Lift Up Your Eyes

Lift Up Your Eyes
By Karen Holland … 9-1-2009

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Psalm 121:1-2    I lift up my eyes to the hills — where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 46:10-11    Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

Recently I felt as if the Lord was telling me to “lift up my eyes and be still”. I also had an image to go with this of a beautiful  blue lake completely calm, with snow capped mountains in the background. I knew that this was from the above scriptures. Then the  idea came that in order to be still, completely calm you have to know where your help comes from. You have to know that Jesus Christ is your Lord, the Lord of all.

• Know your help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. -Ps 121:2
• Know that NOTHING is too hard for the Sovereign LORD, for His great power and outstretched arm! –Jere 32:17
• Know that the Lord is good, His love and mercy never fail. -! –Ps 106:1
• Know that the One who calls you is faithful and He will do it. -1 Thess 5:24
• Know that the Lord who never sleeps watches over you. –Ps 121

This prompted me to take a closer look at these scriptures. The first thing I wondered is why the psalmist says I lift up my eyes to the “hills” instead of to the “Lord”. From the Netbible hills [02022]: we find that the majesty, height and power of the mountains reaching up to the heavens above the clouds led people to associate these hills or mountains with gods. So to say to look to the hills or mountains is another way to say to look to the power and majesty of the gods — but this idea doesn’t really specify which God? The amplified version shed more light on this.

Psalm 121:1 AMP    I WILL lift up my eyes to the hills [around Jerusalem, to sacred Mount Zion and Mount Moriah]–From whence shall my help come?

The psalmist was saying to look to specific hills/mountains; Mount Zion and Moriah.

These are not just any hills that the psalmist is looking up to, these hills are closely associated with the Lord Most High, the Maker of heaven and earth! Zion is the Lord’s chosen dwelling place forever, the place where He is enthroned.

Psalm 132:13-14   For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place: “This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it”.

Psalm 2:6   I have installed My King on My holy hill of Zion.

Psalm 9:11   Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done.

Mount Moriah is where Abraham offered up Isaac, his only true beloved son, as a sacrifice to the Lord(Gen 22:1-19). Here the Lord himself provides the lamb for sacrifice. This points to the sacrifice of Jesus as the Lamb of God(Jn 1:29,36), God’s only beloved Son(Jn 3:16; Mt 3:17, 17:5).

Wow! The Psalmist by saying I lift up my eyes to the hills{ Mount Zion and Mount Moriah} is actually saying to focus on the Lord’s dwelling place, majesty and  presence and to remember Jesus the Lamb of God, His blood sacrifice. It’s only by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus,  that we can come into the presence of a Holy God and know where our help comes from – the Maker of heaven and earth, the Sovereign Lord. So Psalm 121:1-2 and Psalm 123:1-2 are actually saying similar things.

Psalm 123:1-2   To You I *lift up my eyes, O You who are enthroned in the heavens! Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters; As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress; So our eyes look to the LORD our God, until He has mercy on us.

Lift up your eyes and look to the Sovereign Lord who is enthroned in the heavens. There is no higher place to look than to the Lord, Most High. Behold, as a servant looks to their master, for direction, service, devotion, dependence, shelter, food, defense and mercy. Servants in David’s time looked so intently on their masters that they could read their slightest movement. The servants watched their master’s eye and hand to know and do his will. A perfect illustration of how we ought to wait upon our Lord, anxious to do His will. This image expresses complete dependence and humility. The eye of a servant of the Lord, fixed on Him, waits, hopes and is patient looking only to the Lord Most High for direction, help and mercy.

All this attention on the eye prompted me to look up the meaning of *lift up [05375]. In hebrew it means: I magnify, exalt, extol, desire, long and , marry my eyes. How beautiful: To You I *marry my eyes, O You who are enthroned in the heavens!  

Song 4:1, 1:15    How beautiful you are, my darling, How beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves behind your veil;

Song 5:12    His eyes are like doves beside streams of water, bathed in milk, and reposed in their setting.

Both the bride and the bridegroom have the eyes of a dove. When a dove fixes its gaze upon its mate, it is not distracted by any activities around it. It possesses a singleness of eye for its mate alone.  

Matthew 6:22-23   The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is *single{good}, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

The meaning of *single [573] also has the idea being weaved or braided together, an intimate union like marriage. Its from this place of union, of marrying her eyes like a dove on the King that the bride can be easily led by Christ, for she is close enough to see which way His eye is looking. 

Psalm 32:8 (NKJV)   I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.

Look what happens when the single eye of the dove is on the King, the whole body is filled with light! Do you know that *lift up [05375] is the same word used in the following?

Psalm 4:6   There are many who say, “Who will show us any good?” LORD, *lift up the light of Your countenance{smile} upon us.

And when the whole body is full of light in the presence of the LORD, there is fullness of joy (-Ps 16:11). The irrepressible joy that comes from beholding the Lord with a single eye, the eye of His dove. The result of lifting up your eyes, marrying your eyes to the King? You will greatly rejoice with unspeakable joy full of glory. Do you think it’s a coincidence that this type of exaltation also follows ‘be still and know’? Be still does not necessarily mean to be silent. From the NASB it means to cease striving, to be at rest. And how do we enter His rest? From Hebrews 4 and Psalm 95: sing and shout for joy to the LORD our Maker! Come before His presence with thanksgiving. Enter His rest as a sheep of His hand with the people of His pasture.

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Lift up your eyes to the King and be still.
Greatly rejoice in the Lord our God
With joy unspeakable and full of glory
He will be exalted among the nations, He will be exalted in the earth.
The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

Psalm 97:11 AMP   Light is sown for the [uncompromisingly] righteous and strewn along their pathway, and joy for the upright in heart [the irrepressible joy which comes from consciousness of His favor and protection]. 

1 Peter 1:8   Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.

Tags: Be still and know, Lift Up Your Eyes, Psalm 121:1-2, Psalm 123:1-2, Psalm 46:10-11, single eye, unspeakable joy full of glory