Psalm 123:1-2
“Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He has mercy on us.”
The Psalmist compares the way he looks to the Lord, to the way a servant looks to a master. If we are going to understand the comparison, we need to consider how a servant would look to a master. It seems to me, one word would describe it best. A servant looks to his master obediently. The role of the servant is to do the will of the master, and in order to do that, he must look to the master for instruction and respond with obedience. The servant does not have the right to argue with the master, nor the time to complain about how unfair his task, in light of what the other servants are doing. The servant obeys.
The Psalmist is not the only Bible writer to compare himself to a servant. One of Paul’s favorite terms to describe himself was servant. I imagine that if you and I were attending our high school reunion, we would not brag to others, that after years of education, we had become servants. What is it that caused these men to be so thrilled, even honored, by the idea of being servants of the Lord? I think it has something to do with freedom.
The Psalmist understood it was God who had set Israel free. Their history was marked with bondage. They had been the slaves of Egypt, sitting under the threat of death, while being ruled by a harsh task master. They watched as the Egyptians beat their friends, and attempted to kill their children. They also watched, as God came to the rescue; overcoming the impossible and delivering them from the hand of their harsh task master. Later, Israel, again and again ,found themselves in bondage to their enemies. Throughout their history, their desire to be like the world around them, and their compromise with sin, led them into bondage. Time, and time again, they would compromise and fall, and God would intervene and rescue.
Paul understood that the same is true for the Christian. While we might not be the slaves of an Egyptian king, we are no less enslaved. When writing to the Romans, Paul declared, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked, that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” Romans 6:16-18
Prior to coming to Christ, each of us was a slave of sin. As a result, we were missing out on the abundant life God intended for us to live, and we were on the fast track to eternal separation from God. On Calvary’s cross, freedom from sin was secured. Christ made the way for us to be set free from sin, and become the servant of righteousness. The celebration, of being a servant, is found in understanding that we were never free; we were once the slave of sin and death, and now we have become the slave of a holy and loving God, who desires the best for His children. The highest place you can ever attain in life, is that of a servant of Christ. Take some time right now to look to your Master. You will see His unfailing love and matchless grace. You will see his nail pierced hands and his unlimited power. You will see His ways are so much higher than your ways; and you will find, as you follow obediently after Him, you will experience life to the fullest.
Pastor Jim
Questions for Psalm 123
- How does a servant look to his master?
- What does that teach you about how to look to the Lord?
- Why does a soul serving the Lord need mercy?
Old Testament:
Psalm 124- One Size Fits All
1 Chronicles 26- Small Things
1 Chronicles 27- Behind The Scenes
The devil is crafty and a master of deception. Paul referred to him as an angel of light, because of his ability to disguise himself in order to fool the Christian.
It is not always the longest, or even the most creative works, that become the most well known. I am not a poet, and cannot speak to the artistic side of things, but I doubt whether any poem is as well known as “Roses are red and violets are blue…” Sometimes, the simplicity of things is exactly what is most needed. In a songbook filled with some of the most elaborate and beautiful expressions of praise, we find a simple song, consisting of only two short verses. It is the brevity of this song that magnifies its content. We find the Psalmist emphasizing two things that make God worthy of the praise of all the nations. He states, God is kind, and His word is true.
This psalm opens with a declaration of love for the Lord because He hears us when we cry. As the psalm unfolds we learn that the writer was facing a very difficult season where the pains of death were surrounding him. These may have been physical pains from illness or injury or emotional pains caused by the loss of a loved one. Whatever the case his trial turned to triumph when he called upon the Lord.
I remember being in a cultural anthropology class in college, when the professor said, “the Bible says man was created in the image of God, but I believe God was created in the image of man.” While I totally disagree with his rejection of Biblical truth, I do agree, that man has been creating gods in his image since the beginning of time. We like to pretend we are a more evolved and sophisticated race than our ancestors, but the reality is, mankind has not changed. We are still creating gods in our image. Whenever we pick and choose verses we like, and reject the ones that make us uncomfortable, we are creating God in our own image. The Psalmist speaks of the folly of that, when he declares;
A few years ago my wife and I were window shopping at an outdoor mall in southern California when we stumbled onto a crowd of people huddled around a large telescope. We decided to stand in line and see what they were looking at. When our turn came to look through the view finder we were stunned. From the courtyard of the mall we were able to see the rings around Saturn. We took advantage of the moment and allowed the young man who owned the telescope to point out distant stars and even a distant galaxy. Technology has provided us with things that were unthinkable during most of human history, and there in the mall we were able to observe the heavens. I was struck both by the majesty of the heavens and by the advances of science that would allow the casual shopper a glimpse into the heavens. But I did realize that this was only possible because of the highest reaches of human development. Centuries of studying the stars had come together at that moment to provide a telescope that could view the heavens.
God created us as social beings; we need the companionship of one another. Knowing that being together is a necessary part of healthy development and spiritual growth, God established seven feasts that took place during three different seasons of the Jewish calendar year. During these feasts the children of Israel were to journey together to the city of Jerusalem. The journey itself became a time of celebration. The closer they came to the city, the more they would celebrate. As they hiked up the hills where Jerusalem sat, they would sing a series of psalms, now known as the Psalms of Ascent. Upon arriving, the feasts consisted of corporate gatherings, sacrifices, teachings, worship and eating. Like the festive times in our calendar year, I am sure these were the highlight of the year for the people.
The psalmist declares that the blessed life, or what we might call our best life, will stem from delighting in the commandments of God. The word delight means to be pleased with or even to celebrate or rejoice in. It might be illustrated with a child’s face as they see a stack of birthday gifts or an adult when they take the first bite of a favorite dessert. The word commandments is a broad word referring to the word of God but may specifically refer to the things He commands us to do or to avoid.
When I read the songs of David, I am fascinated with the level in which He knew the Lord. He expresses praise in a way that reveals the depths in which he understood the majesty of God. He speaks of mercy, grace and loving-kindness, not as one who studied it in a classroom, but as one who experienced it daily. This psalm reveals the level in which David understood the justice of God. If this Psalm seems harsh, it may be partly due to the limited understanding we have of God’s justice. We live in a world that finds it difficult to reconcile love, mercy and justice. We see it as unloving to punish an offender, yet we know it to be unjust to allow them to go free. It is common to project our limited understanding of righteousness on the Lord, only to then accuse Him of wrongdoing when He judges the ungodly. We must never forget, God is a holy and just God. When sin is committed it must be judged, God will bring justice upon those who have rebelled against Him, and mistreated His children. Ultimately, this judgment will be punitive and those who have rejected Christ will be separated from God.
Jim Gallagher 