Prayer for Divine Help (Psalm 123)
Verse 1 of this psalm is spoken by an individual and the other three verses are spoken by a group. This points to the psalm being used in a response setting, with a leader singing the first verse and the congregation responding with verses 2–4. The psalm is basically two prayers – the prayer of the individual and the prayer of the group.
Verses 3 and 4 are clear that the psalm was composed during a time when God’s people were enduring strong derision. This was not a pleasant experience and the people of God were not expected to cope with it in a stoical manner. Instead they were to take their distress to God. A stoical attitude is often an expression of confidence in one’s own ability to cope with a difficult situation and is not a commendable response as far as spiritual matters are concerned.
The situation described in this psalm fits the circumstances faced by Nehemiah when he began to strengthen the city of Jerusalem as detailed in Nehemiah 4. His response to the taunts of the opposition was to carry on working on the wall and to pray for divine protection. Since the psalm is anonymous, it is possible that it was written around that time.
Its location in the Psalter
While no-one knows who wrote the psalm or when it was written, it was located deliberately after Psalm 122 by those who put together the collection of songs of degrees. Psalm 122 describes the delight experienced by the pilgrims as they reached Jerusalem to keep the feasts. They had been filled with wonder and gladness as they observed the worship of God in the city. But Psalm 122 described a city at the height of its glory, with its Davidic rulers on the throne. When the collection was put together after the return of the Jews from the Exile in Babylon, there had been initial hopes that the city of Jerusalem would be rebuilt in a manner that would resemble its former glory. The passing of time showed that this was but a wish. The rebuilt city was but a pale shadow of the great city of Solomon; it was now a small town on the edge of a pagan empire. Its insignificance was a source of mockery to their enemies, and this contempt saddened the people of God.
This period of derision had its benefits. For example, the people of God were learning that Jerusalem would not be glorified merely by the decision of the greatest of earthly monarchs. Several times the rulers of the Persian Empire had given instructions about rebuilding the city (as we can see from 2 Chronicles 36, Ezra and Nehemiah). It was right that these rulers should help God’s cause in the sense of providing building materials and external protection from opponents. Yet in itself, the help from human authorities could not give what God’s people wanted most, which was a sense of the grandeur that should mark the city of God.
Another lesson that they were discovering was that the city would not be rebuilt unless they themselves were dedicated to the task. The Book of Haggai points to this problem concerning the rebuilding of the city. The prophet was sent to the returned exiles to rebuke them for focussing on their own homes instead of building a place for God. Their priorities were wrong. Once they began to have the correct priorities, the Lord gave them peace and prosperity.
Today we face a similar situation. The Christian faith is despised as foolishness by the intellectuals in our society and ignored as useless by the rest. Christians feel weak and are reluctant to stand out for Christ, not because they are going to be physically assaulted but because they are going to be derided. We are regarded as relics from a past that society has gladly forgotten. It is not easy to be mocked, which means that this psalm is of great relevance for us because that is the scenario with which it deals.
Yet we can look back into church history and read about days when the church flourished; reading these accounts makes us long to see even greater prosperity for Zion today. We know that the Bible has many promises about God restoring his cause. How is the prosperity going to come?
It will not come from human authorities. While they may create circumstances that are useful, such as peaceful surroundings, they cannot go beyond the external. Our hope is not to be in political changes or initiatives. Neither will it come to groups of believers who don’t put the Lord first. What does it mean to put God first? We hear a lot said about financial giving and how Christians are not giving enough. Or it is emphasised that we should use our gifts to further his kingdom. It would be silly to deny that these suggestions have merit. Yet the giving of more money or the increase of activities are no proof in themselves that a person is putting God first.
The proof that a person is putting God first is that he spends time with God. This is what this psalm tells us. The people of God were in a weak condition, enduring endless taunts. Their response was to spend time with God, in prayer and in patient waiting upon him. The challenge of this psalm is not that it reminds us that often believers have to live in a godless society but whether or not such believers are so affected by the weakness of God’s cause that they go to God about it.
The importance of leaders looking in the right direction
Verse 1 is the declaration of an individual that he is looking away from the mockings and turning his eyes towards God. In the liturgy of the Jewish worship, this verse may have been sung by a priest or Levite; when he sung it, the other verses would be sung as a response by the congregation or other priests and Levites. If the psalm was composed in Nehemiah’s time, then perhaps he sang verse 1 and the congregation sang the rest. Whether it was a religious leader such as a priest or a political leader like Nehemiah, the verse indicates that one of the duties of the leaders of God’s people is to direct them to look to God when they live in uncongenial surroundings. They lead by example.
This leader showed he was entirely dependant on God. I think we can see his total reliance in the image that he uses, which is that both his eyes were focussed on God. A false leader would have both eyes fixed on some form of earthly help; a fickle leader would have one eye on God and the other eye on another possible source of help; but a true leader looks only to God.
One of the impressions that I sense today about church leadership is that they are expected to be problem solvers, that somehow they will be able to diagnose a situation and provide suitable remedies for the difficulty. No doubt there is an element of truth in that role, although I suspect the problems were diagnosed and the remedies were detailed long ago, in the Bible. What is needed is knowledge of the Scriptures and a willingness to accept its diagnoses and remedies. The biggest problem a church faces is leaders who don’t lead them to God. The biggest problem a true leader has is people who will not follow his example and look to God.
Not only was the leader in verse 1 entirely dependant on God, he also directed the people to an appropriate feature or attribute of God. He reminded them that God was on the throne, that he was the sovereign God. It is useful to remind a weak group of believers that God still loves them, but it is important to stress that he is strong, that he is in complete control of a hostile situation. The taunting opponents may seem strong, but in reality they are pygmies in comparison to God. Weak believers are encouraged when they are reminded that they have a strong, sovereign God. This is what Isaiah describes in Isaiah 40:28-31: ‘Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.’
The prayers of the people
They copy the example of the leader in verse 1 and each sets both their eyes on this great God. Using the imagery of a master and slaves they confess his sovereignty.
This picture of master and slaves reminds us of the humility of these believers. They could have described themselves as exiles who had been set free. If they had done so, they would have told only half the truth. They were not delivered from captivity in order to do what they liked; rather they were set free so that they could return to their homeland and serve God. Similarly, Christians were delivered from the bondage of sin and Satan in order to serve God. The sovereignty of God does not only mean that he is in charge of all that takes place; it also requires every believer to live under his authority continually, in a way similar to how an ancient slave responded to his master.
The imagery points us to the hand of God. The male and female slaves in a household would stand in a room with their eyes permanently on their owner’s hand. It was usual for the owner to beckon commands rather than to vocalise them, therefore it was very important for their hands to be observed. In general, their hands gave provision (shared food from the table), gave direction (indicated actions to be done), gave protection, and gave discipline (punished a disobedient slave). Each of these has parallels to how God deals with his people.
The author takes this imagery and says that what the humble slaves of God want is mercy. It is not so much mercy for their sins, although believers often ask for mercy in this sense. Rather they want mercy to be shown by the removal of the sources of contempt. In Nehemiah’s case, the enemy was removed providentially by God using the political powers on Nehemiah’s behalf. Something similar may happen with us, and that is appropriate. Of course, we can also pray that God would convert the mockers.
In any case, the believers had holy resolution. They were not going to stop praying until God delivered them. Their prayers were simultaneously persistent and patient. This is how we show we are putting God first – we bring the matter to him and plead humbly and expectedly with him until he answers. The Lord is full of pity towards us and he will listen sympathetically to such a cry. Eventually he will answer if we persist in our prayers.
There is one consolation that is not mentioned in this psalm but which believers today have to strengthen them. The consolation is that Jesus has a fellow-feeling with them because he knows what it is like to be derided. Isaiah predicted that Jesus would be ‘despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not’ (Isa. 53:3). During the incident when he raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead, before he performed the miracle, the onlookers ‘laughed him to scorn’ (Matt. 9:24). And he was mocked by the Sanhedrin, by Herod and his soldiers and by Pilate’s soldiers when he was arrested (Luke 22:63; 23:11, 36).