Studies in the Psalms - Psalm 123

There are three wonderful reminders in Psalm 123, that instruct us as to what we need to look for each day.

Psalm 123:1

To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!

No matter what we face today, there is only one direction to look for help. We must look up to the heavens where God is enthroned. Pastor John Courson makes an important point in his commentary on this psalm. He says if we look inward, we will find ourselves depressed. If we look outward for help, we will find ourselves distressed. But if we look upward, we find ourselves strengthened.

Psalm 123:2
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.

Secondly, we must look to the hands of our master for our daily needs. I think we could apply the same thoughts to Jon Courson’s statement about looking inward and outward. The world doesn’t provide what we need and certainly we are unable to find help within. We need God. We need Jesus. We need the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 123:3
Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt.

The first two reminders in this psalm told us where to look and the third one tells us what to look to God for. Because of our nature to sin, we need to look up to God and to His hands to provide us His mercy.

Psalm 123:4
Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.

If the world knows we are Christ’s, then they will have contempt for us. If we stand for God and His precepts, there will be scorn. The soul of a Christian will find itself in despair if it does not look up to God and seek His hand of mercy, every single day.

Lift up your eyes to God. Keep them on Jesus.

God bless.