WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?
Psalm 123:1-4 NKJV 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 title of this devotional was not meant to be a challenge. Rather, the intent was to inquire about what we look to and who we look to.
The psalmist starts with the declaration that he was looking to the Lord. In reading the entire psalm, we can tell that the issue at hand is suffering the contempt of proud people. So, the psalmist was not necessarily dealing with someone trying to kill him, although that is often David's challenge. Here, the issue is the scorn of people who may be in a stronger position in life. These are the proud who look down on others as inferior.
Contempt and scorn can be painful to our souls, particularly if these negative emotions come from those we hold in esteem. And even the contempt and scorn of strangers is not pleasant. A well-known psychologist who worked with marriage relationships viewed the presence of contempt as a precursor for the marriage dissolving. The WordBook dictionary defines contempt as a lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike. Mere looks of disrespect have started major confrontations.
So what is our recourse when we have been the object of contempt and scorn? We have to look away from the scorn and look to the Lord for His mercy. The psalmist likens our looking to the Lord as 'servants who look to the hand of their master and a maid to the hand of her mistress.' Note that the servants and maids are looking to the hand of those who are the authority in their lives. Hands are where provision comes from.
By the same token, when we are looking to the Lord, we are looking to Him to provide the mercy that we need to overcome the contempt and scorn of people. So, instead of focusing on the disrespect of people, we are more focused on the One who is merciful to us.
Our focus is so important. If we keep looking at the hurts and the pain caused by others, we do not improve. Oh, we can try to ignore their hurtful words, but a better strategy is to refocus on the Lord, who can help us. Many of us can easily remember when we have been scorned or disrespected by others. Even going back to childhood, the emotional hurts caused by people linger long after any physical harm has been healed. But if we lift up our eyes, direct our focus, to the Lord, we move away from the pain and put ourselves in a position to rebound and recover.
So once again, I ask the question, what are you looking at?
PRAYER
Lord, I have dealt with the scorn and contempt of the proud. People who have looked upon me with disrespect. I ask for Your great mercy to help me and strengthen me. Your mercy is greater than their scorn.