Life Looking Up

What's come against me in life I once sometimes mourned and even resented- not recognizing it to be a potential treasure. But I eventually came to realize that most every opportunity for worldly struggle was in truth an experience that had the possible opportunity to bring me closer to the heart of my Creator if I looked up in an effort to glean what I could from a higher perspective. It was a view that I once did not see...

As creatures far lesser than our Sovereign Creator and encased in sensitive, passing flesh, our focus may often be tempted to be shortsighted and more concerned with our own sensitivity. But in every experience, if we attempt to look at it with different eyes, there's often something to be gleaned from every passing experience that could bring us closer to a heart far greater than our own. If we find it, it's always worth the effort.

For example, thinking about the joys we might experience, the concerns and the pains, as a mother or father doting on our own children can bring us closer to the heart of our own Heavenly Father who continually dotes on us. It might lead us to a question: As our Father, what has He felt as He watches us and works to direct us through this life toward Him? He knows that the pains we suffer here are temporary, but may teach us something eternal. He knows the pure joys that we share, because as a loving Father, He experiences them with us. He gives, He directs, corrects, nurtures and loves - just like we would do as loving parents of our own children - only His efforts are perfect and holy. Through everything we experience, we can learn to come closer to the heart that created us if we can learn to look beyond - looking up.

A biblical example of something similar is found in the book of Hosea. What did God feel as He worked passionately to raise the Children of Israel? Hosea was given a deep compassion for this at one point when He obeyed the Lord and married a prostitute as he was directed. Israel, God's very own and precious people, whom He'd invested Himself in extensively, had prostituted themselves to other things - to gods other than the One who'd given so much of Himself to them and promised them so much more. His tremendous love and caring for them was violated repeatedly and so was Hosea's, by his prostitute wife. Through the betrayal and trials that came in that relationship, Hosea came closer to understanding something of what God was feeling in own heart. Similarly, we're given opportunities through our own lives to begin to understand our God's heart if we pay attention... and as we do, to become eternally enamored with it.

The simple sacrifices that we make for one another and the experiences we live through - both good and bad might bring us closer to the eternal and help prepare us for a deeper understanding and relationship with the God who's continually engaging us. But it's only possible when we remember to look up and consider the view from a higher perspective than our own. If we're His, then He is ours and He's not neglecting His care of us or His promises to us.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NLT)
11 "For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD . “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me." 

Who among us, what lover, would actually and willingly suffer a most horrifying and crushing death to save the object of their deep affection? Our own relationships and affections might make us consider the amazing heart behind such a thing...

                                                     Christ did.


He prospers us even when we don't notice and He cares even when we ignore. He works a great plan for our success and establishes it with hope for our benefit. What we might fail to see, He does with holy intention for our good. All of this is just like the doting and devoted Father that He is.

Our faith - our trust, in the holy hands that guide us needs to be made complete, our gratitude unrelenting, our holy and reverent respect unwavering and our adoration eternal. It all begins when we begin to develop the habit of continually looking up.