LIFT UP YOUR EYES BY DR WILSON LIM
[Oceania Convention 2011 - Boot Camp]
LIFT UP YOUR EYES
Num 13:27 - 33 (NIV) 27They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.” 30Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” 31But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
The land was flowing with milk and honey but the people of the land were giants who would be unconquerable. At least, that was their perspective. And because of that, they aborted God’s plan to bring the Israelites into the Promised Land. What a wonderful promise lay before them! What a cop out!
While 10 of these spies held the same defeated view, 2 others held opposite views. For they saw the possibilities. They saw what God could do.
I have learnt an important lesson over the years. That I should see as God sees, not what others may see. Let me share a number of keys that has helped me.
1. Lift up your eyes heavenward
If I continually keep my eyes earth-bound, I will only see what others see. The perspective I gain is the perspective I constantly feed myself with. When I change from earth-bound to heaven-bound vision, I begin to gain a new perspective. There must be a conscious effort to lift up our eyes heavenward because it is always so easy to get caught up in the constant bombardment of earthly priorities. Spending time with God and seeking His views is crucial.
2. Lift up your voice
Besides lifting our eyes, it is important to begin to declare and proclaim what God has shown to us. Faith must be confessed. As Caleb proclaimed his faith that the Promised Land can be taken.
Our voices should also be lifted up in prayer as we cry out to God that He may fulfil what He has shown us.
3. Lift up your heart
Our hearts ought to be lifted heavenward. For our hearts need to align to what God is showing us. Our passions need to be engaged. Our convictions need to be deepened. Only then will the heavenly perspective be anchored in our souls. At times, it is the very struggle of working through the challenges that can deepen our convictions. Joshua had many challenges throughout his lifetime to conquer the Promised Land. Yet his conviction was deepened rather than weakened.
May I encourage us all to discover God’s perspective in all our situations. To gain a heaven-inspired conviction to motivates us to believe God for the promised breakthrough.
Lifting my eyes,
Dr. Wilson Lim
Elder of HIM
