Articles
Lift Up Your Eyes
Reading: Genesis 13
God had promised to make Abram a great nation and give his offspring the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:7); however, “the land could not support both [Abram and Lot] dwelling together,” causing dissension between their two camps (13:6-7). Abram’s solution to this problem was to offer Lot the choice of what region he would settle in. Lot “lifted up his eyes” (10) and saw the Jordan Valley’s promising conditions, and he “chose for himself all the Jordan Valley” (11). This solution, however, led to other problems, namely Lot’s proximity to the sinners of Sodom (13).
While Abram had his own imperfect way to solve this problem, God still had His perfect purposes in motion. After Lot had parted to the east, God tells Abram to “lift up [his] eyes” in every direction, again promising the land to him (vv. 14-15). Both Abram and Lot lift up their eyes to good things; but while Lot chose what he saw for himself, Abram looked upon what God had promised to give him. Where humans struggled with a scarcity mentality and tried to navigate the “not enough” problem, God would provide for the one who trusted in Him with abundance.
This is a spiritual principle that is echoed in a later miracle of Jesus: when many thousands gathered to hear him teach, the Lord “lifted up his eyes” to see the multitude (John 6:5) and “looked up to heaven” when blessing the bread that he would use to miraculously feed them (Matthew 14:19). Where the disciples saw “not enough,” Jesus looked to the providence and power of God to supply every need. Where are you worried today that there’s “not enough”? Lift up your eyes and trust God to give you your daily bread.
