Seeing God

Our Series Recap: Our Living Hymnal

Psalm 123 ESV

A Song of Ascents. To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! 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. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt. Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.

Introduction

A Brief History of the Telescope

The first person to apply for a patent for a telescope was Dutch eyeglass maker  Hans Lippershey (or Lipperhey). In 1608, Lippershey laid claim to a device that could magnify objects three times. His telescope had a concave eyepiece aligned with a convex objective lens.

In 1609 an Italian physicist and astronomer named Galileo became the first person to point a telescope skyward. Although that telescope was small and the images fuzzy, Galileo was able to make out mountains and craters on the moon, as well as a ribbon of diffuse light arching across the sky -- which would later be identified as our Milky Way galaxy.

How Telescopes Work

Why can't you see an object that is far away? For example, why can't you read the writing on a dime when it is 150 feet away with your naked eyes? The answer to this question is simple: the object does not take up much space on your eye's screen (retina).

If you had a "bigger eye," you could collect more light from the object and create a brighter image, and then you could magnify part of that image so it stretches out over more pixels on your retina. Two pieces in a telescope make this possible:

The objective lens (in refractors) or primary mirror (in reflectors) collects lots of light from a distant object and brings that light, or image, to a point or focus.An eyepiece lens takes the bright light from the focus of the objective lens or primary mirror and "spreads it out" (magnifies it) to take up a large portion of the retina.

When you combine the objective lens or primary mirror with the eyepiece, you have a telescope.

A Telescope to Help Us See God

As you and I live in this dark world, and we contend with our own dark flesh, our ability to see the light is challenged, and at times, compromised.

It can be a presidential election to which we respond in fear and believe that somehow this was the event that slipped through the fingers of God.

It can be the disappointment we feel when a loved one or a close friend says something or does something that injures us and we become bitter or unforgiving in our heart.

It can be the loss of a job. The loss of a loved one.

It can be ongoing physical pain, ongoing battles with depression, ongoing marital strife, ongoing loneliness.

Darkness that challenges our ability to see the Light… to see God.

We need a telescope. We need something that’s going to collect the light for us and focus the light for us and spread it out across our eyes.

What is this telescope? There are several spiritual telescopes that God uses to light up our eyes, but one of them is one you and I often understand to be something that contributes to the darkness. This particular and common part of our experience is perhaps one of the most powerful telescopes we have, and when we use this telescope, God comes into sharp focus and enables us to see beauty that we did not think existed.

What is this telescope? Our suffering. Suffering, according to God’s design, is meant to magnify the light of God in the eyes of His people. Our suffering is meant to emphasize all-the-more our need for God and how satisfying He is in our despair.

Consider the Apostle Peter’s words:

1 Peter 1:6–7 ESV

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The Psalmist wrote this Psalm in the midst of hardship and persecution, and what he says in response is, “to you I lift up my eyes”.

FCF: Often our suffering clouds our vision of God

But this is not God’s design. Our suffering, yes difficult and even overwhelming, is meant to be a telescope to magnify God’s light.

Big Idea: Our suffering must be a telescope through which we see God

Analytical Question: How does our suffering help us see God?

It reminds us He is King (1)

Why should the fact that God is King comfort us?

sub-point #1: Because His lordship is not subject to our suffering

Psalm 115:3 ESV

Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

When our primary point of reference is ourselves, there are some trials that seem insurmountable. Some that seem impossible to get through or overcome. But we were never meant to be our own point of reference. Our Creator must be our guiding light.

Why do you and I need to lift eyes up to God? Because look at what verse 1 says:

you are enthroned in the heavens

Nothing on earth can overcome what is in heaven. God rules from heaven. God created the world. He created us. Our trials are real, painful, exhausting, but they are meant to demonstrate a fundamental truth about our lives… over and over again.... that we need God. We need our Creator. We need something that we cannot provide to ourselves.

We can trust God, who is enthroned in the heavens, that He can preserve us through our suffering.

When your son or daughter is behaving in ways that are concerning or disappointing, you greatest need is not for him or her to begin to behave the way you want, Your greatest need is to trust you loving, sovereign Creator for the lives of your children.

Let’s take down a notch or two.

When your car breaks down, and you’re wondering how you will pay to get it fixed and how you will do the things you need to do with this inconvenience, your greatest need is not a working car. It is to trust your loving, sovereign Creator, that He knows what you need, when you need it better than you know yourself.

sub-point #2: Because His kingdom is our actual reality

The Lord’s prayer begins like this:

Matthew 6:9–10 ESV

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

The fact that God is enthroned in the heaven, should define reality for us. Conversely, our experiences in this world, as significant as they can be in our experience, should not define reality for us. If we are Christ-followers, our desire is that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Remember what Jesus prayed for His disciples, and for all of us who claim to be His children today:

John 17:14–17 ESV

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

There’s much we could say here, but what is clear is that God’s people are not of this world. In other words, those who belong to God, belong to God and not the world. So when it comes to how we process our experiences, we need to realize that the ultimate reality is that not matter what happens, who’s involved, not matter what expectations are met and are not met, at the end of the day God rules and that is REALITY.

So yes, what Jesus prayed for His people, that they would be sanctified in the truth and His word is truth, that means trying to make sense of our suffering will be impossible apart from the truth. Impossible to manage, navigate, maintain hope apart from the Word of God.

God’s truth… the only truth is reality. His kingdom is reality.

Our suffering must be a telescope through which we see God. Our suffering reminds us that God is King bu also our suffering

It reminds us God grants relief (2)

So, it would be wrong for us to think of God as a distant King who is not involved in our suffering. Who does not concern Himself with the details of our suffering. Who has not made Himself available to His people as a resource to enable us to persevere through our suffering.

God grants His people relief. But

What do we need to understand about waiting for relief from God?

sub-point #1: The relief may not come as we expect

A comparison is made between the relationship servants and maidservants had with their masters and mistresses and the relationship God’s servants have with Him. And what is emphasized about this relationship is the sensitivity of the watchfulness the servants have in watching their masters.

As Derek Kinder put it:

watchfulness of the servant who is ready for the smallest gesture.

Derek Kidner, Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 16, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1975), 471.

When we are waiting for relief from our suffering from God, we must recognize that the relief, the way the relief is given, the timing of the relief is in the hands of God. We can have expectations and desires, but we must surrender those expectations to our Master. We must recognize that God may (perhaps likely) move in ways that we did not anticipate or even desire. But the relief He provides is exactly what we need.

Think about the mothers and fathers of Bethlehem who suffered the loss of their first born sons at the hand of Herod. Herod was desperate to extinguish any threat that existed to his power, and this future King of the Jews was a threat… even if He was, at the time, just a baby. The suffering that came as a result is captured in

Matthew 2:18 ESV

“A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

How did God bring relief to this suffering? We all know what the parents wanted. For their children to be protected from this despicable, senseless slaughter. They wanted their sons back. But God did not grant relief in that way. He did however provide something that they needed more desperately than their sons. He preserved His Son. he preserved the Messiah. He preserved the One who would die for their sins and after them who would follow Him.

I suppose it is difficult for us to imagine anything more painful than the loss of a child. God provides relief, but the relief we need is relief from the controlling power and condemnation of our sin.

Church, never loose sight of the fact that Jesus has set us free. He has brought relief. This is the relief we need everyday, and it is what will help us with the ongoing suffering of our lives. Let’s keep our eyes on the Lord our God.

Because notice what the end of v. 2 says: till He has mercy upon us. We will look to the Lord until He has mercy upon us. Christ-followers understand that no greater expression of God’s mercy has been displayed than through the atoning work of Christ. This is our anchor in our suffering. It’s not that we won’t experience pain, or that we should not acknowledge our pain. It’s that the mercy of God, displayed through Jesus, is our ultimate source of relief.

Something else we need to understand about waiting for relief.

sub-point #2: Our waiting reveals our loyalties

Notice the Psalmist is looking to the Lord in his suffering. Not to Himself. Not to others. Not to a certain outcome. To God.

Our suffering tests our loyalties to God. The connection of our suffering to our loyalties to God is illustrated well in the people of Israel in the wilderness:

Deuteronomy 8:2 ESV

And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

Our suffering is a good barometer of how strong our loyalties are to God. They bring out our true colors. And it’s not that we cannot be honest about our despair. We talked about this a couple of weeks ago, when working through a Psalm of lament. We need to be honest like David often was:

Psalm 42:9 ESV

I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

You see what David does here. He’s honest. He’s feeling, on the one hand that God has forgotten him, but He keeps in sharp focus that God is His God and His Rock.

In our suffering, we must be aware of what’s going on beyond our pain. There’s a bigger picture. Yes, the pain is real, but the stakes are real too. What’s at stake the enduring nature of our faith. Faith can be, often is, painful. But to stumble in our faith, especially when we suffer, makes us particularly vulnerable to hopelessness, despair and spiritual desolation.

Our eyes look to the Lord our God

This is where our loyalties must lie.

sub-point #3: The strain of waiting can be relieved only by God

very briefly, we need to be clear that only God can provide the relief we want. What’s important to notice in verse 2 is what Derek Kinder, in his commentary on this Psalm observed:

Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary Psalm 123. Our Longing Eyes

They have refused to ease the strain of waiting for God by renouncing him

The people of God do not take the relief from their suffering into their own hands. But you and I know that often what we do:

God, I’m done with you because you let this happen

God, since you’re not acting, I’ll do what I have to

It seems I can’t depend on anyone, so I’ll just take care of this myself.

When we take our relief into our own hands, we marginalize the One who is enthroned in the heavens. We display we believe all that matters is that the immediate cause of our pain be extinguished and that we do not believe there is a bigger picture. That we have no real concern for it to be on earth as it is in heaven. Doing this is a certain commitment to misery and to erecting obstacles between ourselves and God.

Instead of taking our relief into our own hand, let’s obey

1 Peter 5:7 ESV

casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

This verse needs to be a way of life.... a way of daily living. Anxieties are not in short supply. They are ongoing, so casting them on the Lord is something we need to do consistently throughout the day.

Our suffering must be a telescope through which we see the Lord. A final way our suffering helps us to see God is that...

It reminds us He is merciful (3-4)

Mercy is God sparing us from that which we deserve but do not want. Notice the plea in v. 3: Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us.

From what do we need to be spared?

sub-point #1: The malice of others

Notice in both verses 3 & 4, the reason for the plea for mercy is made clear:

we have had more than enough of contempt (3)

Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.

We can relate to this right. We had more than enough. We’ve had our fill of the condescending attitude and treatment of others. More than enough of the cynicism. More than enough of the hypocrisy. More than enough of disappointment.

So what do we do? How do we respond? Often we want to give up. There’s a good example of this in

Nehemiah 2:19 ESV

But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

The context here is that Nehemiah was leading the people of Israel to rebuild the wall around the city of Jerusalem. He was doing what God called him to do. He was obeying God. But there were people who did not want him to do what God called him to do. There were people looked down upon Nehemiah and everyone else associated with him for doing something as ridiculous as rebuilding the ruins of Jerusalem. In fact, they were threatening them if they did not stop doing what God called them to do.

By the grace of God, Nehemiah didn’t give in to the malice of others. He didn’t preach to himself, serving God is hard enough without the ridicule of others while I do it. Forget this.

No, this is what he said:

Nehemiah 2:20 ESV

Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem.”

The contempt of the world and other forms f opposition like fear, doubt, apathy etc. will call for us to give in… to give up, but remember this response from Nehemiah:

The God of heaven will make us prosper.

This must be our source of confidence. It is not the approval of others that will strengthen us to do what God has called us to do and be who God has called us to be. It is God Himself. He is merciful, and He will enable us to bear up under the contempt of others and all the other obstacles that get in our way of seeing God clearly.

Conclusion

Our suffering must be a telescope through which we see God because our suffering reminds us that God

is King

Provides relief

is merciful

Believing that our trials, our suffering is something that God can use to bring light to our eyes in order to see Him more clearly is the desire here today.

Perhaps by hearing how God is preserving us through our own trials now will help us to see our suffering in this light. Perhaps you noticed in this Psalm the plural pronouns:

Our eyes look to you O Lord

Have mercy upon us

We have has more than enough

Our soul has had more than enough

It is a lie from hell that anyone in the body of Christ is meant to suffer alone. We need to collectively call out to God for His mercy to pour out upon us.

Pray this out loud Either:

God, thank you for preserving me through...

God help me to believe that you will preserve me through...