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Psalms

Chapter 123

I Lift Up My Eyes to You

This brief psalm looks upward in dependence and asks for mercy under humiliation. The speaker fixes his gaze on the enthroned God the way servants watch the hand of a master, then pleads for compassion because the community has been saturated with contempt from the arrogant and the self-secure.

After Psalm 122's joy in Jerusalem, Psalm 123 reminds the pilgrim that worship does not erase humiliation or social scorn. It fits the Songs of Ascents by showing that ascent includes patient waiting, lifted eyes, and a mercy-shaped posture when God's people are treated with contempt.

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Psalms 123

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vv. 1-4

I Lift Up My Eyes to You

A¹ song of ascents. ²As the eyes of servants ³Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy, ⁴We have endured much scorn from the arrogant,

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01vv. 1-4I Lift Up My Eyes to YouThe psalm opens by lifting the eyes to the God enthroned in heaven, then compares that posture to servants watching a master's hand and a maid watching her mistress. From that picture of patient dependence it turns into a repeated plea for mercy, because the people have endured more than enough contempt from the proud and the complacent.