I lift up my eyes to you,
Psalm 123:1-2 NIV
to you who sit enthroned in heaven.
As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
till he shows us his mercy.
I recently spent a week with my daughter and her family. They have a couple of indoor dogs, including a 3-year-old chocolate lab. I know little about dogs, especially labs. But apparently, they love being around people. Even people like me, who show them little attention. If I was downstairs, more often than not, he was laying down at my feet. And if I was active, his eyes were fixed on me. I guess hoping that I would drop something or otherwise show him some love. It was kind of cute and spoke to me about this passage.
Lifting Our Eyes to the Lord
The psalmist here expresses that he lifts his eyes to God, the one who sits enthroned in heaven. Like a slave who looks to receive good things from their master. Or like Remy, the lab described above, who looks to receive affection or treats from his people. So the psalmist is looking to God.
As the psalm goes on, it appears that the psalmist is enduring ridicule and contempt from the proud and arrogant. And he is looking to God to ease the burden that comes from that. God is our protector and deliverer. We can, and should, look to him in times of trouble.
But we make a mistake if we only look to God when we are in need. Remy again sets an example for me in this. He looks, not just to see what might drop from your hand, but primarily because he wants to be where the people are. We should lift our eyes to God because we want to see where he is. So that we can join him and be with him. Like Remy, let’s sit at the Lord’s feet and lift our eyes to him.
