Sing to the Lord a new song,
    his praise from the end of the earth!
Let the sea roar and all that fills it,
    the coastlands and their inhabitants.
Let the desert and its towns lift up their voice,
    the villages that Kedar inhabits;
let the inhabitants of Sela shout for joy;
    let them shout from the tops of the mountains.
Let them give glory to the Lord
    and declare his praise in the coastlands.
The Lord goes forth like a soldier;
    like a warrior he stirs up his fury;
he cries out; he shouts aloud;
    he shows himself mighty against his foes.

For a long time I have held my peace;
    I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in labor;
    I will gasp and pant.
I will lay waste mountains and hills
    and dry up all their herbage;
I will turn the rivers into islands
    and dry up the pools.
I will lead the blind
    by a road they do not know;
by paths they have not known
    I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
    the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do,
    and I will not forsake them.
They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame—
    those who trust in carved images,
who say to cast images,
    “You are our gods.”

Listen, you who are deaf,
    and you who are blind, look up and see! (New Revised Standard Version)

All creation, along with all creatures, are to praise the Lord. The coastlands and borderlands serve as witnesses to God’s justice and to human injustice.

The trees aren’t just standing there with their majestic trunks and branches. They are present to any and all of the wickedness that people may do.They experience all good that God does, and the evil which humanity does.

The rocks, the hills, the plants, all that is alive around us are sacred witnesses to what is happening on this earth – both the good and the bad.

All of creation declares God’s praise, and testifies to God of what is going on in the world.

As a result, the Lord is roused to action; God comes to attention like a soldier and is ready to move out.

The Lord will lead the (spiritually) blind in new directions. God’s active participation will put to shame all the people who trust in alternative gods or other things.

The prophet Isaiah says that the people were called to look up and see.

Everyone, look up. Look. Up.

Because the Lord knows that if folks will look up, and see God, that it changes everything for them.

We are invited to look up and sing praises to the Lord. The singers include every creature on earth, the oceans, the seas, the waters, the desert, the coast, the land, and the people.

Look up and see that God is about to act. And the action will be good for some, and not so good for others.

Whenever God moves, you know it. There will be some noise to it, like a woman in labor.

Nothing is beyond the reach of God. The Lord will do divine work of building up, tearing down, and building up again – all according to the divine will.

God will act on behalf of the faithful, the humble, the needy, and all those who look to the Lord. So, we must look up.

We cannot see what is happening, or who is there, if our heads are down. Everything has the potential to be different and changed if we will but lift our heads and look up.

There are a lot of reasons why we may be looking down. We might believe God doesn’t see or isn’t watching. But the Lord is neither deaf nor blind – we are. For us to notice, we must look up.

We may lack self-awareness, not realizing who we truly are, or what the state of things with us really is. Perhaps there is discouragement, despondency, or depression. Maybe hope has disappeared.

It could be that there is guilt, or shame, or uncertainty, and so fear is keeping the head down and eyes looking at the ground.

So, look up.

Abram looked up, saw an incredible future, and heard an amazing promise:

He [the Lord] took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:5-6, NIV)

Mary Magdalene looked up at Jesus, and her deep sorrow turned to great astonishment and joy:

Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in.She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.

“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”

She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

“Mary!” Jesus said.

She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”). (John 20:11-16, NLT)

Stephen looked up, and his persecution turned to glory:

When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:54-56, NIV)

We are to look up so that we can see how things truly are, and whom we really serve. Only then can we accept what is, and what God is doing.

Spiritual awareness enables us to see clearly and discern well. It comes when we look up, see the glory of God, and accept the invitation to respond.

Lord God almighty, Creator of heaven and earth:

How awesome are your works!
    Because of your great strength,
        your enemies cringe before you.
All the earth worships you,
    sings praises to you,
        sings praises to your name!

If I had cherished evil in my heart,
    my Lord would not have listened.
But God definitely listened.
    He heard the sound of my prayer.
Bless God! He didn’t reject my prayer;
    he didn’t withhold his faithful love from me. Amen. (Psalm 66:3-4, 18-20, CEB)