Not mere servants

Behold, as the eyes of servants
look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maidservant
to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God… (Psalm 123:2-3a, ESV)

It’s easy to look at those words and think, “We as God’s servants are to constantly be looking at God, seeing what he want us to do.”

And that’s true. We should do that.

But that’s what makes the second part of verse 2 so jarring.

till he has mercy upon us. (2b)

The psalmist then cries out,

Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
for we have had more than enough of contempt. (3)

The wondrous thing about our relationship with God is that he doesn’t look at us as mere servants. He sees us as his precious ones. He truly cares for us.

And when we cry out to him, we can know he’ll hear, he’ll answer, and he will show us mercy.