Tamworth Community Presbyterian Church 24-4-16
A pilgrim song
1 I look to you, heaven-dwelling God, look up to you for help. 2 Like servants, alert to their master’s commands, like a maiden attending her lady, We’re watching and waiting, holding our breath, awaiting your word of mercy. 3 Mercy, God, mercy! We’ve been kicked around long enough, 4 Kicked in the teeth by complacent rich men, kicked when we’re down by arrogant brutes. (The Message)
Like servants we are watching and waiting. We are waiting for a visible reminder of God’s presence, and praying please bring us mercy and grace in our distress. The question is when have you asked “God have mercy”?
For the Psalmist that question is whirring around his head when he writes verse 1
1 I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven.
Lift up my head God to see your glory, and enable me to point my feet your way. We capture the image of God looking down upon us, and we see the glory of heaven present where God dwells. Here the Psalmist invites us to capture ourselves at worship as we set our eyes on God. This is worship that is to be all about him and not about us, and is to be of God’s story of amazing grace, and astonishing merciful love.
Here in Psalm 123 we capture God on his throne in heaven as someone put it like this, “We are presented with the God of exodus and Easter, the God of Sinai and Calvary. If we want to understand God, we must do it on his terms. If we want to see God the way he really is, we must look to the place of authority – to scripture and to Jesus Christ.”[1]
As followers of Jesus we’re so often surprised when trouble kicks us on the shin. Like this Psalmist is:
looking to God, waiting on God, seeking out God , and questioning God. The Psalmist is wondering if God will hold out hope or watch him fall, as it feels like this Psalmist hangs on by a thread waiting for relief. We are to him cry "No more pain God, I can’t take anymore!". The Psalmist looks up with submission before God, and in the midst of the heat do you see where the Psalmist wants help to come from, verse 2
2 As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy.
It’s like this Psalmist has had to remind himself to put their pride aside; remind himself of the heart attitude of a slave and a maid. Both serve, and are called on to do what their master has asked for. So we are invited to look up and see the mercy of God, as it’s like in the present difficulty, the Psalmist reminds himself of the promise, as well as of God’s mercy which he will show, even if it feels distant right now. So often it is our experience that only in our distress that we reach the point where we cry out to God, and it’s not until we get to the end of this Psalm we find out why he is calling out like this. Here we meet the Psalmists cry verses 3-4, 3 Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us,
for we have endured much contempt. 4 We have endured much ridicule from the proud,
much contempt from the arrogant. This is much deeper than rejection and we come seeing that contempt is the coldest sting of all. Contempt is more painful than being shunned or ignored. It is feeling the sting of being actively pursued in rejection and knowing it. Just as Jesus in his sermon on the mount said contempt was more murderous than anger Matthew 5:22 "22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, `Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, `You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell." So we that instead of giving up on God in the midst of this contempt, the Psalmist is drawn to hopeful prayer which begins with worshipping God. So do we see what the Psalmist desires most of all? He reaches out asking God demonstrate your power in your time in your way not mine in me; God pour out your mercy and be glorified in me – it’s personal.
Mercy is about God fashioning and fitting us for an eternity spent with him, it places us on the page of how we are being spiritually formed; that is how we are becoming more like Jesus in our lives. As we get the impression in this Psalm something of the ridicule and contempt being shown to the Psalmist. The Psalmist likens the heat of this contempt as being like a a piece of metal a blacksmith heats up to shape it for its intended use. It is in difficult, testing times we are invited to ask "How are you finding your soul being schooled in prayer?" Like do we pray when we become aware of the heat of testing or trial? Will we pray asking, God lift up my eyes, form my soul with patient endurance to see more of your glory at work in my heart; or are our prayers the reflex of shock? This sounds like, "God why are you putting me in this? What did I do to deserve this from you? As it is contempt if it is deserved is crushing, question is what do we pray?
The greatest act of mercy God can show to us, is that he entered into our condition, and through Jesus suffering and dying on the cross, as he can bring the contempt we have shown God in our past, and reconcile us to himself. It is the act of reconciliation that this Psalm points us forward to. Even though the Psalmist was unaware of it we know that Jesus is the proof that God isn’t distant or uncaring. It is Jesus who is the one who demonstrates the mercy of God to us
The psalmist points us to pray Mercy, and instead of God give us what we want. we are not to say to God reward us for our goodness so our neighbours will acknowledge our superiority. We are not pray Lord punish us for our badness so we will feel better. The invitation we are invited here to pray is mercy! We are to pray God be nice to us because we are such good people[2]
We are invited by the Psalmist to reflect on where we feel we are more able than God to deal with our problems. The question is will we come and confess them in a way this Psalms ends with the Psalmist asking will God answer and so let the one whose throne is in heaven speak and act. Again in our gaze and our worship will we look up, see God in the same way Jesus directs us in John 13:12-17 (The Message) 12 After he had finished washing their feet, he took his robe, put it back on, and went back to his place at the table. Then he said, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You address me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master,’ and rightly so. That is what I am. 14 So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. 15 I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do. 16 I’m only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn’t give orders to the employer. 17 If you understand what I’m telling you, act like it—and live a blessed life.
Today as we struggle with the same cry for mercy for God’s timing for God’s comfort, we are to know the answer starts by looking to Jesus. As Jesus is the one who entered our world and bore the price for our sin he sets before us a promise of eternal life; and so it is Jesus who offers us forgiveness and mercy (that is the comfort we can know even in sadness or distress). This is what God has called us to worship, and we find that kind of feels jarring. So will we pray for one another to see with fresh eyes the renewal of hope that comes from casting our cares on God knowing that he cares for you. The expression of that care and love is in the very way Jesus comes towards us with mercy and hope, do not grow weary or lose heart, look for God’s mercy and strength.
Let’s pray…
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