Psalm 123
Notes
Transcript
Psalm 123
Psalm 123 is one of the Song of Degrees, or Songs of Ascent.
These psalms were sung while they travelled up to Jerusalem.
This psalm was written by someone that dealt with being ridiculed, or with contempt …we assume for doing right.
It is easy to understand the hurt and even sometimes embarrassment of taking a stand for right.
Not that we are embarrassed by doing right, but it is easy to be embarrassed when we are called out by those who do wrong.
They belittle us, or treat us with disrespect for doing right.
We are the Light of the World, when you shine light into a dark place, it can hurt their eyes!
We are the salt of the earth, but when you rub salt in a putrid sore, it hurts.
Is it any wonder that we are the recipients of some animosity.
What do we do when we face a situation like this?
I believe this Psalm shows us what we ought to do.
Read Psalm 123.
I. Keep Your Eyes on the Lord
I. Keep Your Eyes on the Lord
1 Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, And as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, Until that he have mercy upon us.
That is hard to do, isn’t it?
When things aren’t going well, when people attack us…it’s hard to keep our focus where it needs to be…on God.
But this author, though persecuted and despised, chose to lift up his eyes to God.
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
As we run this race that is set before us..we have to keep our eyes on Jesus.
A runner who is running will go off track if he looks behind or around him.
Runners are trained to keep their eyes forward to their goal.
Jesus is our goal, He is our perfect example, the one to whom we are to become more like.
Why should we keep our eyes on Him?
A. Because He Dwells in Heaven
A. Because He Dwells in Heaven
“…O thou that dwellest in the heavens.”
Far above our struggles, far above the attacks, God sees from His throne and knows what we are going through.
He also knows the end.
When I was in Redding, CA I heard of a large corn maze in the area that had a large stand set up above the corn maze. Someone told me that a family got separated in the maze. One of the children was still in the maze even after the parents and other children made it out. They waited for a while, then went to the employee at the entrance and told them they were starting to get concerned. They were taken to the stand, they climbed up the many steps and at about three stories high they could see into the maze in every direction. After just a few moments the father spotted their child. Borrowing the megaphone, he called out to the lost and crying child and after a few moments caught the attention of the over the panic, and he began to give her turn by turn directions to her mother.
The child had a choice,
1. she had to stop panicking enough to hear her father.
2. She had to listen to the instructions
3. And She had to follow each and every direction.
But soon they were reunited.
God sees things differently that we do…but that is because he is high above us and can see the beginning to the end.
Stop and listen, and obey!
B. Because He Offers His Hand
B. Because He Offers His Hand
“Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, And as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, Until that he have mercy upon us.”
God upholds his children.
8 My soul followeth hard after thee: Thy right hand upholdeth me.
In times of trouble we can become preoccupied on the situation and stop looking for the hand to hold.
God’s hand that holds the ocean’s depths
Can hold my small affairs;
His hand that guides the universe,
Can carry all my cares. —Anon.
I remember when I was very little My dad took us kids ice skating. Because I was so little, I did not fear the hardness of the ice, I was daring…I tried to spin in circles like some of the others I saw on the ice. I tried to go around my father. I wasn’t afraid of falling, because I held to my Father’s hand.
Now had I tried to turn in a circle or go around and in front of my father’s feet without holding to His hand it would have been certain disaster. Why do we try to do things on our own? Why do we insist on going out on our own?
The hand of our Master is there to guide us.
The hand of our Master is there to provide for us.
The hand of our Master is there to feed us.
Keep your eyes and your hands in His!
C. Because Those Hands Bring Mercy
C. Because Those Hands Bring Mercy
“…So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, Until that he have mercy upon us.”
As the servant receives from his Master’s hand, so we receive mercy from God.
These employees had nowhere else to turn for their daily needs.
Likewise, the Lord, our Master, is the only source of the mercy we need.
This word mercy is not like others in the Bible, this Hebrew word is Hanan - its a verb meaning to be gracious toward, to favor.
It is used usually to show gracious acts toward someone in need.
It’s not just getting something we do not deserve, but the gracious act of filling a need.
God will take care of us.
We just need to say, like the Psalmist - “So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God.”
The truth is we can expect to be the target of contempt because we have faith in Jesus Christ, especially when we take a stand upon His Word.
Sometimes it may be taunting or ridicule.
For others it could mean being shunned by family, friends, neighbors, or associates.
College students who stand for the truth in their papers may and have found themselves with a failing grade, or being mocked or discriminated against.
Grandchildren of some of our own members have found themselves in this very position.
Christian employees may find themselves singled out, threatened, demoted, or even fired.
Christian business owners will find themselves increasingly the subject of protests or boycotts.
Many today are forced from their homes, towns, or even countries.
Many will be imprisoned, beaten, tortured or executed because of their faith in Jesus Christ.
Whenever we find ourselves in a situation of persecution, we need to lift our eyes above the attack and look to the Lord for help.
Focus on Jesus, who endured the cross, despising the shame.
Puritan preacher Thomas Manton said:
The lifting up [of] the eyes, implies faith and confident persuasion that God is ready and willing to help us. The very lifting up of the bodily eyes towards heaven is an expression of this inward trust: so [the psalmist] in effect saith, From thee, Lord, I expect relief, and the fulfilling of thy promises. So that there is faith in it, that faith which is the evidence of things not seen. How great soever the darkness of our calamities be, though the clouds of present troubles thicken about us, and hide the Lord’s care and loving kindness from us, yet faith must look through all to his power and constancy of truth and love. The eye of faith is a clear, piercing, eagle eye: Moses “endured, as seeing him who is invisible:” (Hebrews 11:27). Faith seeth things afar off in the promises (Hebrews 11:13), at a greater distance than the eye of nature can reach to. Take it either for the eye of the body, or the mind, faith will draw comfort not only from that which is invisible, but also from that which is future as well as invisible;
So Keep Your Eyes on the Lord
II. Ask for Mercy
II. Ask for Mercy
3 Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us: For we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
4 Our soul is exceedingly filled With the scorning of those that are at ease, And with the contempt of the proud.
While keeping your eyes on Him, ask Him for His help!
By asking for mercy we are asking for His gracious favor and help in time of need.
A. Because We Know Who He Is
A. Because We Know Who He Is
He is the God who helps
He is our Provider
He is our Healer
He is the Lord of Hosts
He is There With us
He is the Provider of Peace
He is The Lord of Righteousness and Justice
He is our Dwelling Place
10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: Be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
4 Behold, God is mine helper: The Lord is with them that uphold my soul.
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
He is Our Lord, and He is our Helper!
Hold to what you know about God, Have faith, and cry out to God using his promises
13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; And lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he shall direct thy paths.
6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
And so many more!
Hold to Who He IS!
B. Because We Know Who the Enemy Is
B. Because We Know Who the Enemy Is
4 Our soul is exceedingly filled With the scorning of those that are at ease, And with the contempt of the proud.
The psalmist describes his persecutors as those who are at ease.
the word is shanan (shah·an·awn) - It means to be at ease, to be quiet or complacent. It carries the meaning of arrogance, pride or insolent.
We know the end of the proud.
Psalm 54.4 says,
4 Behold, God is mine helper: The Lord is with them that uphold my soul.
But the next verse tells us…
5 He shall reward evil unto mine enemies: Cut them off in thy truth.
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
12 Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, And before honour is humility.
I would not wish to be in their shoes.
Keep your eyes on God, trust in Him, and realize they will have their day.
We don’t even need to wish it upon them…it will just come.
When we are attacked, we can pray for God’s mercy.
At times, this will come by way of deliverance form our persecutors.
The Lord may even send an angel to rescue us...
Like Peter in Acts 12.
Or he may send a stranger, to help us.
Our help may come from the most unlikely places.
I remember when I was a senior in high school some of the teenagers in my youth group went out to some of the slums of Chicago to go soul-winning.
My friend and I came upon a group of guys standing on a street corner, they looked like gang members if there ever were some.
Here my friend and I were, two white boys, in a not so white neighborhood, and we had a choice were we going to stop and talk to these rough looking characters, or would we just try to walk by and hope there wasn’t going to be any trouble.
Well we didn’t get the chance to make a choice, because one of the guys, seeing us coming, said, “What are you two doing here?” I remembered at that moment someone saying if you ever find yourself in a gang situation find the leader and talk to him, if you can win him over, you got the whole group.
So I found who I thought might be the leader and began to witness. Some of them began to laugh and poke fun a little and even poke us physically. From behind me I heard someone come up behind us and say, “Hey, leave them alone, they are some of the Bible men.” Immediately the poking and joking stopped and they listened as we witnessed to them. I realized I had chosen the wrong leader, because they immediately listened to this man. They listened to us but no one accepted Christ that day, but I did leave a tract with each of them, and thanked the man who helped us.
As we walked away, we both just kind of looked at each other and collectively said, “Whew!”
Help came from a very unexpected place.
There are times, however when God chooses not to deliver us.
The pages of church history, even as it is still being written, is stained with the blood of martyrs.
Stephen was attacked and killed for preaching Christ.
Paul, then Saul, must have been affected by the stand he took as he prayed for the Lord to forgive his executioners…even if it took a few years to take root.
God cares for His children.
He will help us whether it be through living grace, or dying grace.
But he will reward those who are faithful in the face of persecution.
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.