Devo 04: Psalm 123

Our Eyes Look to the Lord Our God

A Song of Ascents.

1 To you I lift up my eyes,
    O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
2 Behold, as the eyes of servants
    look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maidservant
    to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
    till he has mercy upon us.

3 Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
    for we have had more than enough of contempt.
4 Our soul has had more than enough
    of the scorn of those who are at ease,
    of the contempt of the proud.

Devotional Thought

Myopia is the technical term for what we commonly call near-sightedness. Where our eyes don’t focus light correctly so we can only see the objects near us clearly while everything us is blurry (think of it as an unwelcome portrait mode on your phone camera!) And spiritually speaking, we often have spiritual myopia where the problems of this life seem to be in high-def while God seems blurry and far away.

In this psalm, the psalmist has come to the end of his rope because of facing the scorn and mocking of others, of people that look down at him and are set against him. And even though he’s experiencing spiritual myopia, it drives him to cry out to God in prayer for mercy, because he knows that God is the only One who can really help him and give him clear vision.  

Have you ever felt overwhelmed, exhausted, and you’ve had more than enough of how hard life is? As we saw in Psalm 121, God’s eye is always upon us, will we lift up our eyes and meet His? That’s what prayer is, looking to our mighty God to save us. Don’t give up today, let’s fix our gaze on God until He has mercy on us.

Quote: 

Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,
Unuttered or expressed;
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.

Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear,
The upward glancing of an eye,
When none but God is near.

-James Montgomery “Prayer is the Soul’s Sincere Desire”

Prayer:

Father, help us to pray until we pray. You’re not far away, you are enthroned in the heavens, with all power to save and help us today. Have mercy upon us, we’re desperate for You. Give us sight to see You when everything around us is chaotic, difficult, and overwhelming. We look to You, we wait for You, hear our prayers and have mercy on us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.