(Translated version, original article written in Chinese by Pastor Mickey Hsiao)   

[Theme] Servant’s Eye, Master’s Hand

The servant’s eye and the master’s hand – what kind of situation will make a person look up at God sitting in the sky? The Psalmist said that when he was ridiculed by people who had worldly comforts and despised by people who were proud, he pointed out more directly that the experience he had suffered had reached the “extreme”  or to the point where it was intolerable. In terms of the situation at the time, most of them expressed the pain a country felt under the long-term oppression of foreign conquerors. Under such tremendous pressure, the Psalmist knew that he was going to come to God and ask God for mercy!  Through the eyes of the servant and the hands of the master, the inner desire is expressed.  In a general sense, the servant to master relationship is one where the servant obeys the master:  obeys the master’s authority, humbly waits for the master’s instructions, and has no autonomy. The scripture uses this metaphor of the servant to master relationship for the Psalmist looking to God for His mercy and salvation. It brings out the Psalmist’s humility, obedience, and willingness to trust God because he knows that Jehovah God has the power and authority over all things. When he is desperate, he is willing to seek God, pray for mercy from God, and wait patiently.

[Meditation] 

We may have never experienced how a servant or maid humbly looks up to the hand of the master and mistress. Because most of the time, we are people who live in the lap of comfort. Even in times of crisis, I always think that I can face those challenges with my own ability. Unless we find that we have reached a desperate situation, as the Psalmist said here, “the ridicule of those who are comfortable and the scorn of the proud are to the extreme.“  The relative position of the servant and the master is different.  The servant is at the bottom and the master is on the top. Have we become accustomed to where we stand, and forget the attributes and ability of God to show mercy to us and mercy to others?  

[Prayer] 

I know that if it were not for the mercy and love of God, I would have been wiped out and destroyed. I am willing to humbly come before God as a servant, pray, and wait patiently!  

[Memory Verse]   

Psalm 123:2  Behold, as the eyes of the servant look at the hands of the master, and the eyes of the servant girls look at the hands of the mistress, so our eyes look at the Lord our God until He has mercy on us.