Day 741: Turn your eyes upon Jesus - Psalm 123 A song of ascents.

1-2 I lift my eyes to you, the one enthroned in heaven. Like a servant’s eyes on his master’s hand, like a servant girl’s eyes on her mistress’s hand, so our eyes are on the Lord our God until he shows us favor. 3-4 Show us favor, Lord, show us favor, for we’ve had more than enough contempt. We’ve had more than enough scorn from the arrogant and contempt from the proud. Psalm 123 Christian Standard Bible

The title 'song of ascents' suggests this was a song Jewish pilgrims recited or sang on their journey to a religious festival. Psalm 121 was another such pilgrim song and also spoke of 'lifting up their eyes'. In that Psalm it seemed to refer to the mountain ahead of them – in this Psalm their eyes are lifted up to God Himself. Bible scholars suggest it reflects the time when many Jews returned from exile and were trying to rebuild Jerusalem's temple and city walls, and even their own lives. But they experienced loads of hostility from those who had been living there for the previous 60 years. An example of this is seen in Nehemiah 4:1-3 where we read:

“When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious. He mocked the Jews before his colleagues and the powerful men of Samaria and said, 'What are these pathetic Jews doing? Can they restore it by themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they ever finish it? Can they bring these burnt stones back to life from the mounds of rubble?' Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was beside him, said, 'Indeed, even if a fox climbed up what they are building, he would break down their stone wall!'” At which point, Nehemiah cried out “Listen, our God, for we are despised. Make their insults return on their own heads and let them be taken as plunder to a land of captivity.”

Short as Psalm 123 is, it still has lessons for us. What would you say is a lesson that vs 3-4 give?

I suggest it's that people who love the Lord can also become disheartened and grow tired of the arrogant mocking of the ungodly. We're called to be a patient people and to return good for evil. And, yes, we try and do that. But it doesn't mean we don't have emotions and that there won't be times when we feel we've had enough of all the insults. For example, someone may be the only Christian in a workplace and is regularly ridiculed by colleagues and sidelined by management. It can be hurtful.

That leads to another lesson. What should believers do when they feel they can't take much more of the arrogant actions of ungodly people who are making their life miserable? (vs 1-2)

They need to fix their eyes intently and expectantly upon the one enthroned in heaven! The picture the Psalmist gives may be difficult to fully grasp in our generation. He speaks of how servants of old would carefully watch their master or mistress so as to be ready to spring into action. Nowadays it's more likely that employees are watching the clock for home time! Perhaps we could think today of how a family dog gazes at it's master with devotion and trust. So too this Psalm writer was looking to God for strength and help in the situation he was in. He believed God would ultimately show him favour and come to his aid.

How often do we look with panic around us for a way out of our difficulties? It's not wrong to see if there are sensible actions we can take - but the most important thing is to keep looking with confident trust to our Saviour. When Jesus was on earth we read that He 'lifted up his eyes to heaven' and prayed 'Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.' (John 17:1) His eyes were on the Father rather than the terrible trial He was about to go through.

Now He is enthroned in heaven - and the writer of Hebrews says: “Since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do - yet He did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:14-15) May God help us to turn our eyes upon Jesus in worhsip and praise - and also to lift up our eyes to Him in every difficult situation we may have to pass through. He understands when we feel worn out from the scorn and contempt of arrogant people.