Prepare
Opening Prayer
Thank God for the day and his Word, and ask for eyes fixed on him in both good and difficult times.
Read
Scripture Passage
Psalm 123
Prayer for Relief from Contempt
A Song of Ascents.
1 Unto You I lift up my eyes,
O You who dwell in the heavens.
2 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.
3 Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us!
For we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
4 Our soul is exceedingly filled
With the scorn of those who are at ease,
With the contempt of the proud.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ps 123.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
The pilgrim lifts his eyes to the Lord enthroned in heaven and waits for mercy like servants attentively watching their master's hand. Filled with the contempt and scorn of proud people, God's servants keep looking to him for help rather than surrendering to ridicule or persecution.
B — Best Verse
Which Verse Best Summarizes the Passage?
Psalm 123:1-2
Unto you I lift up my eyes, O you who dwell in the heavens. so our eyes look to the Lord our God until he has mercy on us.
Bryan explicitly says he might underline verse 1 and also the end of verse 2. Both choices express the devotion's central action: looking upward to the heavenly Lord and continuing to wait upon him for mercy.
C — Called or Christ
C — Christ Connection
Lift your eyes to God in both ease and hardship, including when Christians face ridicule or persecution. Give thanks at all times and look to Jesus, who loves, cares for, watches over, and shows mercy to his people.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
Good morning, and welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day we get together, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we'll make it through all of the wisdom literature. That's right, that's right. Today we're at Psalm 123, just a short four verses. Why don't we go ahead and have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word. Thanks for joining us today. I'm gonna move the computer here so that way You can't see all right. Well, here we go.
Psalm 120. Oh we didn't pray Lord thank you for this day. Thank you for your word Lord. We pray that in the good times We would look to you and the hard times we would look to you in Jesus's name. Amen. Here we go. I 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. Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us, for we are exceedingly filled with contempt. Our soul is exceedingly filled with scorn of those who are at ease with contempt of the proud.
Okay, we need to ask ourselves A. What is this about? B. What is the best verse? And C. What are we called to do? What do you think this is about? What do you think Psalm 123 is about? Lifting up our eyes to God. Lifting up our eyes to God? Why? So He'll show mercy on us? That's right, and it gives a picture of that too, doesn't it, in verse 2? The eyes of a servant looking to their lord. Or the eyes of a maidservant looking to her mistress.
So, what do you think is the best verse to underline that? Maybe I might underline verse 1. Unto you I lift up my eyes, O you who dwell in the heavens. And I might also underline the end of verse 2. So our eyes look to the Lord our God until he has mercy on us. You think that's good? Yeah, I think that's good. Okay. Well, let's talk about calling. Sometimes are there good things in life? Dan Dan, are there good things in life? What about bad things, are there bad things in life?
Sometimes, do you think people can ridicule Christians? What other things might people do with Christians? Kill them? Yeah, some Christians have even been killed for their faith. Can you sit up? I can't hear you, Dan. At the church. Some Christians what? Oh yeah? What do you think we can do? What do you think we can do when we're filled with contempt, when people make fun of us or even might want to kill us?
We can lift up our eyes to God. So what about when things are going well, what can we do? Yeah, we can thank God always. And when things are going bad, what can we do? Lift up our eyes to God. Lift up our eyes to God. That's right. You guys ready to pray now? Lord, we thank you that we can rejoice always, that we can give thanks in all times and all manners of life. And we thank you that we can lift up our eyes to Jesus and see the one who loves us and who cares for us and who never sleeps. Lord, we pray that you would watch over us, protect us, and have mercy on us. In Jesus' name, amen. They can't even see you down there, Spider-Man. Well, may the Lord bless you today as you lift up your eyes to God, both in the good and in the hard. We'll see you guys tomorrow. You wanna say bye? No, we'll see you on Monday. Bye.