I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help? My help comes
from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.—Psalm 121:1–2
You have probably heard it said, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” This, of course, is a metaphor, but the implied meaning is clear. Some things take time, and not everything happens instantaneously, as much as we would like them to.
I love the way the Bible contrasts our struggles with God’s power. Our struggle may look elephant-sized, and God’s counsel to us as we look at the elephant may seem like just one bite of a giant problem or dilemma. But if we follow God’s lead and take one bite at a time toward solving the problem, eventually we will triumph over it.
We can be sure that the psalmist was facing an elephant-sized situation in one of life’s valleys when he lifted up his eyes. So often we too face mountain-sized problems, and we begin to feel overwhelmed at the circumstances in front of us. Thoughts begin to creep into our minds like, How am I ever going to get through this? Or, things are never going to change; this is too big. But as Jeremiah reminds us in his book, “There is nothing too hard for God” (Jer. 32:17).
Things that look overwhelming can be put into perspective with just one simple act of obedience to the Word of God. Are you facing a mountain-sized problem today? God’s word to you is to lift up your eyes. This is not some type of magic formula to make your problems disappear, but rather wisdom to keep them in perspective. Yes, life is indeed hard at times, but through the psalmist, the Lord reminds us that heaven is our eternal home. Life may be unfair at times, but heaven never is. Life may bring sorrow, but sorrow is banned from heaven.
The implied mountain of the psalmist is Mount Zion, the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21:2, the city whose builder and maker is God (Heb. 11:10). The Bible is saying to you and me today, when life seems like one long valley, lift up your eyes to heaven. Remember that this life is a vapor and someday will pass away. This won’t necessarily make your “elephant” disappear, but it will definitely keep it from consuming you!
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