Eyes Toward Heaven

Psalms 123:1 Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens.

A wonderful reminder today that the best place to put our focus on, in times of trouble, is on the Lord. Although we know that the Spirit of God indwells us, the best place to set our eyes is heavenward, where God sits on His throne. Interestingly, the psalmist uses the examples of a servant keeping watch on his master's hand, and a maiden keeping watch on her mistress's hand. Why is that? It is said that in the East, the master is a man of little words and directs with his hands, and Eastern women were very strict about training their maidens to watch for commands given to them using hand gestures. Neither the servant nor the maiden dared to miss a command that was being given, so they focused on their master's and mistress's hands. What an appropriate reminder it is for us to keep our eyes on God and His Word. For it is during times of trials and tribulations that we have the greatest tendency to take our eyes off of God, and put them on what we think are the best solutions to our troubles. We have no desire to spend more time in the midst of trials than we have to; and "since God does not seem to want to move this along or even care that we are hurting so much", we decide that it is best that we seek our own solutions. We go to planning and scheming, and seeking the help of others, and inevitably put way too much faith in everything and everyone, except the One who already has the answer and is waiting for us to put our eyes on Him. He patiently waits for us so that He can direct us. Where is our focus today? Why wait until trouble comes, before we start looking up? Let us lift our eyes up toward Heaven, the place where our Heavenly Father sits. Jesus will quietly remind us that we have a Comforter who is with us; that we are never alone, and that He is patiently waiting to guide us. So...look up! Eyes toward Heaven!

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 7:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).