Psalm 123 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 123 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
Verse 2As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, 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 upon us.
Verse 3Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt.
Verse 4Our soul has had more than its fill of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.
Devotion
It is unlikely that we who live in America have experienced much scorn or contempt because of our faith. Is that because we haven’t said much about it? The common wisdom in our culture insists that religious faith should be private. You can believe anything you want, just keep it to yourself.
How can we do that and be true to God who calls us to speak our faith? We prefer a god who lets us do what we want and bails us out when we get in trouble. We prefer a god who does our will. But we can’t have both God and the world. When we know the contempt of the world we can also know the grace and peace that overcomes the world. Then we can turn away from ourselves and let our eyes look to the Lord our God. Only God’s mercy is the real thing.
Prayer
I lift up my eyes to you, God. Teach me to speak when the world would have me silent. Let my eyes see your mercy and let my mouth tell the story of my faith in your presence and promise. In Jesus Christ, the light of the world, Amen.