“My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up” (Psalm 5:3, NKJV).  These words by the psalmist David are included as part of a prayer for guidance he offered to God.  I love how David declared, “I will look up.”  I propose that most of us need to look up more often.

Many times, we look down.  We look right at our feet and focus on the next step we need to take.  We’re so busy moving from one thing to another that we can only think about the next thing we need to do, the next event we need to attend, or the most pressing problem we need to resolve.  Our focus is on getting by to the next thing.

Sometimes, we look around.  We dwell on the circumstances surrounding us.  We’re distracted by the affairs of the world.  We check to see what everybody else is doing and compare ourselves to them.

Sometimes, we look behind us.  We dwell on our past.  We ponder on our mistakes and successes.  We develop a sense of regret.  We wonder what might have been if only we had done this or that.

Sometimes, we look straight ahead.  We think about the future.  We contemplate where we want to go and try to figure out how to get there.  We hope that chasing our dreams will bring us fulfillment.

Sometimes, we even look inside us.  We’re convinced we can muster enough strength on our own if we just try hard enough.  We might analyze ourselves, dissect our own behavior, and attempt to make ourselves be better people.

Yes, there are a lot of directions we can look, but let’s learn a lesson from David’s prayer.  Notice that he didn’t look down, around, behind, ahead, or inside.  He looked up!  He looked up to his Lord.  He looked up to his master.  He looked up to his healer.  He looked up to his guide.  He looked up to his answer!

If we’re honest, a lot of us would admit that we spend a lot of time looking down to get through the next step … looking around to see what everybody else is doing … looking behind to dwell on the past … looking ahead to plan the future … or looking inside to try to figure ourselves out.  But what good it would do us all to stop for a moment and simply look up!

Let’s take the opportunity to pause from the daily grind and offer thanks to the Lord for His blessings. Let’s look up to the Lord every day to offer praise and seek His help, guidance, strength, and comfort! Let’s admit we need help beyond ourselves and those around us.  We need help that only Almighty God can deliver!

Consider this proverb: “The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways, but a good man will be satisfied from above” (Proverbs 14:14, NKJV).  We won’t be truly satisfied from past achievements, well-laid plans, self-actualization, or the approval of others.  We’ll only be truly satisfied from above!

Oh, how we need to spend more time looking up in life!  Let’s look up to the Lord today!