To You I Lift Up My Eyes: A Song of Reality
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Psalms of Ascents: worship songs, preparation songs.
120- The prod that gets us going
121- Tune for the road
122- A song of worship
123- A song of reality
Illustration: It is a good thing to receive a healthy dose of reality: explaining to my sons how the real world works: car insurance, gas, phone bills, school bills, purchasing a vehicle … Things they don’t understand yet- housing, food, utilities, health care, etc…
Nothing softens our hearts, causes us to become more dependent upon God, or makes us painfully aware of our desperate need of God than a healthy dose of reality.
In four short verses this song lays plain and obvious the truth of living in a sin-broken world, and also the majestic God who rules over all. And we lowly humans seem to be caught in the middle of it all.
What truths do we need to remind our hearts of once again so that we will be ready to truly worship the Lord as He deserves?
1 To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
To you I lift up my eyes- what does that phrase tell about us?
“Service begins with an upward look to God. God is over us. He is above us. The person of faith looks up to God, not at him or down on him. The servant assumes a certain posture, a stance. If he or she fails to take that posture, attentive responsiveness to the master’s commands will be hard.” —Eugene Peterson
Reality #1:
1. We are very very small (1a)
1. We are very very small (1a)
How would this healthy dose of reality prepare your heart for worship?
1 To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
O you who are enthroned in the heavens. What does this phrase tell us about God?
A Commentary on the Psalms, Volume 3 (90–150): Commentary A. Their Prayer Is to the Sovereign Lord (1)
By this expression of his focus on God the congregation would be reminded that prayer addressed to the king of heaven is in itself an expression of confidence in his sovereignty. He alone reigns on high above all the difficulties of this life. The confidence comes in understanding and depending on this.
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
Reality #2:
2. God is very very big (1b)
2. God is very very big (1b)
How would this healthy dose of reality prepare your heart for worship?
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.
Behold, as or like: simile- what is the intended meaning?
Just like the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters?
Just like the eyes of maidservant to the hand of her mistress?
What is the point of these expressions?
What do the eyes represent? The attention given to the master or mistress
What does the hand represent? the activity and direction of the master or mistress.
What is the point? Look how the simile completes itself at the end of the verse: So our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy upon us.
Just like the servant’s eyes look to the hand of their master, so the faithful look to the Lord.
The servant cannot do anything on their own initiative or authority, but are constantly looking to their superiors for directives and provisions. They eagerly wait for the command of their master. So too the faithful should have that same kind of attentiveness to God.
“God presents himself to us in the history of Jesus Christ as a servant: with that before us it is easy to assume the role of master and begin ordering him around.”
Do we every order God around? Do we ever pray that way? God you have to get me out of this mess! God you can’t let my friend stay sick. God you must get me this promotion.
“But God is not a servant to be called into action when we are too tired to do something ourselves, not an expert to be called on when we find we are ill equipped to handle a specialized problem in living.”
“If God is God at all, he must know more about our needs that we do; if God is God at all he must be more i touch with the reality of our thoughts, our emotions, our bodes than we are; if God is God at all, he must have a more comprehensive grasp of the interrelations in our families and communities and nations that we do.”
“No, if God is worth our attention at all, he must be a God we can look up to—a God we must look up to…The moment we look upon to God (and not over at him, or down on him) we are in the posture of servitude.” —Eugene Peterson
Reality #3:
3. God really is God (2a)
3. God really is God (2a)
How would this healthy dose of reality prepare your heart for worship?
Psalm 123:2–3 (ESV)
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.
What is the repeated word in these two verses? Mercy 3x’s.
A Commentary on the Psalms, Volume 3 (90–150): Commentary B. Their Prayer Is Vigilant and Attentive (2)
The verb (חָנַן; s.v. Ps. 4:1) may be translated “be gracious, show favor, be merciful.” It usually refers to favor that is undeserved, which is why it is the focus of prayer.
What does this tell us about the reality of God? He loves mercy!
13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
8 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.
Reality #4:
4. God delights to be merciful (2b-3)
4. God delights to be merciful (2b-3)
How would this healthy dose of reality prepare your heart for worship?
Psalm 123:2–3 (ESV)
2 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.
What do these verse teach us about reality concerning ourselves?
What does mercy mean again?
A Commentary on the Psalms, Volume 3 (90–150): Commentary B. Their Prayer Is Vigilant and Attentive (2)
The verb (חָנַן; s.v. Ps. 4:1) may be translated “be gracious, show favor, be merciful.” It usually refers to favor that is undeserved, which is why it is the focus of prayer
We don’t deserve any of God’s favor!!!
You hear the question from unbelievers all the time, “Why does a loving God let evil things happen?”
God allows sin to happen, he doesn’t cause it, and it has to do with our free wills, but ultimately it is a mystery- I don’t know.
Here is the better question: Why are any of us walking and talking right now? When bad things happen a lot of people will say of God, “he’s not fair.” Actually, what’s not fair is that any of us receive his favor in any way shape or form. If we all got what we deserved, what is fair, we would all be justly satisfying the wrath of God in the lake of fire forever and ever. What is not fair is that God chooses to be merciful. In other words any of God’s mercy is absolutely undeserved.
And the only reason we can now be the objects of God’s mercy instead of his wrath if Jesus! Because Jesus bore all of the wrath of God for our sin upon the cross. And why did he do that? Not because we deserved it, but because God desires mercy!
Reality #5:
5. We don’t deserve any of God’s favor (2b-3)
5. We don’t deserve any of God’s favor (2b-3)
How would this healthy dose of reality prepare your heart for worship?
3 Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt.
More than enough: The verb used (שָׂבַעְנוּ) means “to be sated, satisfied, full, have enough.” The clause literally says, “for we are exceedingly full of contempt.”
Contempt: “Contempt” (בוּז; s.v. Ps. 22:6) is an arrogant, condescending attitude that considers something worthless; it is manifested by contemptuous acts—they did things to show their contempt (and so “contempt” is a metonymy of cause). In the psalms contempt is often verbal ridicule, but occasionally persecution and mistreatment.
Illustration:
Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony Features Drag Parody Of Last Supper
The opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics on Friday featured a parody of The Last Supper with an obese woman wearing an aureole/halo as Jesus surrounded by drag queens as the Apostles, a decapitated head representing Marie Antoinette of the French Revolution, and drag queens dancing around children.
What is the Christian response to this?
17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.
18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
4 Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.
A Commentary on the Psalms, Volume 3 (90–150): Commentary II. They Pray Eagerly for Merciful Deliverance from the Contempt of the World (3–4)
The word “scorn” has the meaning of “scoffing, mocking, scorning, deriding, laughing at” (see Psalm 2:4). So this brief lament (and motivation for God to be merciful) is that the people had all the ridicule they could take.
Who were these scorners?
Those who are at ease and the proud.
A Commentary on the Psalms, Volume 3 (90–150): Commentary II. They Pray Eagerly for Merciful Deliverance from the Contempt of the World (3–4)
The use of these descriptions may refer to the mistreatment of the lower classes by the arrogant upper class people (Amos 6:1). So the faithful have had to put up with the wealthy, self-sufficient, unbelievers and the proud oppressors who have treated them with contempt and scorned their faith.
Reality # 6:
6. We are fully dependent upon God’s deliverance (3-4)
6. We are fully dependent upon God’s deliverance (3-4)
How would this healthy dose of reality prepare your heart for worship?
Nothing softens our hearts, causes us to become more dependent upon God, or makes us painfully aware of our desperate need of God than a healthy dose of reality.
What truths do we need to remind our hearts of once again so that we will be ready to truly worship the Lord as He deserves?
We are very very small
God is very very big
God really is God
God delights to be merciful
We don’t deserve any of God’s favor
We are fully dependent upon God’s deliverance
As we reflect upon these realities may our hearts be motivated to offer to the Lord acceptable worship with reference and awe.