July 14, 2018 Saturday

“1 ¶  « A Song of Ascents. » 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.” (Psalm 123:1-4 NKJV)

            Here is another of the song of ascents which are opportunities for us to look up and to ascend through worship to the dwelling place of God! I wonder how much of our troubles come from looking down and stumbling over our own feet?

            The psalmist declares their eyes will be lifted up and look not at their troubles and suffering but to God who can deliver them and studied their feet. For God is our sure foundation, strong place we can stand upon and will guide our paths through the Holy Spirit.

            The psalmist reminds us we are totally dependent on God’s mercy. God’s mercy is not just a nice thing for us to have but is essential for life and enables us to live abundantly! God’s mercy doesn’t just save us from the troubles in our life by God’s mercy saves us so we can be saved from the troubles in our life!

            God’s mercy stands as a direct contradiction of how the world treats people. Our world is so full of abuse, neglect, murder, rape, slavery and more other horrific things that there is not time or room to expound upon. The world orders about and takes but Jesus obeyed the Father and served even his enemies!

            The world to be little’s and destroys while God lifts and builds up.  Because of the impact of sin upon creation the world has fallen from blessing to cursing, from glorifying God to humiliating God and from being part of the people of God to killing them!

            We really should not be surprised when Christians are laughed at or scorned nor even when they are murdered. For the world is fallen and works against God’s reign because it does not want to be under God’s reign again!  While fallen creation and the evil one cannot hope to take on God they seek to hurt God by harming those who are most precious to him!

            Do you struggle with the cost of being a Christian? Do you expect because you are a Christian most people will like you? Are you willing to give your life for Jesus who gave his life for you?