Some of our favorite nerdclinations tell us to lift our eyes and look up.
We’re told to look in the sky because it could be a bird, it could be a plane or it could be Superman.
Star Trek encourages us to look to the stars and hope for a future in which humanity has eliminated poverty, injustice and disease.
Gandalf tells Aragorn to look to the east and up a mountain for his salvation from the Uruk-hai.
Looking up is an act of hope, lifting up our chins so we don’t hang our heads so low.
Looking up keeps us from being downcast, sullen and disengaged.
Looking up prevents us from being down in the dumps and can lift our spirits.
All those clichés about the position of our heads can be true, but they depend what we’re looking at.
Psalm 121 is one of my favorite psalms.
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.
If we look to the Lord, then looking up is about way more than just our posture. Sure, holding our heads up high can make us feel better than hanging our heads down low. But unless we’re looking to the one who can help us, save us and hold us, then our heads are going to eventually turn south again.
Often our problem is that when we look up, we don’t look to the right person. Instead of looking to the Maker of heaven and earth, we look to something made on the earth.
We look to any number of distractions to help us.
We look to the weekend to save us.
We look to Netflix to hold us in the warmth of its glow.
Looking up to anything except God is going to leave us gravely disappointed. Lasting help doesn’t come from anyone or anything except for God. In this world we can find temporary relief to lift our heads. But if we want to hold our heads high, and keep holding them high, then we need to look to God.
Superman isn’t going to save us.
Star Trek isn’t the hope that we need.
And Gandalf isn’t going to help us when we feel crushed by the weight of the world.
Our nerdclinations are correct in our need to look up, but we need to look up to the Lord.
What helps you look up to the Maker of heaven and earth?
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