Things often happen to us that come upon us quickly and unexpectedly. Not all of them are good, and often they come from other people, not just circumstances in life over which we have no control. Not everything in life is easy, nor is it necessarily understood. Why do the heathen rage? Why are people we do not even know antagonistic when they learn that we are Bible-believing Christians? Why do people we have never heard of join together to oppose the Gospel? We must accept that the faith of a child of God condemns those who claim only to believe what they can see.
The media of our day promotes tolerance for just about everything, from the killing of unborn or newborn children to euthanasia. A deviant lifestyle is accepted and even taught as normal to children in schools. Teachers tell children that their parents do not have the right to control their behavior or to teach them the time-proven truths of the Bible. So, every day will not be a day of joy and gladness.
The pilgrim seems to be speaking as a spokesperson for others when he writes, “Our eyes wait upon the Lord our God.” Like man-servants to masters or maid-servants to a mistress, the pilgrim and those with him lift up their eyes in the hope of some relief from those to whom they have been made captive. The psalmist didn’t look to the temple for help. It was a huge gold box in Jerusalem, and people gathered in their desire to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. He knew God was not confined to a box. The temple was a means of approaching the Lord for the children of Israel.
The heavens are His, and the earth is His footstool. We are conscious of the eye of God watching over His people day and night. So, we can come to Him anytime, in any place. The pilgrims knew God was near to hear their calls for mercy wherever they were. The pilgrims didn’t come to Jerusalem at the feasts to feel good about themselves. They came to join in unity to remember their heritage, review the ways of God with them as a people, and worship together at the place God chose. It was there that they brought tithes and offerings. It was there that public sacrifices were made for the nation as well as for individuals.
But the pilgrim and those he spoke for were in captivity, and their need for mercy was great. That was true for the exiled Jews who found it hard to “sing the Lord’s songs in a strange land.” When we are in captivity for some reason: sickness, adverse circumstances, away from the assembly because of work or demands that only we can meet, it is then that we are inclined to look up and call out, “Have mercy upon us, O Lord.”
Such cries for mercy come from those who others have made the object of contempt. Scorn and hatred that comes from others, like the captors of the Jews, move us to call for mercy. Our Lord Jesus spoke in the synagogue at Nazareth of His mission to fulfill the scripture in Isaiah 61. One of the things He came to do was to set captives who had been beaten down and bruised by life and sorrow at liberty. The pilgrim pleads in complete dependence on God, knowing that only God’s mercy can sustain them. PSALM 123 THE EYE OF HOPE v.1-2. The Eye of Hope. “Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes.” v. The Prayer for Mercy. “Have mercy upon us, O Lord.”