{"id":2454,"date":"2022-01-05T18:00:50","date_gmt":"2022-01-06T02:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/?p=2454"},"modified":"2022-01-03T09:57:29","modified_gmt":"2022-01-03T17:57:29","slug":"20220106-psalm-123","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/blog\/20220106-psalm-123\/","title":{"rendered":"Ascending to Meet with God – Psalm 123"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

1\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>To you I lift up my eyes,<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 O you who are enthroned in the heavens!<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n2\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>Behold, as the eyes of servants<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 look to the hand of their master,<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 as the eyes of a maidservant<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 to the hand of her mistress,<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0so\u00a0our eyes look to the Lord our God,<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 till he has mercy upon us.<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n3\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 for we have had more than enough of contempt.<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n4\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>Our soul has had more than enough<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 of the scorn of those who are at ease,<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 of the contempt of the proud.<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

(Translated version, original article written in Chinese by Pastor Mickey Hsiao)<\/span><\/i>\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Theme] Servant\u2019s Eye, Master\u2019s Hand<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The servant’s eye and<\/span>\u00a0the master’s hand<\/span>\u00a0– w<\/span>hat ki<\/span>nd of situation will make a person<\/span>\u00a0look up\u00a0<\/span>at God sitting in the sky? The P<\/span>salmist<\/span>\u00a0said that when he was ridiculed by\u00a0<\/span>people who had worldly comforts<\/span>\u00a0and despised by\u00a0<\/span>people<\/span>\u00a0who were proud<\/span>, he pointed out more directly that the experience he had suff<\/span>ered had reached the\u00a0<\/span>“<\/span>extreme\u201d\u00a0 or<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>to the point where it<\/span>\u00a0was 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<\/span>\u00a0such tremendous pressure, the P<\/span>salmist<\/span>\u00a0knew that he was going to com<\/span>e to God and ask God for mercy!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Through the eyes of the servant and the hands of the master,<\/span>\u00a0the inner desire is expressed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>In a\u00a0<\/span>general<\/span>\u00a0sense, the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>servant to master\u00a0<\/span>relationship is one where\u00a0<\/span>the servant obeys the master:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>obeys<\/span>\u00a0the master’s authority, humbl<\/span>y waits for the ma<\/span>ster’s instructions<\/span>, and has no autonomy. The scripture uses\u00a0<\/span>this metaphor of the\u00a0<\/span>servant to master\u00a0<\/span>relationship for<\/span>\u00a0the P<\/span>salmist<\/span>\u00a0looking to\u00a0<\/span>God for\u00a0<\/span>His\u00a0<\/span>mercy an<\/span>d salvation. It brings out the P<\/span>salmist\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0humility, obedience<\/span>, and willingness to trust God\u00a0<\/span>because he knows that Jehovah God has the power and authority<\/span>\u00a0over all things<\/span>. When he is desperate, h<\/span>e is willing to seek God, p<\/span>ray for mercy from God<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0and wait patiently.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Meditation]<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We may have never experienced how a\u00a0<\/span>servant or maid humbl<\/span>y looks up to the hand of the master and mistress. Because most of the time, w<\/span>e are people who live in the lap of comfort<\/span>. 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<\/span>\u00a0a desperate situation, as the P<\/span>salmist<\/span>\u00a0said here,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>“<\/span><\/span>the ridicule of those who are comfortable and the scorn of<\/span>\u00a0the proud are to the extreme.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/em>“<\/span><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>The relative position of the servan<\/span>t and the master is different.\u00a0 T<\/span>he\u00a0<\/span>servant is at the bottom and the\u00a0<\/span>master is on the top. Have we become accustomed to where we stand, and forget the attributes and ability of God to show mercy<\/span>\u00a0to us<\/span>\u00a0and mercy to others?<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Prayer]<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I know that if it were not for the mercy and love of God, I would have been wiped out and destroyed<\/span>. I am willing to humbly come before<\/span>\u00a0God as a servant, pray<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0and wait patiently!\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[<\/b>Memory Verse<\/b>]\u202f<\/b>\u202f\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Psalm 123:2\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>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.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1\u00a0To you I lift up my eyes,\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 O you who are enthroned in the heavens!\u00a0 2\u00a0Behold, as the eyes of servants\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 look to the hand of their master,\u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2432,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[77,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ascending-to-meet-with-god","category-pastor-mickey-hsiao"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2454"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2467,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454\/revisions\/2467"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}