Look up is a phrase which is identified with hope. Hope for the future that things will be better. If you’ve had one of those years where “murphy’s law,” if it can go wrong it will, seems to be your motto, determine today that you will look up. We miss so many things that will give us hope by keeping our head down and dwelling on our circumstances. Think about it, when we keep our head down, we can only see what is directly at our feet. We can’t even focus on where we are going because all we see is the next step. Sometimes we feel that is all we can handle because we are fearful of the future, but if you have placed your faith in Christ there is no need to fear looking up.
In Psalm 8:1, we see David looking up. He is praising God for His excellence. He exalts God for making His name made known to all the earth, not just one little section of the world but everywhere to everyone. David is looking up and getting a view of the big picture.
Psalm 8:1 “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
David proceeds to praise God for all He has made. He must have composed this Psalm at night because he talks of the moon and stars. I can imagine a clear night, far from city lights, where the glory of the stars and moon seem to shine brighter. This sight is so magnificent it is hard to grasp the creation of such beauty. David acknowledges this beauty and then it hits him, who are we that such a God would be so mindful of us.
Psalm 8:3-5 “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.”
There is nothing within us that deserves the love and attention that God gives us. David marvels at a God who is so vast and glorious, the creator of a world that is so beautiful man cannot replicate it. Yet, His thoughts are on man, His creation. He honored us by giving us dominion over all His works. He loved us so much that when we messed what He made perfect, He made provision for us to inherit a perfect eternal world.
We need to look up to see the beauty, but also to see Jesus one day coming on those beautiful clouds. There is great hope for the Christian. We can look up and see the beauty of today and the beauty of our future. As I look up today there are storm clouds brewing. Some are very dark but even in that darkness there are streaks of light. A brightness that reminds me that behind every cloud there is light. There is no need to fear the storm because He is in control of that too. Don’t focus on the dark cloud focus on the light shining around it.
One day, and it may be soon, those clouds will shine like never before, because the Son of God will be coming to get us on one of those clouds. Clouds are appropriate symbols of majesty, sitting above the earth. As a king’s throne sits above those who are coming to present themselves to him, so our Lord will be above all His creation. We who have accepted and followed Him in obedience will join Him.
Matthew 24:30 “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
Mark 14:60-62 “And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? But he held his peace and answered nothing. Again, the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
Act 1:9-11 “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”
The next time you feel yourself sinking under the weight of this world, look up! Look to the vastness of what God has done, and remember, in all of this you were the object of His love. You are the object of His future. He is coming back to get you, if you are His. So, look up to the clouds, the white puffy ones, that are sure to push the dark ones aside. Look up, your future is forever with Him, and He is coming to get you on one of those clouds.
