“Until He Has Mercy On Us” (Ps 123)

“Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He has mercy on us” (vs1-2).

We are dependent on God for salvation, so we LOOK to Him, “until He has mercy on us”. We can’t overcome in our strength, so we need His grace to be our sufficiency (2 Cor 12:7-9).  He didn’t save us to be anything less than dependent, and the believer’s life is continually casting ourselves upon Christ IN troubles and fears.

We need comfort, so we come to Him for grace, and He assures us that we’re saved, and therein we find relief. He is with us for Christ’s sake, has put away all of our sins, and God accepts us wholeheartedly without reservation.  Our pleadings and the answer that He gives teaches us that He will GRACIOUSLY enable us to overcome persecution and rejection, until we meet in heaven’s bliss.

We need power, so we come to Him weak and unable, getting grace to honoring Christ and continue believing.  Don’t be scared of your weakness and don’t handle it yourself by compromise of the gospel.  Trust Christ for salvation, and He will give it.

You are not alone.  Every saint depends on God, and only fools run around pretending they have no need.  Only those who surrender to sin are able to keep their knees from continually bowing in GREAT need before God.

Secondly, proud souls despises us, look upon us as overzealous, and even count us fools for giving up ourselves to God (vs3-4). This hurt David, as it hurts you and me.  He said, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us! For we are exceedingly filled with contempt [looked down upon].  Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorn [mockery and hatred] of those who are at ease, with the contempt of the proud.”  We’re looked down upon, avoided, and made to rely upon Christ because people reject us over the gospel, and it hurts! 

This inward struggle must be handled God’s way by faith in Christ. David didn’t try to minimize his zeal, but he called upon God to help, and you do the same.  Don’t cower, and never compromise Christ.  Instead, when you’re rejected and cold-shouldered over the gospel, turn to God and say, “Unto You I lift up my eyes”, and, “our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He has mercy on us”. He will be there for you, comfort you, and give you grace to continue.  Christ Himself suffered the pain of rejection, but He leaned on God, received assurance that He would never fail ultimately, and that the elect will be saved.  He said, “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain; yet surely my just reward is with the Lord, and my work with my God”, and again, “But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but he will of Him who sent Me.  This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day” (Is 49:1-7; John 6:35-40). 

We are BLESSED to suffer for righteousness’ sake, because we could have been the enemies of Christ ourselves.  We’ll be rewarded for our allegiance while the wicked are punished. Christ said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God.  Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you”, and prayer amidst our pain bring this reality of reward unto us (Matt 5:10-12).

This is our lot in life: we call upon God, get comforted by Him, and then we overcome the world’s hatred of Christ by drawing nearer and nearer to Him ourselves.  They live as if there is no judgment.  You live believing that it’s the only thing that matters.