Lately I’ve been reading in the Psalms of Ascent. These are the songs sung by the Israelites as they journeyed to Jerusalem for their annual feasts. This morning I lingered over Psalm 123:
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 maidservant
to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
till he has mercy upon us.
Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
for we have had more than enough of contempt.
Our soul has had more than enough
of the scorn of those who are at ease,
of the contempt of the proud. (v.1–4)
The phrase that caught my attention was “I lift up my eyes.” In the midst of “more than enough” suffering, the psalmist looks up to the One who is enthroned in heaven. This is no casual glance upward. It is a fixed, steady, expectant gaze at the LORD. He calls out for and awaits God’s mercy. The psalmist appeals to the only one who can truly help, the King on
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