“Behold, as the eyes of servants [look] unto the hand of their masters, [and] as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes [wait] upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.” (Ps 123:2 AV)
We usually equate the need for mercy with having failed in some way. When we think of needing mercy, we think of sin and forgiveness. Or, sometimes we see the need for mercy as a relief from present circumstance. Maybe we are struggling with financial or health issues and we seek the LORD’s mercy to endure of be delivered. No matter how we think of mercy, we usually think of it as God’s grace to forgive or overcome. Yet, when we look at the passage above, service is the context. We could assume that in service, the servant hopes for the mercy of his or her master. However, that is not the understanding. Or at least it is not the understanding when considering the culture and the purpose of this psalm.
The purpose is found in the title. It is a psalm of degrees. This was one of the many psalms written specifically for temple worship. It is called a psalm of degrees because it was sung by those entering or existing the temple. An ascent or decent would be comparable to temperature rising and falling. That is where we get the idea of measuring temperate by degrees. If only the purpose were considered, then we could limit the request for mercy in the context of forgiveness of sin. Seeing as how the example is servants who attend to the needs of the master, this verse has a different meaning. It was the custom of the middle east to have servants not tasked with duties to wait upon the instruction or assumption of the will of the master. The servant would stand and stare at the master, waiting for any indication of what the will of the master might be. He or she would stand with arms folded across the chest. If a word was spoken or a glance given, the servant would see to it the wish of the master was filled. The hand is mentioned because it was often the hand gesture of the master that indicated something needed to be tended to. Knowing the context, we can safely assume the mercy for which the servant sought was the mercy of assigned duty. He was waiting for the master to tell him what to do. The mercy for which he sought was the mercy of a purpose or task to do.
The application is obvious. We could first consider whether our hearts are inclined toward serving our God. Do we truly want to do His will? Do we find pleasure in serving and sacrificing for the One who created us and gave His life that we might have eternal life? There is also a more profound application here. How do we view service? Do we see servanthood as a mercy? Do we see service to the LORD as deliverance from something else? In serving God, we escape many things. We escape a life of purposelessness. There is a reason we exist, and that reason is to serve the LORD. In serving the LORD, we escape sin and the consequences of it. The idle servant looked upon his master, hoping for him to point to something, anything that needed to be done, he would consider that gesture and the mercy of his master. In like manner, the child of God should see service in the same way. Service is an escape from the sin of the mind and will. Once occupied with that which the LORD wants, we have not time nor resources to seek self-pleasure unto sin. Serving God is much more than a duty. It is a pleasure. It is mercy.
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