Throughout the course of your day, open yourself up to hope by lifting your vision and being reminded of eternity! Direct your prayer to the Lord with a glance heavenward.
Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada and when you find yourself at the foot of the cross, you can’t help but look up.
Beneath the cross of Jesus
I fain would take my stand
The shadow of a mighty Rock within a weary land
A home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way
From the burning of the noontide heat and the burden of the day
Having sung this hymn for you today, I just have two little words to add: “Look up.” The Bible says, “Look up. Lift up your head for your redemption draweth nigh.” And you know what? I do it as often as I can. Sitting in this wheelchair I make myself constantly look up. I mean, why not? My redemption is near; heaven is about to break on the horizon. Jesus is on his way back, so look up. There’s not much about my body that I can move, but I can lift up my head. And I’ve discovered that emotionally “looking up,” as it were, “lifting up my head,” yields a huge result for such a small effort.
Often in the morning before Ken drives me to the Joni and Friends headquarters, I wheel outside, pause my wheelchair, and inhale the fresh morning air and just look up. And I think to myself: “Jesus, you’re about to burst on that bright blue sky above me.” Or I come home from a trip at night, get out of the van with all my luggage, shake off the weariness, and I look up, I lift up my head. I see those stars and remember that God resides above that lovely starry night sky.
And in the evening when I lie in bed and pray—that’s my prayer time, when Ken takes me out of my wheelchair and helps me in bed—I lie there and look up. It is about all I can do when I’m in bed and, I tell you, it is a great position for prayer, lying there, unable to move. I look to the example of Job who, when God hedged him in on every side, he could do nothing else but look up. He said in the book of Job that the thorns and the hedge that God had placed around him forced him to look up—I like that! Friend, looking up is one of the most hopeful things you can do.
You know, we often hear popular clichés that are meant to lift our spirits: “Take time for yourself,” “Take a vacation,” “Take an aromatic bath.” Good ideas, they are, and they give temporary comfort. The problem is where are you going to find time in your schedule? But a change of perspective can be cultivated through the smallest effort—it’s what Psalm 5:3 tells us to do, “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” You don’t have to change your schedule or pencil that in your calendar. Throughout the course of the day or evening, time and again, you can open yourself up to hope and you can do it by lifting your vision and being reminded of eternity; you can direct your prayer unto the Lord with a glance heavenward.
And there is no better place to lift your head up than when you are kneeling at the foot of the cross. “Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand.” Beneath the cross of Jesus we can easily see our redemption. We can look up and see our Savior, our Deliverer, paying the penalty for our sins, giving us joy and freedom. So today, look up, friend – your redemption is nearer than you think.
© Joni and Friends