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 maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He is gracious to us. (Psalm 123:1-2 NASB)
I lift my eyes to You alone, Lord. You have all the answers and You are faithful.
As I read Psalm 123, I think about the ancient servant and master. I think about our modern culture and employees and employers. I think about how reliant ancient servants were on their masters for provision and direction. The servants likely lived with the master. It was nothing like today when employees go to work for eight hours, subject to their employers for that short time. Ancient servants were subject to their masters often for absolutely everything, all day, every day.
They were subject for food, clothing, shelter, how they spent their time. For their social life and leisure time, or lack thereof. For training or education if the need arose. For comfort, for honor, or for shame. Everything. The master determined everything for the servant. The master was everything to the servant.
In our culture, we can take care of so much ourselves. Yes, the employer determines pay and therefore physical provision and comfort. But if someone doesn’t like it, he can get a new job, or work for himself, or do something on the side. Not so in the ancient culture.
And not so with God. He is the giver of all good things. He is the giver of life. He is my provider. He directs my steps. If He’s my provider and the One who directs my steps, then surely I must, at the very least, look to Him as a servant to his master. He directs everything.
My eyes look to the Lord my God, until He shall be gracious to me (Ps. 123:2). And I call on Him to be gracious to me (Ps. 123:3). As a good master to his servant. I am at His mercy.
There are those at ease, many who pave their own way (123:3-4). But the Lord is my master and He is the One I look to . He alone sees all and is my all.
Lord, be gracious to me. My eyes look to You and I wait. Be gracious to me.
