Song of Repentance

Steve McKenzie October 4, 2020

October 4, 2020

Psalm 123

LOOKING UP WHEN DOWN

“To you I lift my eyes”
“The uplifted eyes naturally and instinctively represent the state of heart which fixes desire, hope, confidence, and expectation upon the Lord.” CH Spurgeon
““Service begins with an upward look to God. God is over us. He is above us. The person of faith looks up to God, not at him or down on him. The servant assumes a certain posture, a stance. If he or she fails to take that posture, attentive responsiveness to the master’s commands will be hard.” Eugene Peterson
“Prayer is the burden of a sigh – The falling of a tear, – The upward glancing of an eye – When none but God is near” Hymn from 1865

SERVANTS OF THE ENTHRONED KING

“But God is not a [our] servant to be called into action when we are too tired to do something ourselves, not an expert to be called on when we find we are ill equipped to handle a specialized problem in living. God is not a buddy we occasionally ask to join us at our convenience or for our diversion. God did not become a servant so that we could order him around but so that we could join him in a redemptive life.
If God is God at all, he must know more about our needs than we do; if God is God at all, he must be more in touch with the reality of our thoughts, our emotions, our bodies than we are; if God is God at all, he must have a more comprehensive grasp of the interrelations in our families and communities and nations than we do.” Eugene Peterson

“HAND OF MY MASTER

Hand of Power (Isa. 48:13)
Hand of Ever Present Help (Isa. 41:13-14
Hand of Ownership (Jer. 18:6)
Hand of Provision (Psalm 63:8)
Hand of Love (Psalm 136:12-13)

TILL MERCY ARRIVES

But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, ²¹and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.
²²And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. ²³Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives. Jude 1:20-23
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” Ephesians 2:4-8