Many years ago my mom shared some of her experiences as she returned home from Montreal in September of 1961 after attending the funeral of her brother Ken, age 37.
Mom recounted how on the drive home this verse helped her deal with the tragedy of Ken dying at such a young age.
Psalm 121:1-2
I lift up my eyes to the mountains
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
Over the years this verse has come to have a special place in my heart. Most mornings as I sit in my downstairs office I get to look at this picture while doing devotions and reading the bible.
This is a painting my mom did and is one of many works of art that we’re blessed to have in almost every room of our house. If you look closely on the road there is a boy and he’s playing with his dog. I like to think that boy is me. I never had a dog growing up due to allergies and I think mom was not too thrilled with the possibility of looking after a pet. Instead, I got turtles and fish. Less work and less attachment, easier to “let go”.
Anyway, recently one of the devotions was all about Psalm 121 entitled “I will lift up mine eyes“. Every time I look at this picture I’m reminded of this Psalm by the mountains in the background. Interestingly enough there is some bible commentary about looking up to the mountains for help from the gods as people believed way back in the day that “the gods” dwelled in the mountains. For me the forceful comeback to this idea is NO, My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
Another take on lifting up you eyes is to get you focus off your problems and up onto God. From Day 1 of the devotion:
When chaos surrounds you and the waves of life seem to crash against your ship, choose to lift up your eyes beyond life’s challenges and circumstances. Choose to lift up your eyes and focus on Him. Remove your gaze off of the problem and center your focus on Him.
What are your eyes focused on? Who are your eyes fixed on? Are you meditating on the problem or are you trusting in the One who can shift the situation in an instant? When you meditate on the problem you’re amplifying its weight on the throne of your heart.
What are you feeding the ground of your heart? You can either feed your faith by meditating on God’s Word or you can feed your problem by worrying on the cares of the world. Fix your eyes on Christ. Lift up your eyes from your narrow problem and shift your eyes onto a bigger God. God is bigger than your problem. Worship God.
Lifting is a choice. When you choose to lift up your eyes, you’re making a conscious decision to worship God instead of worshipping your problem.
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.