[Vertical Series] Look UpSample

Look Up

Thousands of years ago, one of the most famous kings of the world asked himself this question. I wonder, have you ever asked yourself such a question? This is what he said: “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (Psalm 8:3–4, NIV). 

God has set His glory in the heavens; the stars somehow speak to us about His magnificence and power. But as the psalmist says, when we stop to consider God’s incredible might, two things stir within our minds. 

First, a deep sense of awe arises in us. We cannot look at how marvelous and incredible the work of God’s fingers is and remain silent. If we do not say something about it, what we feel is incomplete. C.S Lewis explored the psychology behind this dynamic of necessarily praising what we enjoy. Praise does more than express enjoyment, it actually “completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.”

In C.S. Lewis’s words: “It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with...”

Praising God becomes a necessity. The enjoyment is neither complete nor consummated until we share it with somebody, or with God Himself. In other words, as Lewis said: “Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.”

After we praise, when our joy is complete, it is possible to experience a rising perplexity over the fact that such a powerful Being cares for us. Through these devotionals we will explore God’s power and magnificence and at the same time discover His love and desire to connect with each one of us. Our response to Him is to live with a new, exciting, and life-changing view of worship and self-worth. Looking up will change how we look inside and outside of us!