Look Heavenward
Mediterranean Adventures
In May 2015, my friend Tina invited me to join her on an amazing adventure. She works as a cruise travel consultant (check her out here) and we got to embark on an incredible journey through the Mediterranean. The voyage started in Istanbul, Turkey and finished in Athens, Greece. In between we stopped at three other places in Greece; Thessaloniki, Meteora, and Patmos. We even went into the cave where John, imprisoned, received the words of Revelation.
Before boarding the ship in Istanbul, we got to go on a tour of the Sultan’s Palace. This is where the Turks keep their crown jewels. The guide finished the tour by excitedly telling us of all the gorgeous gems we could admire if we walked in one direction and then nonchalantly added, “or you can go that way and view relics like Moses’ staff or David’s sword.” I could not even imagine that I heard him correctly, so I asked him to repeat what he had said. He repeated the same thing, so off I went to see the treasures of old.
There is no way of knowing if this was Moses’ actual staff or David’s sword, but I could not believe my eyes. The room was full of relics from both Christian and Muslim traditions. I just stared at the antiquities with amazement at what they symbolized and thought of all the stories I could remember about them. I wondered if this was really the staff that turned into a snake (Exodus 7:8-13) or that Moses used to hit the rock where God produced water.
Small But Powerful
When I read about the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the yod, it brought me right back to standing in front of the glass case holding Moses’ staff. The yod is the smallest and most used letter in the Hebrew alphabet, with the value of ten. It floats and looks much like an apostrophe. The yod means intimacy, hand, power, or to look heavenward. The letter is small but powerful.
“As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage.”
Exodus 17:11 NLT
Author Chaim Bentorah, in his book “Hebrew Word Study: Beyond The Lexicon” wrote, “The yod floating in the air is a reminder to us to keep looking up, looking to Heaven. We have the story of the Israelites fighting the Amalekites. It is Moses’ upheld hand that initiates God’s help, making the Israelites prevail. Scripture teaches that when Moses held his hand, or his yod, up that Israel prevailed.”
Chaim continues by saying, “The Talmud (Babylonian historical books) teaches us that it was not the physical act of holding up his hand that initiated God’s help. Holding up his hands was the means by which Moses communicated to the Israelites to keep their thoughts tuned to the above and to subject their hearts to God. It was the turning of their thoughts to the above that was the direct cause for God’s help.”
Look Heavenward
What does this look like for us to look heavenward? When I think of looking up, I think of not getting bogged down by what is happening in the world around me. It is so easy to let the news and current issues we face bring our thoughts downward and we think only on an earthly level. Jobs and the busyness of the day can also keep us looking down.
When we tune our hearts to God through prayer, reading our Bibles or worshipping, we look up and grab hold of the hope only He offers. I imagine it like the bleeding woman who maneuvered her way through the crowd to grab hold of the hem of Jesus’ robe. She believed if she could touch His robe, she would receive His power and she would be healed. If we seek Him like she did with expectation, and with our hearts reaching for Him daily, there is no telling the amount of Heavenly power we could receive from Him.
Look To Jesus
Look to Jesus every morning and He can change the entire outlook of each day. When I start in the morning with prayer or scripture, I contemplate on those verses or continue to pray more throughout the day. Also, if I turn on worship music or a Christian book on Audible or a podcast on my way to work, it puts my mind in the right place before I go into work. I work in a high school so I need my mind as focused on Christ as possible.
Scholars say the Yod represents the spiritual realm. As I mentioned earlier, the yod is tiny and can go unnoticed, much like we miss the opportunities to look into the spiritual realm. (Read more on the divine invitation here.)
We Are Never Too Small To Be Used By God
The smallness of the yod reminds us we are never too small to be used by God. The Lord can use anyone, no matter how insignificant you may believe yourself to be. Do not believe these lies. God uses the unqualified so we will be more reliant on Him throughout whatever He asks us to do. Has God asked you to do something but you feel unequipped to do it? Look Heavenward, step out in faith, and follow Him. Do what He has asked you to do. Once you do this, or if you have done this, I want to hear your stories. Share them in the comments below. Remember, it is our stories that give strength to others.
“And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.”
Revelation 12:11 NLT
Thank you for sharing…
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