Psalm 123

[DeanZF]

Psalm 123

Prayer for the LORD'S Help

A Song of Ascents<LIST>

• <LI>
• To You I lift up my eyes,
  
  O You who are enthroned in the heavens!</LI>
  <LI>
• Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
  
  As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
  
  So our eyes look to the LORD our God,
  
  Until He is gracious to us.</LI>
  
  <LI>
• Be gracious to us, O LORD, be gracious to us,
  
  For we are greatly filled with contempt.</LI>
  <LI>
• Our soul is greatly filled
  
  With the scoffing of those who are at ease,
  
  And with the contempt of the proud.</LI>

</LIST>We're still on the way, and like our last song, we're rehearsing the power of the truth and I'm reminding myself and others with me on the journey that where we're going is a God-given symbol of heaven's throne room. We lift our eyes because our goals are UP. Heaven is UP and Jerusalem sits atop one of the tallest mountains in all of Israel--definitely UP. As we kneel in prayer and worship, we're watching His hand and His eyes. We know that He was, and is, and will continue to be gracious to us.



In the last two verses, what are we asking? Why are we filled with contempt? It's not our contempt that is filling us. That would be sin. This relates to an earlier psalm about loving peace but living among those who love war. There will always be those reject or dismiss us because of our belief in God. They will heap scorn and scoffing, mocking and contempt on us. God's grace allows us to shrug off the contempt so long as our focus is on Him. We pray for the oil of His grace so that the dirt of the world will simply slide off.