In his third lamentation, the prophet Jeremiah mourns the tragedies that have befallen his people. But he reignites his hope by remembering God’s mercy. “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed,” he writes, “because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22-23).
He therefore calls on his people to trust God and pray to Him:
Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
Lamentations 3:41
The Book of Mormon prophet Jacob uses a similar phrase to encourage his people. After quoting a hopeful chapter from Isaiah which includes the phrase, “Lift up your eyes to the heavens” (2 Nephi 8:6; Isaiah 51:6), he says:
I speak unto you these things that ye may rejoice, and lift up your heads forever, because of the blessings which the Lord God shall bestow upon your children.
2 Nephi 9:3
The joy that Jacob advocates in this verse isn’t prompted by gratitude; it doesn’t refer to blessings already received. Rather, it’s prompted by hope: by a belief in blessings God will yet provide.
Jacob’s brother Nephi subsequently introduces an extended quotation from the book of Isaiah with the exact phrase from Lamentation:
I write some of the words of Isaiah, that whoso of my people shall see these words may lift up their hearts and rejoice for all men.
2 Nephi 11:8
Long before Jeremiah, Jacob, and Nephi used this phrase, the Lord used it to encourage another prophet who had become discouraged. After Enoch saw in vision the cruelty and wickedness which would fill the earth before the Great Flood, “he had bitterness of soul, and wept over his brethren, and said unto the heavens: I will refuse to be comforted.” But God responded:
Lift up your heart, and be glad.
Moses 7:44
He then showed Enoch “the coming of the Son of Man, even in the flesh,” and Enoch’s soul rejoiced (Moses 7:47).
This phrase echoes throughout the Doctrine and Covenants, appearing in some form at least seven times. To a group of church leaders, the Lord declared:
Lift up your hearts and be glad, for I am in your midst, and am your advocate with the Father; and it is his good will to give you the kingdom.
Doctrine and Covenants 29:5; see also 25:13; 27:15; 31:3; 35:26; 42:69; 110:5
Charles Wesley captured this joyful message in the hymn, “Rejoice, the Lord Is King!” The chorus invites us, “Lift up your heart! Lift up your voice! Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!”
As you listen to this arrangement of the hymn by Ryan Murphy, pay particular attention to the fourth verse, which does not appear in the current hymnbook. It speaks particularly of the joy we experience because of our “glorious hope” for the Savior’s Second Coming.
Today, I will lift up my heart. I will find joy not only in the blessings I have already received but also in promised blessings yet to come.
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