ALWAYS IN THE DOWN

Motion sickness – ugh!  Anyone else ever experience motion sickness?

In a car?   On a roller coaster?  Spinning in circles?  Scrolling a computer screen?

You peak a hill and the car seems to float down over the other side. Airborne.  Your stomach ends up in your throat.  The roller coaster climbs foot by foot, reaches its peak, then swiftly descends the tracks.  Your stomach ends up in your throat.  Your eyes focus on a computer screen.   Spin, spin, spin to the bottom of the page, lines and words fly by.  Your stomach ends up in your throat.  Do you notice the down?

We are up, then down.  We climb to the top, then down.  We start at the top, then down.  The ill feelings or sickness always seem to start in the down?  While porching today I’ve been thinking about how I allow myself to be pulled away from His Presence.  How I allow myself to be pulled down – down to the valley.  Sometimes it’s a slow descent.  Sometimes I’m flying down the road of life and it’s a sudden, seemingly unstoppable descent.  When I am Living in His Presence, I envision God on His Holy Mountain.  When I am on the down, I fail to stay in His Presence and I walk the lonesome valley.    Sometimes I can brake on the down – sometimes my brakes fail me.  I feel sick.

Here’s the thing – if I didn’t experience the up I wouldn’t know there’s a down and if I didn’t experience the down, I wouldn’t yearn for the up.  We are allowed the down so we can see the up.  We are allowed to experience life distant from God to fully appreciate how desperately we need Him for this life.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.  My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.  He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; he that keepeth thee will not slumber.

                                                                                                Psalm 121:1-3

The Word tells us exactly how to deal with the down.  The valleys.  The  discontent.  The time.  The money.  The relationships.  The job.  The illnesses.  The rush and hurry.  The worry.  The world.  It seems so simple.  Not so much.  The Psalmist tells us to lift our eyes unto the hills where our help comes from.  Where our up comes from.

Eyes are made to see.  To reveal.  To experience the Presence.  Lifting our scaleless eyes to Him.  To Him, who is able to do more than we can think or imagine.  To Him, the One who is able to heal us of all our illnesses, our downs, if we simply touch His robe.   Turn your eyes upon the One who does not sleep but draws us back to the ascent – back to the mountain of the Lord – back to His Presence.