Psalm 123
Psalm 123, Looking to the LORD for Mercy in Affliction
Psalm 123 is another Song of Ascents, one of the pilgrim songs sung by the people of God as they journeyed up to Jerusalem for worship. These Songs of Ascents show the inner preparation of the worshiper as he comes before the LORD. Psalm 120 began with distress among lying lips and those who hated peace. Psalm 121 lifted the eyes to the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth, who keeps His people. Psalm 122 rejoiced in coming to the house of the LORD and standing within Jerusalem’s gates. Psalm 123 now lifts the eyes even higher, above the hills, above Jerusalem, above the temple, to the LORD who dwells in the heavens.
This psalm is short, but it is deeply powerful. It teaches that prayer does not depend on many words, but on the earnestness of the heart. A few words spoken from distress, faith, dependence, submission, and longing for mercy may be stronger than many words spoken coldly. The psalmist is afflicted by contempt, scorn, and the arrogance of the proud, but his eyes remain fixed on the LORD.
The main theme is mercy. The worshiper looks to the LORD until He has mercy. Then he cries, “Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us.” The afflicted soul does not look inward for deliverance, nor does it fix its attention on the proud. It looks upward to the enthroned LORD.
A. The Afflicted Looks to the LORD
Psalm 123:1, Where to Look
Psalm 123:1, “Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.”
The psalm begins with direction, “Unto thee lift I up mine eyes.” The psalmist chooses where his eyes will go. In affliction, the eyes can easily turn toward circumstances, enemies, fear, shame, bitterness, self pity, or despair. But the psalmist lifts his eyes to the LORD.
This is a deliberate act of faith. He refuses to let his affliction define his vision. He looks above the contempt of men to the mercy of God. He looks above earthly trouble to the heavenly throne.
The previous Songs of Ascents show a progression. In Psalm 120, the pilgrim laments his surroundings among lying lips and those who hate peace. In Psalm 121, he lifts his eyes to the hills and confesses that his help comes from the LORD. In Psalm 122, he delights in the house of the LORD and the city of Jerusalem. Now in Psalm 123, he looks beyond the hills and beyond the earthly city to the LORD Himself, the One who dwells in the heavens.
The goal of worship is not merely a place. Jerusalem mattered because God had placed His name there, and the temple mattered because God had ordained worship there. But the ultimate goal is God Himself. The psalmist does not stop with the house of the LORD. He looks to the LORD of the house.
“O thou that dwellest in the heavens” reminds the worshiper of God’s majesty, sovereignty, and separation from the chaos of earth. Men may mock. The proud may scorn. The world may be full of contempt. But God reigns above it all. Earth may lack mercy, but heaven does not.
Psalm 11:4, “The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD's throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.”
Psalm 115:3, “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.”
This heavenly throne does not mean God is distant in the sense of indifference. He dwells in the heavens, yet He hears the afflicted. He is high above all, yet near to those who call upon Him.
Psalm 34:15, “The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.”
Psalm 123:1 teaches that the afflicted believer must lift his eyes to the LORD, who dwells in the heavens, rather than fixing his soul on his circumstances, his enemies, or himself.
Psalm 123:2, How to Look
Psalm 123:2, “Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.”
Verse 2 explains how the believer looks to the LORD. “Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters.” The picture is of servants watching carefully for the slightest movement of the master’s hand. The servant is attentive, ready, dependent, submissive, and patient. He watches because the master’s hand gives provision, direction, correction, and command.
The psalmist adds, “and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress.” The image is repeated and expanded. A maidservant watches the hand of her mistress in the same way, waiting for direction, provision, and favor. The point is not to endorse earthly slavery as an institution, but to use a familiar social picture to illustrate total dependence and alert submission before God.
The servant’s eyes reveal at least three things. First, dependence, because the master’s hand provides what the servant needs. Second, submission, because the master’s hand directs the servant’s work. Third, discipline, because the master’s hand may correct the servant when needed. The true servant of the LORD accepts all three.
“So our eyes wait upon the LORD our God.” The psalmist now names the One he looks to. The eyes of the people are fixed on the LORD, not merely in a moment of panic, but in steady waiting. Faith waits. It does not demand that God act on man’s schedule. It looks to Him with confidence until He acts according to His mercy and wisdom.
This kind of looking is reverent, obedient, attentive, continuous, expectant, single minded, submissive, and pleading. It is not the glance of curiosity. It is the fixed gaze of dependence.
The phrase “the LORD our God” is covenant language. The afflicted are not looking to an unknown deity. They are looking to Yahweh, the covenant God of His people. He is the LORD, and He is “our God.”
The duration of this looking is clear, “until that he have mercy upon us.” The psalmist will not stop looking until mercy comes. This is perseverance in prayer. He does not know exactly when mercy will come, but he knows where mercy comes from.
Waiting on the LORD is not passive unbelief. It is active dependence. The waiting soul prays, watches, submits, obeys, and refuses to look elsewhere for ultimate help.
Psalm 27:14, “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”
Isaiah 40:31, “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint.”
Psalm 123:2 teaches that the afflicted believer must look to the LORD as a servant looks to the hand of his master, with dependence, submission, readiness, patience, and perseverance until mercy comes.
B. The Afflicted Pleads for Mercy
Psalm 123:3, The Request for Mercy
Psalm 123:3, “Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.”
The waiting now becomes direct pleading, “Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us.” The repetition shows urgency. The psalmist is not satisfied merely to talk about waiting for mercy. He asks for it. Biblical waiting is not silent resignation. It includes fervent prayer.
The request is not for justice first, though justice may be needed. It is not for revenge. It is not for immediate explanation. It is for mercy. The afflicted soul knows that mercy from God is the great need.
Mercy is God’s compassionate help toward the needy, undeserving, and afflicted. The psalmist does not come claiming strength. He comes needing mercy. He does not come demanding entitlement. He comes pleading for gracious intervention.
The reason is, “for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.” The people of God are full of contempt that has been poured upon them by others. The word picture is strong. They are saturated with it. They have had enough. Their souls are filled to the point of misery.
Contempt is a particularly painful form of affliction. Other attacks may wound the body, possessions, or reputation, but contempt goes deep into the spirit. It treats a person as worthless, foolish, beneath notice, or deserving of scorn. The psalmist is not merely opposed. He is despised.
This is why he needs mercy. Contempt can crush the soul if it is received and carried without bringing it to God. Sometimes contempt rolls off a man. Other times it fills him, weighs him down, and makes him feel that only God’s mercy can lift him.
Jesus Himself endured contempt. He was despised, mocked, rejected, and treated with scorn, yet He bore it faithfully.
Isaiah 53:3, “He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him, he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
Matthew 27:29, “And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand, and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!”
Matthew 27:30, “And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.”
Matthew 27:31, “And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.”
Because Christ endured contempt, He knows how to sustain His people when they are despised for righteousness’ sake.
Hebrews 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Psalm 123:3 teaches that the afflicted must plead earnestly for mercy when they are filled with contempt, and that the LORD is the only true refuge for the soul crushed by scorn.
Psalm 123:4, The Reason Mercy Is Needed
Psalm 123:4, “Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.”
The psalmist repeats and deepens the complaint, “Our soul is exceedingly filled.” This is not surface discomfort. The soul itself is full. The pain has reached the inner man. The contempt is not occasional or light. It has become the dominant burden of the heart.
The source is “the scorning of those that are at ease.” This makes the suffering harder to bear. Those who are comfortable, secure, and untroubled often scorn the afflicted. They have not felt the weight of distress, so they mock those who do. Ease can make a man arrogant, careless, and cruel.
The scorn of those at ease is especially painful because they speak from comfort against those in affliction. They do not understand the battle, yet they judge. They do not carry the burden, yet they mock the one crushed beneath it.
This is a recurring problem in Scripture. The prosperous wicked often mock the righteous.
Psalm 73:3, “For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”
Psalm 73:4, “For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.”
Psalm 73:5, “They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men.”
Psalm 73:6, “Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain, violence covereth them as a garment.”
The psalmist also identifies “the contempt of the proud.” Pride produces contempt because the proud man looks down on others. He thinks highly of himself and therefore despises those he considers beneath him. Pride is both contemptible and contemptuous.
The people of God should not be surprised when the proud despise them. To set one’s life toward worship in an ungodly age is to become an object of scorn. The world often despises what it cannot control and mocks what exposes its rebellion.
Yet the psalm contains no bitterness, no impatience, and no surrender. The psalmist does not say, “We will become like them.” He does not answer pride with pride or contempt with contempt. He keeps his eyes on the LORD and waits for mercy.
There is also a strange honor in suffering contempt for God’s sake. The apostles experienced this after being beaten for preaching Christ.
Acts 5:40, “And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.”
Acts 5:41, “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.”
Christ accepted contempt and made it redemptive through the cross. His people may also endure contempt with faith, knowing that the mercy of God will triumph over the scorn of the proud.
Psalm 123:4 teaches that the soul of the afflicted may be filled with the scorn of those at ease and the contempt of the proud, but the faithful response is to keep looking to the LORD for mercy.
Psalm 123 teaches that the afflicted pilgrim must lift his eyes to the LORD who dwells in the heavens. He must look as a servant watches the hand of his master, with dependence, submission, readiness, and perseverance. He must plead for mercy when filled with contempt and scorn. He must understand that the proud may mock and those at ease may despise, but the LORD remains enthroned in heaven, full of mercy for His people. The psalm ends without recording the visible answer, but its faith is clear, the eyes of the servant remain fixed on the LORD until mercy comes.
