"I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth."
— Psalm 121:1-2 (NIV)Understanding the Context
This psalm begins with a question but immediately answers it from verse 2 onward. Scholars believe this was a priestly blessing given to worshipers who had traveled long distances to the temple for major festivals and were now returning home.
The blessing served as a reminder and encouragement: even though these travelers were physically leaving God's presence at the temple, God Himself would remain present to protect them on their challenging journey back into the world. To "lift up the eyes" is to look past the dangers of the road and up to the God who helps and protects.
Key Thought: Lifting Up Our Eyes Requires Whole-Hearted Trust
Trusting God with lifted eyes means trusting Him with everything—not just our circumstances, but the deeper parts of who we are:
- Our fears, passions, and desires
- Our connection and intimacy with Him
- Not our surrounding circumstances or visible resources
Key insight: The longer a person walks with God, His covenant demands more—not necessarily more activity, but more of the heart.
My hope tonight is to share some thoughts to help us evaluate our hearts as we Lift Up Our Eyes to see God working in your life.
Understanding Heart vs. Action
It's entirely possible to leave a leadership retreat, or conference or visit another ministry and be ready to imitate what we saw—programs, structures, techniques, resources—but completely miss the heart behind them. The heart for God is what matters most. Imitating action alone produces little lasting fruit. What makes for lasting success is not in what is seen but what is unseen.
Scripture gives us clear examples of people whose actions looked right but whose hearts were wrong:
- Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5)
- Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8)
- "Lord, Lord" profession without obedience (Matthew 7)
- The Rich Young Ruler (Luke 18)
A Comical Illustration: The Seven Sons of Sceva
"Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, 'In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.' Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, 'Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?' Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor."
— Acts 19:13-17 (NIV)Trying to implement someone else's ideas without the right heart often leads to getting beat up.
Discussion Questions
- Have you ever tried to replicate something that worked for someone else—spiritually or in ministry—only to find it fell flat? What was missing, and what did that reveal about your own heart at the time?
- The Seven Sons of Sceva used the right words without the right relationship. In what subtle ways might we be tempted to go through spiritual motions without genuine connection?
God Emphasizes the Heart Through Unconventional Plans
Throughout Scripture, God brings about blessings in ways that make sense only because He is behind them and the people's hearts are devoted to following Him. Consider how strange these plans would look on paper:
- Abraham — sacrificing his son despite being promised he would father many nations
- Moses — challenging Pharaoh with a staff and his brother, then walking through the Red Sea with slaves
- Moses — holding up his hands to defeat the Amalekites (Exodus 17)
- Moses — making a bronze serpent to heal the Israelites
- Joshua — singing worship songs while marching around Jericho as military strategy (Joshua 6)
- Gideon — reducing 32,000 men to 300 to defeat an innumerable Midianite army (Judges 7)
- Jonathan and his armor-bearer — attacking a Philistine outpost, just the two of them, climbing a cliff on hands and knees (1 Samuel 14:1-15)
- David and Goliath
- Naaman — a powerful foreign commander told to wash in an insignificant river (2 Kings 5)
- Ezekiel — lying on his side for over 400 days (Ezekiel 4)
- Hosea — marrying a prostitute
- Jesus — spitting in mud to heal blindness (John 9)
- The entire passion narrative
"You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, 'My own strength has saved me.'"
— Judges 7:2 (NIV)"Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few."
— 1 Samuel 14:6 (NIV)If anyone suggested these as ministry ideas today, they would be fired—and no one would put faith in them. It is never about the action; it is about the heart.
Proof Text: God Looks at the Heart
"But the LORD said to Samuel, 'Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.'"
— 1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)"I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do."
— Acts 13:22 (NIV)Discussion Questions
- Why do you think God so often chooses methods that don't make logical sense? What does that accomplish in the people who follow Him?
- If God asked you to do something that looked foolish to everyone around you, what would make you willing to do it anyway? What would hold you back?
Investing the Best Parts of Ourselves
Key Principles
- God wants, desires, and demands the best of the heart
- "Just giving what I can" is not good enough—God does not want scraps
- The quality of giving and sacrifice is what God desires
- Abraham's willingness to give up his one desire—his son—was not about God wanting Isaac but about God wanting Abraham's heart
"Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.'"
— Genesis 4:2b-7 (NIV)What "The Best Parts" Looks Like
- Focus — Locked in
- Time — Making space for Him
- Attention — Listening for Him
- Passion — Emotionally expressive for God's people, not just reserved for sports teams or hobbies
Consider how emotionally invested people become over a football game! God deserves our emotional expressiveness—not just our routine attendance. God deserves emotional expressiveness directed toward Him and His will.
Discussion Questions
- Of the four areas mentioned—focus, time, attention, and passion—which one do you find easiest to give God, and which is hardest? What does that reveal about your priorities?
- We often reserve our strongest emotions for entertainment, sports, or hobbies. What would it look like to bring that same level of emotional investment to your relationship with God?
Relentless Connection
A Challenge from Professional Athletes
People expect more from a professional athlete than they often expect from themselves with God. No one expects a top athlete to just maintain—everyone expects growth, reinvention, and relentless pursuit of excellence.
The same standard should apply to the relationship with God:
- Growing deeper year by year
- Striving to understand Him more—not just in knowledge, but in connection
- Being obsessed with God
Paul's Example
"At one time all these things were important to me. But because of Christ, I decided that they are worth nothing. Not only these things, but now I think that all things are worth nothing compared with the greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Christ, I lost all these things, and now I know that they are all worthless trash. All I want now is Christ. I want to belong to him. In Christ I am right with God, but my being right does not come from following the law. It comes from God through faith. God uses my faith in Christ to make me right with him. All I want is to know Christ and the power that raised him from death. I want to share in his sufferings and be like him even in his death. Then there is hope that I myself will somehow be raised from death."
— Philippians 3:7-11 (ERV)Paul has simply lost himself in Jesus. All that matters is his connection to Christ. This is the relentless connection worth striving for.
Discussion Questions
- If you evaluated your spiritual life the way you'd evaluate an elite athlete's training regimen, how would your passion compare?
- Paul described losing himself completely in pursuit of knowing Christ. What fears or attachments make that kind of abandonment feel risky to you?
Conclusion
Working on our heart for God allows us to truly see Him at work—not ministry successes or failures, not the next best strategy, and also not placing pressure on others being the sole reason a ministry rises or falls.
Lift up your eyes—fully trusting God with your heart—to see Him working and navigating you through the dangerous journey back home.
Questions to Consider
- Are you trusting in strategies and plans, or the God behind them?
- Is God getting the best parts of you—your focus, time, attention, and passion?
- Are you growing deeper in your connection with God year by year?
- What would it look like to be "obsessed" with God the way Paul was?
Let's Read Psalm 121 In Its Entirety:
"I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD watches over you—the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore."
— Psalm 121:1-8 (NIV)Lift up your eyes—your help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.