Dear Pilgrim, why are your eyes downcast?

To you I lift up my eyes,
    O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
Psalm 123:1

Dear Pilgrim, where is your gaze today? Under the heat of conviction of sin, are you unable to lift your eyes to heaven, beating your breast, crying out to God to be merciful to you, a sinner? Be reassured, justification is yours.

Yet at the same time, dear Pilgrim, I want to show you that a great blessing awaits His people who, whilst being bowed low in His presence, have the faith to take hold of His Holy boldness to lift up their eyes before Him.

Let us consider dear Abraham, our father in the faith. The Lord Himself instructed Abraham to lift up his eyes on one occasion – and as he obeyed in faith, he saw with his own eyes the land of Promise that would one day be given to him and his descendants. On another occasion when the Lord appeared to Abraham, it was only when he lifted his eyes that he saw the Lord before him. His response to this was to bow low to the ground. There is no other response to the presence of the Lord. Yet this was not the end of Abraham's response. Filled with faith, he implored the Lord "do not pass by your servant...let a little water be brought...wash your feet...rest...while I bring a morsel of bread." Do not pass me by! A cry of faith. A cry from a heart desiring intimacy. A cry from a heart that believes it is possible to fellowship with His Lord, even break bread with Him! What holy boldness! And what a response he received - not only did the Lord condescend to answer Abraham's request, He even confided in Abraham! Oh, can you see with me the greatness of this blessing? How the Lord delighted to answer Abraham’s request – because he had dared to lift his eyes.

As we lift our eyes, He reveals more of Himself to us – the awesome wonder of the work of His hands in creation, and the unchanging, eternal, sure word of the Lord and His attributes. He also uses the lifting of our eyes to reveal our sin to us. Sin…without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sin. Thus Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place where he was to offer his sacrifice to the Lord, the sacrifice of his beloved son. But as Abraham lifted his eyes one final time, he set eyes on the greatest blessing of all – the ram caught in the thicket, the Lord’s own provision for the sacrifice. Dear Pilgrim, pause a moment, and consider this – the ram, the Lord’s own sacrifice, also lifted up His eyes. Listen. “He lifted up his eyes…” On whom, dear Pilgrim? On whom did the ram, who would one day be sacrificed to take away the sin of the world, lift up his eyes? “He lifted up his eyes on his disciples…” Oh, dear Pilgrim, listen, take heart, be encouraged, for do you know why He would lift up His eyes on His disciples?

“He lifted up his eyes on his disciples and said ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God’”. 

He lifted up His eyes on His disciples to bless them! Blessed are you who are poor! Oh, what love is this? That the One before Whom we can only bow down low, and lower still as we discover the breadth and depth of His love for us, would stoop down to such a level that He would have to lift His eyes to us? Yes, dear Pilgrim, you who began this morning beating your breast with your gaze downcast, feeling the weight of your sin, your unworthiness before Him, He lifts up His eyes to you to bless you, for yours is the kingdom of God, for your trust and hope are in Him alone! The fulfilment of the Aaronic blessing:

“The Lord bless you and keep you,

The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you,

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace”.

Dear Pilgrim, take heart! You have His peace! Now dare to lift up your eyes to His as you bow low before Him, and He will remind you of His promises, reveal more of Himself to you, quicken you to offer yourself as a living sacrifice to Him, and reassure you that He provides all you need. And He will so fill you with Himself that He will enable you to pray and to serve in accordance with the will of the Father as you lift your eyes to heaven, having encountered the Living God. Dear Pilgrim, join with me in echoing Abraham's cry of faith: "Do not pass by your servant".