목양연가(牧羊戀歌)

Psalms 123:1-4 “A Prayer Unto the Lord”

I will read verse one of today’s text again.  “Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens.”  This psalm is one of the songs of a person ascending to the temple.  We don’t know who wrote this psalm.  It seems to have been written in the time of Nehemiah.  It is during this time, about the 5^th century B.C., that the Israelites returned to Jerusalem after 70 years of exile in Babylon to rebuild the temple.  Originally, Nehemiah was in the land of Media and Persia (during the reign of King Artaxerxes) as a king’s cupbearer and heard that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and the survivors were in distress (Nehemiah 1:1-3).  After he heard this news, Nehemiah became saddened by it and was excused from his high position and allowed to return to Jerusalem.  When he saw that the temple rebuilding was stopped, the people’s strength was down, and the Ammonite Gentiles who watched, despised and mocked them, wanting to attack, Nehemiah prayed to God.  “Hear O our God, for we are despised” (Nehemiah 4:4A).  Even though they were despised the Israelites could not go against their enemies.  So Nehemiah opened his eyes toward God and prayed to God voicing his wishes from deep within his heart.  “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.  Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us!  For we are exceedingly filled with contempt.”  (Psalm 123:2-3)  Today, with these words we will receive grace.  May God’s grace fill your hearts.

First, I lift up my eyes (Psalms 123:1).  This means that I believe and trust God as an expression of faith and also means to wait on God’s help.  Prayer is an appearance of godliness, not only with words, but also with lifting up our eyes, which look for God and it is with our eyes that we can express our earnest wishes.  When Nehemiah prayed, his eyes were lifted up in adversity as he rebuilt God’s temple.  This is belief and prayer.  As we live our lives we unwillingly face difficulty, at this time we need to lift up our eyes.  As you know well, King Hezekiah was a good king among the kings of the nation of Judah (2 Kings 19:14, – Isaiah 37:14-20, 2 Chronicles 32:20-26).  He ruled the nation well as a good king.  But one day King Sennacherib of Assyria and his army came up against Judah, leaving no way out for them, but to be destroyed.  King Sennacherib rebuked King Hezekiah by saying, “Can the Lord your God you believe in, save your country?”  He continued to despise, ridicule, and threaten King Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:28-37).  At this time, King Hezekiah did not know what to do.  Then he went to the house of the Lord and took Sennacherib’s letter and spread it out before God and prayed as he was seeking the face of Almighty God (2 Kings 19:14-19).  “Then Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said: "O LORD God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.  Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.”  (2 Kings 19:15-16)  King Hezekiah prayed earnestly and it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out and killed one hundred and eighty-five thousand soldiers of the Assyrian army (2 Kings 19:35).  Who did this?  It was God.  How did He do this?  This was because of King Hezekiah’s prayer in which he lifted up his eyes to the Lord in seeking God’s face and pleading for help from Almighty God.  God answered Hezekiah’s prayer.

Secondly, remember we exist as week human beings.  Men are only made with dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7).  Our vessel can be marred or can be preserved in the hands of the potter (Jeremiah 18:1-6).  Man seems to be strong; however, eating the wrong things causes the body to suffer just like most weak vessels which bump into something will be broken.  Look!  Even though the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, gathered up his army and came against Judah, one hundred and eighty-five thousand soldiers were destroyed in one evening.  As we see this we realize how men are weak.  Beloved saints!  We must know this when we think we are not that weak and think we are strong beings who are able to do anything.  Therefore we don’t pray, but neglect it and neglect coming to church.  We think and say, “I am strong so I will live long and also think that I still have power which last forever.”  All of these are foolish thoughts.  The Bible says (Proverbs 27:1, James 4:14), “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.”  Let us think back in time.  Napoleon is one who had great power, but also eventually died.  Helen of Troy (Yang Kuei-fei of China), who was proud of her beauty, died.  And King Ahasuerus, who reined over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia, also died.  The great wrestler, Yuk Do San, who boasted about his strength, died.  Therefore, we don’t know what a day may bring forth.  This is life.  In this aspect, men are weak beings.  What can we do, as such weak men, to conduct ourselves with godly wisdom?  We, as wise believers, need to open our eyes toward our Savior Jesus Christ and look up to Him with the eyes of faith and expectation and pray like this.  “God, look at me and my weakness, have mercy on me, hold me up in my weakness and in the inferiority which causes me to become disheartened, even though I say I believe, have mercy on my faithlessness.”  As we pray this we need to look up to the Lord as with the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress.

Thirdly, As we lift our eyes and pray, what happens?  God helps us in our weakness.  How did God help Nehemiah?  He helped him until the city walls were completed (Nehemiah 6:15).  God helped them to finish the work on the city walls in fifty-two days and protected them from the hindrance of Sanballat and Tobiah.  God helped them, under the leadership of Zerubbable, to complete rebuilding the house of the Lord which was started by the people who went to Jerusalem earlier and had stopped for fifteen years (Ezra 6:1-18)  When God works, every mountain and every obstruction will disappear and will be as a plane (leveled) (Zechariah 4:6-7).  “'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts.”  (Zechariah 4:6B)  Yes!  When we lift up our eyes and pray, all of the difficulties will, by God’s help, become as a plane.  Look, how did God help King Hezekiah?  He annihilated (blotted out) the Assyrian Army who threatened Judah (185 thousand soldiers).  God is the same with us today as we trust Him.  In the times of trouble, when we look to the Lord, He will give us those things which are needed and will annihilate (blot out) the things not needed and will add the things that are needed.  How does this happen?  It is because all power is under God.  Psalms 50:15 says, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”  Isaiah 58:9 says, “Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.'  If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness.”  Isaiah 65:24 says, “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.”  Yes! Prayer, especially prayer of faith is a weapon for a successful life and key to a victorious life. 

Beloved saints!  I conclude with this.  We, all of us, live as weak beings; therefore without a helper, we fall.  We must lift our eyes (Psalm 121:1).  “I will lift up my eyes to the hills-- from whence comes my help?  My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1-2)  May the grace of God fill your hearts.


By: Rev. Samuel Choi