Real Hope: WearinessSample

I Lift Up My Eyes To The Mountains

Have you ever wondered why King David wrote, ‘I will lift up my eyes to the mountains’? We know God does not live in the mountains, so why look up there when you’re in trouble?

David wrote this Psalm when he was king, but before that, he hid from King Saul in those very mountains, trying to stay alive. Those mountains represent some of the hardest, most challenging, fearful, exhausting, and frustrating times in his life. So why would David focus on them? Because it was in those mountains that David discovered the very heart of God, a God who protects, leads, shelters, and encourages. It was where he found safety and shelter. In Psalm 27, he wrote, ‘For He will conceal me there when troubles come; He will hide me in His sanctuary. He will place me out of reach on a high rock.’ King David is reminding us to look back and remember God’s faithfulness.

It is not often that you can say, ‘I am weary’ and hear collective sighs of understanding from almost an entire room of people. That’s the place we find ourselves two years into the global pandemic that upended our world and taught us new words we’d never have known. We still hope that we are closer to the end than the beginning, but none of us really know what tomorrow will bring.

Don’t be discouraged. Maybe this is an opportunity to put into practice what King David was teaching us. Hard times can become your mountain – a time you can look back on and discover God’s presence sheltering you through it all.

Written by LUCY WEIL