Bird's-eye view
Psalm 123 is one of the Songs of Ascents, sung by the pilgrims on their way up to Jerusalem for the great feasts. This context is crucial. These are not songs for the comfortable and settled, but for those on a journey, moving from the profane to the sacred, from their scattered homes to the central place of worship. This particular psalm is a prayer of utter dependence. It captures the essential posture of faith, which is an upward gaze toward a sovereign God, especially when surrounded by the contempt of the proud. The psalm moves from the individual declaration of faith ("I lift up my eyes") to the corporate confession ("our eyes look"), teaching us that true worship is both personal and communal. It is a simple, profound expression of where a believer's help comes from.
The central metaphor of the psalm is that of a servant looking to the hand of his master. In our egalitarian age, this imagery can be jarring, but it is the Bible's chosen picture for our relationship with God. It is not a picture of cowering fear, but of watchful, attentive, and total reliance. The servant looks to the master's hand for provision, for direction, for correction, and for deliverance. This is what the people of God do. They fix their eyes on their covenant Lord, Yahweh, and they wait. They do not wait for what they have earned, but for what He has promised: grace.
Outline
- 1. The Direction of Faith (v. 1)
- a. The Personal Act of Faith (v. 1a)
- b. The Object of Faith (v. 1b)
- 2. The Dependence of Faith (v. 2)
- a. The Analogy of the Servant (v. 2a-b)
- b. The Application to God's People (v. 2c)
- c. The Goal of Faith (v. 2d)
Context In The Psalms
As a Song of Ascents (Psalms 120-134), this psalm shares a common theme of pilgrimage and reliance upon God. The journey to Jerusalem was often fraught with difficulty and danger, making the need for God's protection and provision a constant reality. Psalm 121, which precedes this one, asks, "From where does my help come?" and answers that it comes from "the LORD, who made heaven and earth." Psalm 123 builds on this foundation, defining the posture of one who waits for that help. It is a psalm of the eyes. Where Psalm 121 lifts its eyes to the hills, this psalm lifts its eyes directly to the One who is enthroned above the hills, in the very heavens. It is a movement from looking at the creation to looking at the Creator.
Key Issues
- The Upward Gaze as the Posture of Faith
- God's Heavenly Enthronement and His Sovereignty
- The Master/Servant Metaphor and Covenantal Dependence
- The Persistence of Faith: Waiting "Until"
- The Nature of Grace as the Believer's Hope
Commentary
A Song of Ascents.
We must always begin by noting the superscription. These are psalms for going up. The Christian life is not a static affair; it is a pilgrimage, an ascent. We are always on our way to the heavenly Jerusalem. These songs were meant to be sung on the road, together. This is corporate worship for a people on the move, and it reminds us that our faith is not meant to be lived out in isolation, but in the communion of the saints as we journey homeward.
v. 1 To You I lift up my eyes, The One enthroned in the heavens!
The psalm begins with a declaration that is both simple and profound. "To You I lift up my eyes." The act of faith begins with a direction. It is a turning away from one thing and a turning toward another. We are constantly besieged by troubles, distractions, and temptations. The natural man looks down at his circumstances, or inward at his own feelings, or outward at the world's empty promises. The man of faith does something unnatural. He lifts his eyes. This is a conscious act of the will, a deliberate reorientation of his entire being.
And where does he look? Not to an empty sky, not to a vague spiritual force, but "To You." Faith is personal. It is directed toward a Person. And who is this Person? He is "The One enthroned in the heavens!" This is the foundation of all Christian confidence. Our God is not pacing the floor of heaven, wringing His hands over the state of the world. He is seated. He is enthroned. His rule is absolute, His sovereignty is unquestioned, and His purposes are unshakeable. To lift our eyes to Him is to look away from the apparent chaos of earth to the absolute order of heaven. It is to remember who is actually in charge.
v. 2 Behold, as the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, As the eyes of a servant-girl to the hand of her mistress, So our eyes look to Yahweh our God, Until He is gracious to us.
Here the psalmist gives us a powerful, earthy illustration to explain what this upward gaze looks like in practice. He says, "Behold," which means pay attention, look here, this is important. He compares our look to that of slaves and servant-girls. Our modern, democratic sensibilities recoil at this, but we must resist the temptation to edit the Word of God. This is not about the brutalities of chattel slavery; it is about the realities of a covenantal household.
A servant in such a household looks to the master's hand for everything. He looks for his next assignment; the hand gestures to tell him what to do. He looks for his daily bread; the hand provides his portion. He looks for deliverance when threatened; the hand protects him. He even looks for discipline; the hand corrects him when he errs. The servant's eyes are fixed on that hand because his entire life and well being depend on it. It is a look of constant, watchful, unwavering dependence.
"So our eyes look to Yahweh our God." The analogy is brought home. This is how the people of God are to relate to their covenant Lord. We are His servants, and He is our good Master. We are to have our eyes fixed on Him, anticipating His will, waiting for His provision, and trusting in His protection. Notice the shift from "I" in verse one to "our" here. This dependent gaze is the shared posture of the entire covenant community.
And how long do we maintain this gaze? "Until He is gracious to us." This is the language of persistent faith. We do not glance up at God and then look away if we don't get an immediate answer. We fix our eyes on Him and we wait. And what are we waiting for? Not for what we deserve. Not for a wage we have earned. We are waiting for grace. We are waiting for unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor. Our posture is that of a beggar, not a bargainer. We look to Him, and we keep looking, because our only hope is that He will be to us what He has promised to be: gracious. And because He is enthroned in the heavens, we know that His grace, when it comes, will be sovereign and sufficient.
Application
This psalm teaches us the fundamental posture of the Christian life. We live in a world that is filled with scorn and contempt, as the next verses of this psalm make clear. The temptation is always to look at the scorners, to argue with them on their own terms, or to despair because of their apparent strength. But the psalmist calls us to a different way.
First, we must deliberately and consciously lift our eyes to God. This is a spiritual discipline. It means turning off the noise of the world and turning your attention to the throne room of the universe. It means reading His word to know His will and praying with persistence.
Second, we must embrace our role as servants of the Most High. This is not a demeaning position; it is our highest honor. It means we stop trying to be the master of our own lives and joyfully submit to His good and perfect will. We are to look to His hand for our daily bread, for our marching orders, and for our ultimate deliverance.
Finally, we must learn to wait for grace. Our God is not a vending machine. He is a sovereign King, and He works according to His own timetable. Our job is not to dictate terms to Him, but to fix our eyes on Him with unwavering trust, knowing that He is good, that He is on His throne, and that in His time, He will be gracious to us. This is the path of true peace in a troubled world.