“No one knows the specific time of the end, not even the Son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24:36).

“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9.

Look Up Child

Look up, child, it’s a brand new day.
Yesterday’s gone, let its pain fly away.
This is your time to discover the dream
Look up, child, God’s got what you need.

Look up child, time to open your eyes.
To sift through the truth, to expose all the lies.
It’s time to exam your small part of this world
Look up child believe what you’ve heard.

Look up child, God has anointed your path.
You can walk it in peace, for His Son bore the wrath.
He died on the cross so you could have what you need.
Look up child, to who set free.

Look up child you’re not meant for this world
Once you were aware, but now the lines have been blurred.
Your place is in heaven where God makes His home;
Look up child, to God’s perfect Shalome.

When your confused, just look up child,
Share in His dream of the world reconciled.
When the enemy taunts you with words that are vile,
You will remember what God says, if you just look up child.

© Linda Troxell

I wonder if you picture Jesus’s walk to Calvary in the same way I always have? I picture Jesus trudging up the hill, carrying the enormous weight of the cross on which His life will end in shame. I project my feelings of disappointment in, and perhaps resentment of, those who have rejected Him despite His selfless effort to free them from this world. I imagine incredible frustration and maybe a touch of self-pity that His efforts to show the people the bareness and futility of this world and the joy of the next were being repaid with this humiliating trudge toward His own death. In empathy, I feel what I imagine He feels: mistreated, defeated, and unwanted. I perceive He is surrendering to His defeat alone and sorrowful, as He is brutally crucified on the cross.
But today, as I was meditating on God’s word, lying on my bed, unwittingly in the same posture as Jesus when He hung on the cross, God made me aware of my posture and used it to give me the challenge of a different view and a different message. “What if you have it all wrong?” He asked. Then, in images, not words, He gave me this alternative view
What if instead of trudging sorrowfully to his death carrying the vehicle of His shame, Jesus is trudging up the hill resolutely, filled with joy and anticipation? Perhaps He is virtually unaware of those laughing at Him, of the ridicule, the hatred, and the anger they feel for Him.
Maybe, despite knowing He will suffer, He is relieved to be almost free of this world where strife, lack, and pain are the norm.  What if He is glad that His mission is almost complete, and He can’t wait to be free of the pointless struggling, and the insane illusion of one’s own strength that this world convinces those who live in it to believe?
Maybe the enormous weight of the cross is comforting and reassuring; maybe it is the vehicle of His escape, rather than the symbol of His failure. Maybe He is concentrating not on the taunting, the reviling, or the betrayal, but on what’s waiting at the end of this long struggle? Maybe He is not surrendering to His humiliation and defeat. Maybe he is not thinking in terms of hanging defenseless on a cross while those around Him enjoy His suffering.
What if the cross is the vehicle for His joy, not the instrument of His shame? What if His posture on the cross, arms spread wide open, feet crossed, trapped and struggling to breathe, is not a posture of frightening vulnerability but of the joyful surrender to the love and protection of the Father?  Maybe the divine part of this man is welcoming his freedom from the illusions this world refuses to relinquish.
Maybe He is tired of the world’s stubborn belief that self sufficiency and pointless striving in one’s own strength and power is required to survive, let alone thrive, in this world. Perhaps, despite His deep love for these image bearers of the Father, He is done with His futile efforts to convince humans of a better way.
Jesus knew the enemy would be defeated. He trusted the Father’s plan to redeem these stiff-necked people and this world. Clearly, in His humanness, he did not know the Father’s plan, for He told His disciples He didn’t know when the end would come, “no one knows the specific time of the end, not even the Son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24:36). Still, He trusted the Father’s plan. And, in His divinity, surely He knew the details of the plan, how it would unfold, and that it would succeed.
So, perhaps He trudged up the hill with joy, eager to relinquish his assumed human nature and reclaim his full divinity in a long-anticipated return to the peace and sanity of His real world, the kingdom of God.
In the kingdom world, self-sufficiency, personal power, and personal strength are not concepts worthy of consideration. Because in the kingdom world, everyone understands that all strength and power belong to God. Everyone in that world joyfully leans on the promises of God rather than their own understanding. Everyone believes that God knows and understands infinitely more than they ever will. In the kingdom, everyone takes for granted what Isaiah said about God:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9.
I am not sharing this to preach God’s TRUTH to you. I’m sharing the amazing way God used this story of Jesus’s crucifixion to illustrate that much of what I believe and understand about the world, what I’ve been taught, and what I’ve experienced, comes from my projection, perception, and interpretation.
This message is directly linked to a personal struggle God has been walking me through for…well, if I’m being honest, for years. So in sharing what God “spoke” to me, I am not trying to reveal THE truth, but I am sharing with you a truth.
As humans made in God’s image, we have some universal shared experiences. But how we experience them is not universal. Because our projection, perception, and interpretation of every experience will be uniquely personal. I believe God was reminding me that there is always more than one way to understand everything we experience, everything we know, and everything we believe. And as our understanding of any given experience changes, so does its meaning and its message.
Whatever message you might perceive and whatever conclusion you come to from reading this essay, I hope it leads you to open your heart and mind to the unimaginable vastness of the universe and its creator. And even more so, I hope it brings you closer to your Creator, the God of angel armies
© Linda Troxell 08/09/ 2025

Let’s Pray:

Lord, we know you are the way, the truth, and the life. And knowing that we should always trust you to lead us in our thoughts, words, and actions. But sometimes we get so caught up in what the world tells us, we don’t think to question it. Thank you for showing us that there are many ways to view almost everything. And thank you for the gifts of perception, projection, and interpretation, for they are essential tools for navigating this complex world full of complex people. But like all the tools you’ve given us, they can be misused. So we ask you now to remind us that only you know how we need to perceive, interpret, or project. And remind us to check in with you even when we’re sure we know,  this and everything else in our lives.

Thank you, Jesus, for your love, patience, and goodness. We pray this in your mighty name, Amen.