Look Up (Don't Bow to the Glow)
A tender, searching prayer for older kids and preteens (about ages 9-13), from the album "Love Not This World." For the heart that has bowed its neck to the screen all day, it lifts the eyes to the Maker (Colossians 3:2), names the glow as a small idol, and asks the Lord to redeem the very tool that ruled us so it can serve His Name.
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Lyrics · Singalong
Look Up (Don't Bow to the Glow) — Lyrics
Intro
Search me, O God... and free me from the idols in my hands.
Verse 1
Lord, You gave us good gifts — the light, the wire, the screen, and we thank You for the tools, for every clever thing; but I confess, my Father — I have bowed my neck all day, I let its glow become too bright... forgive me, light the way.
Pre-Chorus
So may we use the things of the world, and not be used; hold our hearts, O Lord — let us not be ruled.
Chorus
O Lord, lift our eyes — lift from the glow that's below; may we worship the Maker, in holiness seek to grow; make us free — not entranced, not enslaved — turn us to the better things: Your Word, the needy, the saved. We can't turn our own hearts — Yours is that part — so look up, look up: there's a Light no screen can show, and the Maker is far more wonderful than we know.
Verse 2
There's a little idol glowing, Lord, and we have bowed to it; the work of our own fingers — only silver, glass, and grit; they have eyes that cannot see us, lips that lead astray, there is no breath within it... let us not serve it as our god. And idols make them grow like them — so our hearts go dim and cold; Lord, un-numb us, breathe Your life and take us firmly in Your hold.
Bridge
A screen is like a sugar-light, a sweet-tart on the tongue — but oh, the orange that You grew! the dawn, the deep, the sun! The made-machine fades next to all that You have wrought — and all of Your creation... is but void next to Your face. So redeem the time, lift our eyes — to the widow, orphan and Word, the wonders of Your commands... and our all-surpassing Lord. For we can do nothing apart from You — abide in us, and turn our hunger... till it hungers, Lord, for You.
Verse 3
But the wire and the screen, Lord — they are not beyond Your hand; take this tool that I have idolized, and press it to Your plan; let me cast the gospel net upon the waters of the wire — for the lost ones scrolling lonely, Lord, are kindling for Your fire. Let me sit at the feet of teachers, study deep, and grow in You — redeem the very glow that ruled me, make it serve what's good and true.
Pre-Chorus 2
But we can't redeem it in our strength — abide in us, and send; use these hands, Lord, and these tools, till the age is at its end.
Final Chorus
O Lord, lift our eyes — lift our eyes to You; may we worship the Maker — faithful and true; set us free, set Your Word apart as holy, Lord — so look up, look up: our hearts are Yours, restored. And the tool that ruled our days — let it serve Your name; look up, look up: the screen bows down... and the Lord remains.
Outro
We made this on a glowing screen, and we thank You, Lord — we will not bow to it... we will use it for Your Word. You alone are adored.
Bible verse · Little lesson
A verse to hide in your heart
“Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”
Little lesson for little hearts
Phones and screens are not evil — "every good gift… cometh down from the Father" (James 1:17), and we can use the things of the world without being mastered by them (1 Corinthians 7:31; 1 Corinthians 6:12). But Scripture is honest about how easily our affections drift down. "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2), Paul writes — lift your eyes. The Psalmist warned long ago that idols are the work of men's hands, with eyes that cannot see and mouths that cannot speak, and that "they that make them are like unto them" (Psalm 115:4-8) — we slowly become like what we behold. The Bible answers this not with shame but with wonder: look at the orange God grew, the dawn, the sun, the heavens declaring His glory (Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:20). The gift was always pointing past itself to the Giver. And the very tool that has ruled us can be redeemed — turned to study the Word (2 Timothy 2:15), care for the widow and the orphan (James 1:27), and cast the gospel net upon the waters of the wire. We can't do it alone — "without me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5) — but He works in us "both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). So look up. The Maker is far more wonderful than the glow.
