HE LIFTS US UP
1. THE LORD WANTS TO COME AND LIFT YOU UP
– Years ago, my Grandmother painted a picture of the Good Shepherd leaning down over a precipice (cliff) taking hold of a lamb that had got lost and stuck on the side of a mountain. It was a painting that left an impression on my young mind. It reminded me of the lengths that God would go to, to rescue and lift up those who had fallen.
– Today He wants to come and lift you up.
– Perhaps you need to be lifted up from a desperate situation.
– Perhaps you need to be lifted up in your spirit because you are discouraged.
– Perhaps you find yourself in a deep hole of despair and He wants to come and lift you out of that place of despair.
– Perhaps you find yourself in a situation where you are utterly overwhelmed and don’t know what to do, and He wants to come and pick you up and make your path secure.
– Perhaps, everything around you is giving way, and He wants to step in and take you by the hand and lift you out of it.
– Perhaps the things that gave you a sense of security are no longer there, and your foundation has been eroded or removed, and He wants to come and lift you up.
– No matter what the nature of your situation is, He is your God, and He wants to come and lift you up.
– To be lifted up by God means that He steps in and changes our position or status.
2. HE WANTS TO LIFT UP THE DISCOURAGED
– Psalm 145:14 ‘The LORD upholds all who fall and LIFTS UP all who are bowed down.’
– People who feel discouraged are very important to the Lord.
– His desire for us is that we would not be discouraged.
– To be discouraged is to lack courage and not have the strength to do or face what we have in front of us.
– Have you ever seen a discouraged person? Sometimes you can even see that their heads are hanging down and their shoulders are drooping.
– The Lord also sees when we are bowed down and carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders.
– Even if we stumble and fall in the process, He will come and pick us up and lift up our heads so that we can go on in His strength.
– Psalm 3:3 ‘But You, LORD, are a Shield around me, my glory, the One Who lifts my head high.’
– If this is how you are feeling, just know that He wants to come and lift you up.
3. HE LIFTS UP THE HOPELESS
– Psalm 40:2 ‘He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm.’
– Those who are battling with a sense of hopelessness are also close to the Lord’s heart.
– Hopelessness, depression, and burnout are things that the Lord wants to lift us out of.
– You may find yourself in a deep pit of despair or struggling in the sinking sand of life, but these places we sometimes find ourselves in are no match for His lifting power.
– It does not matter how deep the pit you find yourself in, nor the amount of ‘miry clay’ of difficult circumstances – HE is able to lift you up and lift you out of it.
– Not only does the Lord want to lift us up, but He also wants to change our situation and our status, from a deep pit – to a raised rock, and from miry clay – to a place of firm ground on which we can start making progress again.
– Jonah 2:6 ‘To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But You, LORD my God, brought my life up from the pit.’
4. HE LIFTS UP THOSE WHO ARE FACING OPPOSITION
– Psalm 18:48 ‘Surely You lift me above those who rise up against me.’
– Perhaps you find yourself in a hostile environment where others are making it difficult or near impossible for you.
– I often receive emails from people who tell me that their colleagues or bosses are making their working conditions so unbearable for them that they want to leave the work that they so desperately need. We pray for people who find themselves in such situations.
– I also often hear of school-going children who are being bullied and mistreated at school and, as a result, are left damaged in the process.
– God hates injustice and He may allow it to go on for a while, but there comes a time when He intervenes and deals with it.
– If you are facing opposition, injustice, unfair treatment or mistreatment and abuse, He will surely come and lift you up, out of, and above these things, so that you will not be overcome by them.
5. HE LIFTS UP THOSE WHO ARE IN TROUBLE
– Psalm 27:5 ‘For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock.’
– Trouble is that inevitable part of life.
– It is completely unavoidable not to face some sort of trouble in the course of life.
– It is not a matter of if, but of when.
– When we face times of trouble, the Lord is there again to come and lift us up.
– In fact, He wants to do more than just lift us up.
– He will come and protect us from the trouble. (In the day of trouble, He will conceal me, and in the day of trouble He will hide me.)
– Perhaps He protects, conceals, and hides us until the trouble has passed, but then His ultimate plan is to step into our situation and circumstances and lift us up and out of the trouble. He allows us to stand securely on a rock or a place of strength from where we can be above the trouble around us.
– He wants to lift up those who are facing troubles.
6. HE LIFTS UP THE HUMBLE
– Psalm 147:6 ‘The LORD lifts up the humble.’
– In the storms and hurdles of life, it is vitally important that we keep the right attitude.
– We need to keep on trusting the Lord.
– We need to keep on walking with a clean heart and a humble spirit, and with patience and endurance.
– We cannot allow ourselves to become bitter, angry, or sour and resentful.
– It is important that we stay humble and dependent on God, without losing faith or trying to lift ourselves up. We need to wait for Him to do it.
– 1 Peter 5:6 ‘Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.’
– In His time He will come and lift us up and we need to be humble and patient while He is working out the details.
7. HE LIFTS US UP – WE DON’T HAVE TO DO IT OURSELVES
– As I was preparing these notes, I discovered something that really encouraged me.
– When we are down and out or feeling down and out, the Lord expects us to pick ourselves up, but He does not expect us to do it on our own.
– In the book of Ezekiel God spoke to the prophet Ezekiel: The LORD said, ”Ezekiel, son of man, I want you to stand up and listen.” (Ezekiel 2:1 – CEV)
– At face value it may seem a little harsh to tell a man who was feeling down and out to get up and stand.
– But the next verse tells us that God did not expect him to do it on his own.
– God had a plan to lift him up and make it possible for him to be able to stand.
– Ezekiel 2:2 ‘As He (The Lord) spoke to me, the Spirit entered me, stood me on my feet, and I heard Him speaking to me.’
– It is so amazing to see that God sent His Holy Spirit to physically lift him up and stand him on his feet.
– I remember when my children were learning to walk. They would walk a few steps and fall over. Often, I would pick them up and stand them on their feet so that they could try again. Ultimately, they learned to stand and walk and then there was no stopping them.
– The Lord wants you to stand up, but He is going to pick you up so that you are able to do it.
– According to what we see later in the story of Ezekiel, this did not happen once, but twice!
– Ezekiel 3:12 ‘Then the Spirit lifted me up…’
– He will lift you up and He will keep on lifting you up.
– Isaiah 40:31 ‘But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.’
By Andrew W Roebert
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