Pastor Rick Warren: When You Look Up, Things Will Look Up

When You Look Up, Things Will Look Up
by Rick Warren — December 19, 2018

“When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place—what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? . . . O LORD, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!” (Psalm 8:3-4, 9 NLT).

We’ve all heard the phrase “Things are looking up!”

But what does it mean?
It means the situation is improving. Your problems are decreasing, and your opportunities are increasing.
This Christmas I want you to remember an important truth: Things will start to look up for you when you start looking up.
In other words, your circumstances will improve when you stop looking at them and start looking at God.
Over and over in the Bible, we see this phrase: “Lift up your eyes.” It’s another way to say, “Look up. Get your eyes off yourself and onto God.”
God said it to Moses. He said it Abraham. Jesus said it to his followers.
There’s an old rhyme that says, “Two men looked out from prison bars. One saw mud, the other saw stars.” In other words, one inmate looked down in despair, but the other one looked up in hope.
You have that same choice, and I hope that you choose to see the stars. God created every one of them. And those stars are the exact same ones that were shining on the night of Jesus’ birth 2,000 years ago—and King David saw the same stars 1,000 years before that, when he wrote these words:
“When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place—what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? . . . O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!” (Psalm 8:3-4, 9 NLT).
When we look up and see how big God is, it shrinks the size of our problems. Our problems never seem as big or as overwhelming when compared to the greatness of God.
PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick
Talk It Over

When facing a problem, why is it easier to focus on the problem instead of focusing on God?
How does looking at the vastness of creation make your problems feel smaller?
What action can you take this week to take in the beauty of God’s creation so you can take your eyes off your problems?

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