Psalm 123 "Adopting the Posture of a Servant"

The heart-cry of this song is "have mercy on us, LORD have mercy on us".  Due to significant opposition, life has become unbearable; joy is gone.  The song divide into 2 stanzas.  The 2nd stanza contains the cry for help and the reason for the cry.  In the first stanza (v 1-2) we find the strategy employed by the psalmist in his approach to God. Remarkably the word 'eyes' is mentioned 4 times in these 2 verses. I suggest we may observe 4 important 'looks' for those times when life seems unbearable:  1) Look Intentionally - the opening phrase of the psalm is a phrase of clear intention - 'I lift my eyes...'; 2) Look to the Enthroned One - this is a term used to describe God as not just all powerful, but also as a God who stoops down to care for those in need (see Ps 113:5-9); 3) Look to the Hand of the Master - this is the posture of a servant; a true servant has no opportunity to do life on his/her own; they are completely dependent on the hand of their master for everything in life; this should be our posture as we approach God in our time of need; 4) Look with Perseverance - this is a remarkable phrase - 'till he shows us his mercy'; this is a humble but confident and persistent belief that God is a good God who loves to show mercy and give good gifts to His children!  May God give us grace to truly look to Him in these ways at all times, but especially when life is difficult and confusing!  May it be for His glory!

NOTE: due to technical difficulties with the recording on this Sunday an audio version of this message is not available!  Sorry!