Lifting Up Eyes

DEVOTION

PSALMS

LIFTING UP EYES

Ps 123

123:1 A song of ascents.

I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven. 2 As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy. 3 Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt. 4 We have endured much ridicule from the proud, much contempt from the arrogant.

NIV

The forth psalm of ascents on either the forth step going into the temple or some say this were song on the way up to Jerusalem. But why just fifteen? Again we see the concept of not looking to the world, but lifting our eyes up to the Lord, to his throne in heaven. We are his servant, his handmaiden and as such we look to his hand for our life, our needs and our all. We have nothing of our own, as a slave or servant or handmaiden. We are at his mercy, and he shows us great mercy. He does not mistreat us or abuse us, he cares for us not as servants, but as friends, even his children. We have nowhere, no one else to turn to other then him. Who else would show us that kind of mercy? Certainly not the arrogant, not those who ridicule us, not the proud would want to show us mercy. They are the very ones, the world as it were, who have contempt for us. Sure, it seems we get along with most people, but then are we telling them about Jesus Christ? Are we informing them that unless they believe as we do, they are going to hell? Do we tell them they have to be born again in order to get to go to heaven, or simply be able to seek the kingdom of God? It is most likely we are not, so that is why we get along with them and they do not show their contempt toward us or ridicule us. They may think we are much the same as them, unless we say we are not. They might even call themselves Christians, many people believe in God, but they do not live in accordance with his word. They do not live by faith, but by sight, by their own brand of religion. But in reality they are people of the world. If we spoke the truth of God, they would not agree. If we told them the only way to heaven is through faith in Jesus Christ, they would not have a problem with that, but if we said unless they are born again they will not see the kingdom of God, they may not agree. “I am a good person” “I do not harm anyone” “I go to church” “I believe in God” all sound great, but they are not the same as being a servant of the Lord, a handmaiden to Jesus. They are not the same as being a child of God, a co-heir with Jesus. Then there are those who openly oppose the truth of God, in fact openly oppose that he is the only true God. They say there are many paths to God, or that every religion has a god and that is alright. There are others who oppose the very idea of God and want all references of him removed from any public place. The proud, the arrogant, the blind, the lost, all the haters of God hate us because we stand for all that is right, all that is true, we stand for God. So if we keep silent, we live in comfort and peace with the world, but is we speak up, we might just find a different type of comfort and peace, with God instead of with the world. How can we find comfort with unbelievers? What do we have in common with them? How can we who live in the light and live in comfort with those who live in the dark? What does righteousness have in common with wickedness? No, we are aliens, strangers, and foreigners, in a corrupt land. However we are also ambassador of our Sovereign and we must speak up for him, the message he gave us to say to this land he sent us to. Although we must live in it, we also have diplomatic immunity from its laws. Not the legal laws, but the laws of the arrogant and proud, the laws of corruption, hatred, and contempt, and the laws of darkness. We live by the laws of the Lord. We look to him. We lift our eyes to the Lord.