FRIDAY 24th
Psalm 123
This isn’t a very long Psalm and perhaps you are wondering why I have chosen it, it’s not because it is one of my favourites, but as I was going through the Psalms for this week the first verse caught my attention. ‘To you I lift my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!’
It then gives an illustration in verse 2 of the eyes of the servant looking towards their master, and the eyes of the maidservant towards their mistress. This gives us a picture of our dependency toward God.
We depend on many things in our lives, especially in modern living with the technological era in which we live – we depend on our electric supply (and gas and water), we depend on our fridges, freezers, micro-waves, kettles, washing machines, our cars or public transport, and today we seem to be unable to cope without a particular device called a mobile phone or laptop computer. Imagine how different our day would be by trying to manage without each of these things I have mentioned.
Over the last months we have become even more aware of so much that we have taken for granted, everyday things we do, activities we do etc like shopping, meeting with family or friends, going out in the car, maybe the gym, or even popping out for a meal with others.
Things which we have built our lives around and of we have become dependent upon. Suddenly we have been stripped of these things and have had to re-manage how we live and organise our lives. There are many ways in which we can react, we could become angry, we could become rebellious, we could be resourceful etc. but one thing we can all be is pro-active. We can be determined to make the most out of a difficult situation. But there is something else that we who are believers can do, it is that we can take stock. We can take the situation and the time it gives us to re-evaluate our lives and in particular our relationship with God. As we think of all the things in this life that we have become so dependant upon how many of them have become an hinderance to us in our walk with and our dependency upon the Lord Jesus Christ without our realising it?
Let’s go back to the first verse, ‘To you I lift my eyes.’ Our eyes are incredible organs, they are very delicate and yet extremely powerful, it is with our eyes we have vison, through our eyes we see everything around us, it is through our eyes we can focus on things that are close or far away. Sight is precious. Every day, we who have our sight are looking, watching, and as a result are absorbing, taking in and learning. Every day we are seeing and as a result feeding our minds which in turn feeds our desires. There is a challenge here, as to how much of our time is spent using our eyes to watch, read, see things that are not really of any value, more so of any spiritual value?
Some modern smart phones give you a weekly report on your screen time, whether you have spent more screen time or less screen time in a week compared to the previous week. I wonder what the weekly report would be on how much time we have given to the Word of God and the things of God? It’s a challenge to me.
‘To you I Lift my eyes’ speaks of our dependency toward God, the other familiar Psalm 121, says ‘I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.’ We need to remember that these words are not just for the difficult and tough times, they are applicable for every moment of our lives. We need his help regardless of what our circumstances are because in this modern age, there is so much than can distract us and cause us to lose our dependency upon him.
There is one well known New Testament Scripture that talks of where our eyes should be looking, and with this scripture I will conclude this devotion, it’s in Hebrews 12:1-2 ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.’
I lift my eyes
to the quiet hills
in the press of a busy day;
as green hills stand
in a dusty land
so God is my strength and stay.
I lift my eyes
to the quiet hills
to a calm that is mine to share;
secure and still
in the Father’s will
and kept by the Father’s care.
I lift my eyes
to the quiet hills
with a prayer as I turn to sleep;
by day, by night,
through the dark and light
my Shepherd will guard his sheep.
I lift my eyes
to the quiet hills
and my heart to the Father’s throne;
in all my ways
to the end of days
the Lord will preserve his own.
Timothy Dudley-Smith (b. 1926) CCLI 788682