Jesus just had a powerful spiritual experience during His baptism by John. The Holy Ghost descended on Him and His Father claimed Him Beloved. He then went into the wilderness where Satan did what he does best. Tears one down.

Down. That word is used or alluded in all three of Jesus’ temptations. Satan comes to Him and tells Him to look down at the stones at His feet — satisfy immediate gratification for his hunger. To cast Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple — manifest a miracle and receive the followers He desires. Satan tells Him to fall down and worship him — empty promises to give Jesus a crown of glory before the necessity of putting on the crown of thorns.

Satan is always telling us to look down. To let earthly things absorb our interests and attention. It is a dark hole too easy for us to go down into. But what does God do? He is consistently exhorting us to look up. To lift our eyes and lift our hearts. To fear not, to trust in Him. To turn our eyes upon Jesus.

It takes effort to look up instead of down. It is also pretty difficult to look up and down at the same time. A quote I heard from Elder Sterling W. Sill in April 1961 General Conference explains this well:

“It has been said that one may not always look where he is going, but he will always go where he is looking. If we merely look down long enough, many will be sure to fall.”

That is why God knows how important it is for us to lift our eyes up towards Him. Throughout God’s ministry, he is eagerly prompting people to look up, to listen with open ears and hearts, to lift up their eyes. One thing I love about ‘The Chosen’ is how often the writers add this phrase into their show. I’ve heard Jesus say over a dozen times to “Look at me” or “Look up”. He says it in John 4:35. In Mark 8:25. Luke 21:28. Many psalms sung mention looking up and lifting their eyes (Psalm 5, 110, 121, 123). Isaiah uses these phrases many times as well. A lot of scriptures in the Book of Mormon combine lifting up our head with rejoicing and being of good cheer. Jesus mentions right there in Matthew 5 after Simon falls down at Jesus’s knees telling Him to depart from his sinfulness; Jesus’ very next words to him are “Fear not.” And in Mark to “Come after me.” Matthew: “Follow me”.

Don’t listen to Satan. Come unto Jesus, look up, and you will see that He will carry you through your darkest moments as you follow Him.