June Epistle

Keep looking up!
Psalms 121

Walking through life can be difficult in and of itself. If you couple that with moments of chaos and discord, then life soon becomes out of control. In times like these, it is crucially important that the believer have an anchor deep enough to secure their faith and experience even in trying times. For the believer, it is essential to know “in whom you have believed.”

This has become more apparent to me as I endeavor to be more, know more, say more, and do more. So much more!!! For what ??? To be liked? To be admired? To fulfill a predetermined ego status? Sometimes you just get thrust into the mix of life and life takes you along for the ride. What do you do when life takes you for a ride? You look up. The psalmist says, “I will look unto the hills from whence comes my help…” What a beautiful picture of the man or woman who when facing the trials of life will defer their strength and natural responses to that of the hills. The hills represent a high place. A place of strength. A place of safety. A place of comfort. A place where God is. In the natural, it is impossible to look up and look down at the same time. You will have to focus of one or the other. This analogy can represent to source of our help. When things go wrong, who do we call? I know what you’re thinking. But really, who do we call? Often we call our friends in hopes that they will know what to say or where to direct us to for help. We also call on our past experiences, both good and bad. This is what we know best. We begin to think of how we handled stress and pressure in others situations that might have been less that God’s perfect will for the situation. If we were honest, we call on everybody except the one who can truly help; God.

The writer encourages us to look up. Look to the hills where your help comes from. Our help comes from the Lord. He is the maker of heaven and earth. This is comforting because if He made heaven and earth that means he made me and the source of my aggravation. Still again, if he made it, then he knows how to handle it. If he know how to handle it, that means it’s under His authority. He is in control despite of what it looks like. Because he is the Lord, He will not allow our foot to slip. Our steps are sure and ordered by the Lord. The Lord is our keeper. The Lord himself is our shade to cool us when the heat of this world is seeking to sear us with adversity and trials. The enemy brings the heat of doubt to the believer and prompts him to think, “Can God really take care of me?” Rest assured that the Lord will not allow the sun or the heat of this world to burn you during the day. Day is representative of things you can see coming at you. It is an intense time when the sun is high and hot. What things in your life are acting as the sun? What things in your life is the sun attempting to melt or harden? Take heart, the sun will not overtake you while you are watching it nor the moon by night; the time when it’s dark and vision is limited. We all have night periods when our vision is not keen and we interact with shadows of the night. Take heart because the Lord promises to preserve our going out and our coming in. This gives me comfort in knowing that the Lord is in control. With this in mind, I can take my eyes off the problem or the ground and look up, “where Christ is”. I can “set my affections on things above”. Dear friends receive this comfort and motivate your heart to look up and keep looking up. You’ll find Christ there. He is the Hope of Glory.