It was a while ago now, but I was regularly seeing my chiropractor because my neck would get really tight. In between cracking my back and neck he would gently remind me to make sure my computer screens were at eye level and to be getting enough sleep.
Then, one day as I was walking into my home, it hit me. We’re always looking down. Particularly with our smartphones. We stare down at a screen. Our attention is regularly being competed for; each website and social media platform all competing for our attention. Everyone and everything that screams for our attention.
It was then and there I turned off my phone and put it into my pocket. Then I looked up. It was a clear night. I could see the stars. They were magnificent to look at. They were bright even as they shined through the big tree in my backyard. It struck me just how beautiful they were and how long it had been since I had looked up at them. That’s when God said to me, “I just want you to look up my child.” When we read that God encourages us to count the stars or to look up to the hills I think He is really encouraging us to to look to Him. As the Psalmist states, “I lift up my eyes to You, the One enthroned in heaven.” (Psalm 123:1) We need to lift our eyes up to God. He is our help in these times of trouble. He is our hope in our uncertainty. He is answers when all we have are questions and doubts.
Just look at what’s going on in our world right now. None of us have all answers. None of us have all the solutions. None of us have all the reasons. But maybe that’s the point. We’re at the end of ourselves. We’ve seen what the world does that trusts in money, in stockpiled goods, in the government and even in science. None of those things or people are worth putting our hope in. None of those things or people are worth putting our trust in. We’ve seen what people are actually trusting in by how they respond in these uncertain times-as trust in societal structures and government crumbles.
In what will I choose to trust today? To what will I look to when I am let down by elected officials and news outlets? To what will I place my hope when tomorrow looks more uncertain and more dreary than ever? In what do I actually trust? In whom do I really hope? If everything else was stripped away what would I still be clinging onto? Where will my eyes look?