THE SONGS OF ASCENT – PART 5 – PSALM 123 – LIFT UP YOUR EYES TO THE MOST GRACIOUS GOD
Psalm 123 A Song of Ascents.
Today we continue the Psalms of Ascent with the next in the series, which is a short Psalm, number 123. The psalm looks upward to God and then inwardly to the problems, and scoffers’ contempt. Let us begin.
[A]. THE SOLE DEPENDENCE ON GOD
{{Psalm 123:1 “To You I lift up my eyes, O You who are enthroned in the heavens!”}}
The authorship is unknown but it is an inclusive Psalm, so much so, that I think it covers the experience of every single child of God. This is such a simple and lovely means of communication from a righteous one of God who acknowledges two things in particular – (1). DEPENDENCY ON GOD. (2). GOD’S GLORY IN HEAVEN.
We will never go wrong when we have those two aspects in place. None of us are islands to ourselves. Self-sufficiency is in fact a lie, because man can only be self-sufficient to a point. I have read of these “preppers”, especially in the USA who believe catastrophe is coming and have bunkers, some underground, stockpiled with armaments, water and food to last any apocalyptic event. Just one word I would have for these people – even if you are self-sufficient until death, what then? What happens to your self-sufficiency then? Look at what God says - {{Hebrews 9:27 “Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgement.”}}
O man, who lives independently from God, what happens then? What will you do in the judgement/judgment? Do not mock, but seriously consider that you are going to be one of these people standing at the throne with no hope - {{Revelation 20:11-15 “I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them, and I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. The sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds, and death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”}}
Blessed is the man or woman who has learned to be dependent on the Lord. What a privilege it is for puny man who was created in the image of God to lift up his head and acknowledge God; to lift up his eyes to the Lord. Man was created for fellowship with his Creator and that is the reason why the Lord came down each afternoon to have fellowship and communion with Adam and Eve. It was destroyed of course through sin and since then many have been running from God in fear or hate or neglect or in absolute stubbornness.
Can I address you, O Christian person? To whom do you lift up your eyes? Are you too busy with worldly activities to lift them to God? Are you maybe too engrossed in things of no value that set your programme and priorities? When you follow the psalmist writing under inspiration, then you will know a joyous peace and calm in your soul. Do you know God wants dependent people? God loves those who come to Him in humility and desire only to know their dear Lord.
And talking about humility, there is so much false humility that festers like maggots in a person’s soul and when in God’s presence they feign humility but God knows the falsity of it all. The soul who is truly humble knows how bad he and she is, and how good God is, and then can come with no airs or pretence. God will always bless the one who is contrite of soul.
{{Psalm 51:15-17 “O Lord, open my lips that my mouth may declare Your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice otherwise I would give it. You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and a CONTRITE heart, O God, You will not despise.”}}
{{Isaiah 57:15 “for thus says the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the CONTRITE and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the CONTRITE.”}}
From ancient times, as way back as Eden, God communicated with His creation AND STILL DOES. Today in this world we have every possible means of communication, and support (so the governments tell us) and this being the case, there are those now saying God is superfluous and the old crutch of Christianity needs to be eliminated. That is happening anyway. A current move by all the Councils in Victoria (Australia) want the regulation that would ban prayers in Council chambers and in Meetings.
However to replace prayers and Christian witness, more and more are making what is called “Indigenous Statements (First peoples Statement actually, and recognition that the Aborigines own Australia (even though they are so detached from 200 years ago), and want to reject the people who live here and settled and developed the nation, and make us accept the spiritist aboriginal culture. The current Marxist/communist governments of Australia are fast moving to dictatorships and repression, and especially the suppression of all Christian witness. We live in serious times especially for Christians.
[B]. GOD LOVES HIS PEOPLE TO DEPEND ON HIM
{{Psalm 123:2 “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 shall be gracious to us.”}}
We now move to the results of dependence on the Lord, which is support and gracious bestowal. God’s people are not hapless beggars for their God is Creator of the universe and He owns all of it, and just the tiny part the psalmist knew – the cattle on a thousand hills. {{Psalm 50:10-11 for every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is Mine.”}} Never forget every good thing comes from God. He is pleased to give and provide. It must be wonderful for God when His children look to Him for blessing that He joyfully owns and gives.
Have you ever studied a dog that has been trained and has learned dependence and trust in its master. Some food or treat appears and the dog knows it and is waiting in expectation, its eyes looking to its owner, and sometimes its mouth and tongue moving. It does not rush forward to snatch the item from the owner’s hand like the way some people treat God. No, it waits until the correct time and that is when the owner calls it, or decides it should have the food.
The eyes of the servants look to the hand of their master and they know their master is kind and provides for them. (That is not always the case for some masters or overlords or managers can be ruthless and nasty). God is never like that. The psalmist must be inferring here that the masters are good ones, parallel to the Lord.
The maid who serves her mistress has the mistress’s trust and her eyes look to the benevolent one for her help when that help is needed. The mistress, it is assumed, is very happy to help the dependent maid. All these examples are the way God cares for His special children of faith. He would never tease them then withdraw what is good for them. He would never be mean.
The greatest gift was given into the hands of men, that of the Lord Jesus Christ, but men’s hands took Him and crucified Him on a cross. The greatest gift of the Lord Jesus shows that God will always give the best to His own people. He is pleased to give the best.
Now, let’s be careful. Some people, I think, misunderstand who God is and think He is a Santa Claus just to hand out goodies whenever someone asks. Of course God refuses to do that so those people turn against God. When a child is born the parents sometimes accept that as a gift from the Lord, but if the child dies then what happens? Solid Christians who understand what this verse 2 is saying can let the matter rest in God’s hands, even in great sadness, but others turn against God, for their understanding and faith is imperfect.
Our eyes look to the Lord our God for we know He always blesses us with every spiritual blessing, if not with physical blessings. We must never forget that the whole platform for this is grace, for God is gracious and it was grace that sent the Lord Jesus Christ – {{2Corinthians 8:9 “for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”}} That is a beautiful exchange – poverty into riches – but it means we must be thankful and undemanding and patient. The Lord knows your needs and will never fail you.
I sometimes think of these verses in a materialistic world in which we live - {{1Timothy 6:6-8 “But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment, for we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be CONTENT.”}}
I live in an affluent country but I know in many parts of the world such as those in Africa, the Sub-continent, and third world nations and those under repressive regimes in communist countries and dictatorships, Christians have very little, and the three small Timothy verses above must be the truth in their lives. Also I think that those with little in a materialistic world are rich in God in a way western people do not understand.
As those pilgrims made their way to Jerusalem singing these songs, they knew what it was to be dependent on God and they rejoiced. However there was a downside in their lives that the next two verses reveal.
I think it is always beneficial to consider other Christians in less privileged places (the “privilege” of materialism I greatly despise). Some of these Christians can praise the Lord without the downgrading entrapments of materialism that we have in the developed world. Some time back I came upon a YouTube site that comes from India with choir hymn singing. I have found it a marvellous testimony to their faith and simple trust. May God bless them.
This is the site on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@classichymns8110
It says of these people – [[“Ageless Hymns that blesses all from all walks of life. The Mass Choir are members from various Christian Choir groups mainly from Chennai, Bangalore, Trichy and Coimbatore. In 2020 they did two hymns under a Campaign "Sing for India"]]
[C]. THE EVIL OF CONTEMPTIBLE SCOFFERS REQUIRES GOD’S GRACIOUSNESS
{{Psalm 123:3 “Be gracious to us, O LORD, be gracious to us for we are greatly filled with contempt.
Psalm 123:4 Our soul is greatly filled with the scoffing of those who are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.”}}
These people knew the gracious God but now a problem arose and they needed the God of grace to intervene for them. The plea for God’s grace is sought and then repeated in this first verse. This means they were in deep need for a solution for their problem. Repetition in prayer often means a deep soul desire that we can’t solve so we look to Almighty God for His help. These people are pouring out their souls to the Lord. God’s followers are the off-scouring of the world.
The psalm was written by someone who specifically had these needs and it all applied to him. However because it was one of the Songs of Ascent, one of the pilgrim Psalms that was sung on the journey, then we understand that the truth of the verses applied to all the pilgrims. Indeed it did, just as it applies to all Christians today for we experience the same problems in this world.
We will look at the reason for a special helping of God’s grace. The first verse says they were filled with CONTEMPT. They had enemies. The enemy of souls always make sure we have enemies, and they are sly and cunning. The Christian is a new creation and his and her values don’t work along the same lines as the world does. Evil will always despise the good. If you want contempt to fall on you then be engaged in the goodness of God. Satan hates genuine Christians and can always rouse up an army of evil against them. See the following examples for the hate of Satan.
THEIR EYES WERE LIFTED TO GOD ALONE AND HE BECAME THEIR STRENGTH
THIS IS A SMALL ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT SUFFERING FACED BY THE CHRISTIANS OF FRANCE MAINLY.
THE WALDENSIANS
From 1380 A.D. the Popes, cardinals, priests and the Vatican ambassadors wanted to eliminate the Christians in the valleys of the Piedmont. 150 Waldensians were burnt at Grenoble and persecution raged in France. People were forced to leave in the hour and flee. The severity of the season and the coldness all the heights proved fatal to nearly all who had escaped the hands of slaughter by the Roman Church, many of them mothers who were carrying their infants and leading by the hand, the little children who were able to walk, but cold and hunger speedily killed 180 babies who perished in their mother’s arms. No estimate can be found of their numbers that perished by the tyrannies and cruelties of Rome. Those persecuted to death wear the martyr’s crown in heaven today. The cruelty of the popes and their ambassadors in the murder of hundreds of thousands of born-again Christians in France will not go unpunished at the Great White Throne.
THE HUGUENOTS
Along with Jezebel, the most vile and despicable woman ever to walk on the earth was Catherine de Medici. This satanic woman was responsible for the death of untold hundreds of thousands of Christians. Henry II was married to Catherine Medici and they set out with the most horrible persecutions against the Huguenots. The Roman church began the extermination of all reformers in the provinces of Langeudoc, Dauphiny, Lyonnese, Guienne, Saintonge, Poitou, the Orleanese, Normandy, Picardy, and Flanders. Maybe one-sixth of the population were born again Christians. It was satanic hate against them.
The funeral piles blazed in all quarters of Paris and in all the towns of France and born again persons of all ages and both sexes fed the flames, suffering the most horrible barbarities and tortures but even as they murdered countless numbers of Christians, their numbers were being replaced. Philip Augustus in one day had 600 of the Albigenses burned.
The priests did Satan’s work with demonic hatred. On St Bartholomew’s day, August 1572, the most barbarous massacre took place inspired by the devil and Catherine de Medici, Pope Pius 5th and Phillip 2nd of Spain. The demonic leaders of this were the King and the Pope; and the Roman Catholic clergy inspired the populace into a fanatic frenzy and they launched against the Huguenots in a most horrific slaughter. This spread throughout the provinces in a bloodthirsty craze. One of the most sadistic murderers was the Cardinal of Lorraine. 70,000 victims were slaughtered at the hands of the Pope and his envoys in 1572 (some estimates are 100 000), and their bodies choked the rivers of France and lay over the plains. 4000 bodies were in the Seine in Paris.
This unbelievable cruelty must not be dismissed because disastrous times are ahead. WHAT GAVE THESE PEOPLE STRENGTH TO ENDURE SUCH TORTURES? Their eyes were lifted up. They look up to the throne of God. The Christians in France suffered more than in any other European nation. God has not forgotten it.
Let us consider verse 4 – {{Psalm 123:4 Our soul is greatly filled with the scoffing of those who are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.”}}
Let the picture of this come to you. The psalmist speaks of people in the world “at ease” with nothing better to do than to scoff at God’s own people. In the messages I did on Psalm 1 we saw there was a progression downwards of these evil people – from the walk of those with wicked counsel, TO those standing in the sinners’ path, TO those sitting in the scoffers’ seat. Scoffers are really bad. They are the bottom line of the evil mind.
The unsaved proud will always attack God’s people. Their contemptible attitudes and lives and decisions against the godly can be sickening, but Christian, remember this is but for a season. After that the proud will be humbled and when they stand at the great white throne, they are reduced to nothing and on their way to the lake of fire. The vilest organisation to attack Christians in Australia is the fully tax-funded National ABC broadcaster and they are relentless about it.
God’s people have tender souls through conversion and these scoffing attacks and the evil that comes from the contemptible proud, can be like sharp barbs that hurt them. The singers on pilgrimage knew that, and that is why in verse 3, they were pleading the grace of God for their lives. The grace of God is precious and available in all circumstances.
Christian, above all things, keep your eyes on the Lord and keep looking up. Lift up your eyes! Asaph slipped on one occasion in doing that. Let him tell his own story – {{Psalm 73:1-11 “Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart, but as for me, my feet came close to stumbling. My steps had almost slipped for I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked for there are no pains in their death and their body is fat. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace. The garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness. The imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock, and wickedly speak of oppression. They speak from on high. They have set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue parades through the earth. Therefore his people return to this place and waters of abundance are drunk by them and they say, “How does God know and is there knowledge with the Most High?”}}
He saw the wickedness and prosperity of the wicked and despaired. In fact he said he became arrogant. This is what happens when man’s perspective comes into play because he has failed to lift up his eyes to the Lord. Asaph tried to assess it all and came up with this – {{Psalm 73:12-14 “Behold, these are the wicked, and always at ease, they have increased in wealth. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence, for I have been stricken all day long and chastened every morning.”}}
Then all changed when he entered the sanctuary of God’s House, LIFTED UP HIS EYES and saw God’s perspective. When your eyes are set right, so is your heart and soul. He realised God’s take on it all – {{Psalm 73:16-19 “When I pondered to understand this, It was troublesome in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God. Then I perceived their end. Surely You set them in slippery places. You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors!”}}
This brings us to the end. Psalm 124 will follow next.
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
