turnpikes and inclines as I make my way north towards Black Mountain, North Carolina. The sun glares on my windshield and I squint before pulling down the visor, where the ruffled lines of tree-covered mountains jut into the sky. I’m from the Midwest, and while I have the beauty of the Great Lakes, there’s something otherworldly to see majesty made from mountains.

Sometimes, it’s a struggle to lift my own eyes off of the mountains in my own life: the never-ending bills and financial strain that feel like I can never catch up; the push and pull of dynamics that disrupt my day; the tug of my heart that yearns for more in the middle of the mundane.

Later that night, when I’m swaying in a green rocking chair on a wide, generous porch, my eyes rise to those same mountains lined with the lush greenery of spruce and red pine.

How often do we forget the miraculous things that lays right in front of us, but we don’t have the right perspective? We look down at ourselves, disappointed by what have or haven’t done. We look around at our problems and situations, relationship strains, working ourselves up trying to figure out the next move.

We must keep looking up if we want to see the goodness and the beauty before us. It can take a lifetime to learn to leave what’s weighing us down and tell our hearts to focus on God, who has been beckoning us to him the entire time.

But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me. (Micah 7:7)

God reminds us to look up and see His handiwork all over—in our lives, in our situations—and remember who he is and how he is over all things. Like the Jewish people on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, we can remember one of the psalms of ascent that they would sing on their journey to regain perspective:

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. (Psalm 121:1-2)

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It’s a joy and honor to be over at Proverbs 31 today sharing about how we can lift our eyes to the One who is our help. Would you join me there?