I so often forget how much problems look alike no matter where one is. When we are isolated at home as we have been for so long with this pandemic, we often think our problems are unique, yet in spending these past two weeks away, I easily see and hear the same problems, the same concerns, the same fears–people are human and humanness carries the same genes no matter where we are.

This morning as I have been having my bible reading I’m hearing Moses give his final directions to the Children of Israel before God takes him on his final tour of the promise land and then home for eternity. This is a new crop of children. All of their parents have died and have been buried somewhere in the desert over the past 40 years. These new children didn’t know the great food of Egypt, the luxury of a home, etc. They knew tents, manna and clothes/shoes which hadn’t worn out. Now they were about to enter a promised land which will become their home. However, will they experience the promise or will they revert back to the sinfulness of their parents and not know the promise?

It is so easy to get lost in the trauma of the day, the surrounding circumstances, the drama of human living. God is always telling us to lift our eyes above the current situation. Yes, we live in it, but we don’t have to find our hope in it. Our hope is only seen and known as we look up to God Almighty and BELIEVE the promises He gives us in His Word. Will we get so lost in the circumstances of today or will we look up and remember the Promises of God? Yes, we live in the circumstances of today, but I don’t need to let these determine the “joy of my heart”. For today I shall look up!