“Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.” (Psalm‬ ‭40:4‬ NIV)

Look up. Forty-eight hours ago I finished reading Levi Lusko’s book, Swipe Right and that phrase has been playing on repeat ever since. If my mind was a record there would be a groove in vinyl by now. Look up.

Look up. Don’t look to idols or others but look up! We’ve got to let Jesus fill our vision because we wind up going where we are looking. Curbs, mailboxes and trash cans will attest, when our eyes wander so goes our course. We can’t afford to spend our lives looking at lesser things. Time is short and our mission is urgent. We’ve got to get where we are going and take as many folks with as we can.

I keep thinking about how statistics say I grab my phone 150 times a day. How often to I grab onto God? Our electronic dependency only proves our potential for God dependency. Someone at our preacher meeting said it yesterday; “God’s right there; sometimes we just need to reach out our hand and grab on to His.” And he did so, right there in the hallway. He reached his hand up toward the ceiling and demonstrated his dependence. He said he does this multiple times a day. He might be driving along the road, praying or preaching, but he’ll just reach a hand up and admit he’s in need of divine attention.

What if we, as believers, would raise our hand for help? Isn’t that what we did in school when we had a question, needed assistance or asked for permission? We know how. Why did we stop?

What if we paused our internal or external conversations and looked up 150 times a day? We are so quick to grab our phones for answers, why are we so slow to grab on to our omniscient God? We aren’t afraid to set aside the physical person in front of us for the digital presence in our device, why won’t we include the divine presence also?

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.” (Psalm‬ ‭34:4-5‬ ‭NIV‬)

It’s been said that we have an entire generation of folks who spend their lives looking down. How unfortunate, especially when we remember that we go where we are looking. We will only find the help we need when we learn to look up. A failure to look up will produce shame.

Lord, help us remember to look up. Maybe we need a sticker on our phone or chime on our watch, but we need reminding. Retrain our minds, heart and hands to reach for You in all circumstances. We are quick to grab our phones, make us quick to grab on to You. You are our real source of help, knowledge and insight. Straighten our necks, lift our eyes, and set us on the path of life. Amen.

“The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.” (Genesis‬ ‭12:1‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

Noah. Abraham. Isaac. Jacob. Joseph. John the Baptist. Jesus. Apostle Paul and essentially all of the disciples.

God sends some of His favorite folks out into the unknown.

I woke up just ahead of my alarm this morning, already thinking about my brother’s Monday morning brain surgery. I woke up to the divine realization that he and I are in good company. It’s neat how sometimes God speaks to us before we are really awake, in that foggy stretch between asleep and alert. And sometimes those thoughts make more sense than anything else we might think of the rest of the day.

I had to repeat it. I had to turn it over in my mind, like a pebble in hand, to make sure I could hang on to it. Sleepy thoughts slip away so suddenly

God sends some of His favorite folks out into the unknown.

This is faith; taking brave steps forward while you are still afraid.

The beautiful thing is that God always meets His people in the wilderness. We are never abandoned there. Even the cast aside maidservant, Hagar, learned that the God of Abraham saw her, too, in the dustiest stretch of her life. He sees us in the wilderness and sustains us supernaturally. And then He gets the singular glory in our story.

He takes us to unknown places so we might know Him better. And trust Him more.

“For the Lord your God has blessed you in everything you have done. He has watched your every step through this great wilderness. During these forty years, the Lord your God has been with you, and you have lacked nothing.”’” (Deuteronomy‬ ‭2:7‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

Lord, we trust You even when we are unsure where You are leading us. We know that walking blind only increases our confidence in Your character. Give us the guts to take the first step. Meet us in the midst of this wilderness. Lead us to the Promised Land. Amen.

“Choose my instruction rather than silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold.” (Proverbs‬ ‭8:10‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

It’s funny how God repeats a theme. We noticed this in Bible Study last night; how disciples went out to minister in the ninth chapter and came back as apostles a few verses later. Overnight, they grew from ‘learners’ to ‘sent ones’ but when Jesus brought them back together it seems that they sat at His feet and learned some more.

Christ followers are lifelong learners. We only start truly leading when we’ve learned to treasure His Word more than anything else. We realize that His Word is more precious than gold or silver or position or power, more meaningful than houses or or health. We invest our life in the learning, loving and living out of these instructions.

“Your instructions are more valuable to me than millions in gold and silver.” (Psalms‬ ‭119:72‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

The stewards in the parable of the talents figured it out; obedience is better than wealth. Adherence to divine instruction will gain us everything, where ignoring the directives will cost us completely. Lucky for us, New Testament believers can learn less expensively: God’s truth is poured out in the pages of scripture. We are without excuse. His Holy Spirit enlightens each sentence is we’ll only press in.

One way or another, we are spending our lives. We are either chasing after wealth, health, popularity, position and happiness OR we chase after Christ. Only one way is the right way. One way pleases the Landowner. One way leads to life eternal.

“And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” (Matthew‬ ‭16:26‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

“Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life.” (John‬ ‭6:68‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

Lord, today we recognize the value of Your Word. Help us treasure it. May we seek You more ardently than any other aspect of our life. Amen.

“We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!” (Numbers‬ ‭13:33‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

Ten spies snuck into Canaan and surveyed the land. Two spies took God at His Word, but eight of them had lost sight of God’s promises amidst the giants. They felt like grasshoppers among them, and apparently the Canaanites confirmed that thought.

Some situations shrink our self-worth to pest status. Few things are grosser than grasshoppers. The better half of the Israeli spies had taken one look at the present-residents of the Promised Land and forgotten Whose they were. This happens to us, too. We sneak a long look at the world and we lose sight of Who it all belongs to.

How quickly we forget what God can do! It wasn’t grasshoppers, but locusts that brought the great nation of Egypt to it’s knees. Even a what the world considers to be a pest is powerful in the sway of the Almighty.

When situations set out to shrink our faith, we’ve got talk to our feelings about our knowings. We recall His flawless past performance record. We allow the promises of God to be more convincing than our current circumstances.

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Raise your hand over the land of Egypt to bring on the locusts. Let them cover the land and devour every plant that survived the hailstorm.”” (Exodus‬ ‭10:12‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

Lord, help us look at our situation with great faith. We forget Your track record all too quickly. Forgive us. Remind us. Give us solid recollection of Your flawless past performances. May those memories be more real to us than our present circumstances. We realize today that You even grasshoppers can be persuaded to accomplish Your purposes. You can use us. Amen.