Psalm 123 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 123 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
Verse 2As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, 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 upon us.
Verse 3Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt.
Verse 4Our soul has had more than its fill of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.
Devotion
A few months ago I got into a situation where I entered the intersection of a stopped school bus. In my area an incident with a school bus is big-time trouble and usually results in a large fine. I realized my mistake right away and prayed for mercy. I came up with a number of excuses for why I shouldn’t be punished, but in the end I knew that the only thing that would save me was the bus driver’s mercy. The Psalmist in today’s reading is pleading for mercy when he says, “As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he has mercy upon us.”
Prayer
God, as we look to your hand, be merciful to us and grant us all that we need. Amen.