The Perfect Picture of Prayer - Psalm 123

"To Thee I lift up my eyes,

O Thou who art 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 shall be gracious to us.

Be gracious to us, O Lord, be gracious to us;

for we are greatly filled with contempt.

Our soul is greatly filled with the scoffing

of those who are at ease, and with the contempt

of the proud."

(Psalm 123)

Another precious prayer is before us. The psalmist in Psalm 123 is lifting his eyes to the King of heaven in his time of need.

"To Thee I lift up my eyes, O Thou who art enthroned in the heavens!"

It is a repeated theme from Psalm 121 - "I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from whence shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth."

Since we have just been given a double reminder perhaps we should pay double attention and follow with doubly determined duty!!

Ultimately is this not the picture of every prayer we ever pray? In prayer are we not lifting our eyes above and beyond our situation to the God who is sovereign in our situation?

"In every prayer we lift up the eye of our soul to God." (Matthew Henry)

Clearly we are to "lift up our eyes" to our God. Not so clearly, that can come across as an abstract idea and an impractical proclamation. Thankfully the psalmist gives us a bit of a practical picture of what our heart's attitude and soul's desire in this prayerful posture should be.

He writes: "Behold, as the eyes of servants 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, until He shall be gracious to us."

We are to lift up the eyes of our soul and look to the Lord of our life. We, as His willing and thankful bond-servants, are to look unto our King who alone can subdue our sinful selves and our antagonistic adversaries. Matthew Henry paints the picture well:

"The eyes of a servant are turned to his master's directing hand, expecting that he will appoint him his work. Servants look to their master, or their mistress, for their portion of meat in due season. Likewise, to God we must look for daily bread and for grace sufficient."

We are to look to our Master - our good and gracious and great Master. We are servants of the Most High God. The cattle on a thousand hills are His. Omnipotent power is His. Omniscient wisdom is His. And amazingly my Christian siblings, WE are His. Not merely in a sense of Divine ownership but in the sense of familial relationship - we are said to be the apple of His eye. Let us therefore look to Him - our Master, our Maker, our Lover, our Lord, our Father and our Friend!!

In this particular Psalm the singers are clearly in some form of trouble. They are objects of "contempt" and "scoffing." Times are hard and days are difficult and what are they doing about it? They are not foolishly trying to fix it all themsleves. They are humbling pleading with the high King of Heaven to grant the grace that is so desperately needed!

They are lifting their eyes to the One who can supply their needs. They are going to the God of mercy. They are seeking their Father's face. They are honestly setting their grievances before Him and are trusting that in due time their marvelous Master will rescue them from their current woes.

What about us?

Are we living with lifted eyes or are we living as hypocrites and fools who merely have our eyes fixed on the things of this world? Are we trying to take matters into our own hands and seeking to be blessed by the benefits of this life only? If so, be forewarned that what we have attempted to fix will fail and that our reward will be received in full in this world alone (Matthew 6:2).

But if we are living as the psalmist of ascent, lifting our eyes to the real Rewarder and trusting ourselves to His care, then our Father who sees grants eternal, imperishable, undefilable, lasting rewards.

Psalm 123 is prayer in its finest form. Let us therefore pray with eyes lifted up to the One who is enthroned in the heavens. Let us patiently set our sights on the perfectly providing hand of our gracious God.

"To Thee I lift up my eyes, O Thou who art 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 shall be gracious."

Lifting the eyes of my soul heavenward,

Lori