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THE LOOK OF LOVE (PSALM 123)

A passionate prayer for mercy and deliverance of the servants or people of God from the scornful and proud. 

REFLECTION 

The look of love is the theme for our reflection. The look of love is a phrase that depicts the expression of someone’s depth of feeling towards another by the look in their eyes. We usually express our feeling of love through kisses and hugs but you may also tell how we feel about someone by the look we give them. The pilgrims to Jerusalem sung Psalm 123 to pray to God to look upon his people and show them mercy in the midst of the scornful even as their eyes are fixated on God in love, faith and prayer. The people proved to God that they have nowhere and no one to turn to, for God is their only source of strength and vindication. They identify themselves as servants or maids who cannot do without the love and benevolence of their master or their mistress.” 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, till he has mercy upon us. (Psalms 123:2). This prayer is ideal for a family, a church and a nation that believes in God. 

My dear friend, God has always been faithful and loving to His faithful servants, God indeed gave us a look of love when He sent His only Son to suffer, die and resurrect so that we shall be saved. God had already established a love relationship between us and Himself, therefore, we have the opportunity to look to the Lord in faith, love and prayer when we find ourselves in the hands of the wicked and the scornful. In other words, our enemies. 

It was obvious the people were being undermined, scorned and treated with contempt by those who do not have reverence for God and are proud. To be scorned and treated with contempt are basically the same thing. Contempt means the feeling that a person or a thing is worthless or beneath consideration. You may come to a point in life where the scornful or proud will treat you with contempt for various reasons best known to them. You must understand who you are in the Lord and focus on your relationship with God. As you continually give God the look of love and your faithfulness, He reveals your priceless worth through Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. It is not necessary to prove how valuable or worthy you are to those who look upon you with contempt, the only person you are answerable to and must fear is your maker who has the answers to your prayers and knows how valuable you are because of the immeasurable riches and grace He has placed upon your life. 

There are many Christians who sometimes become frustrated and depressed because of how contemptuous they are treated by their superiors and colleagues at work. Some spouses are also scorned and abused by their husbands or wives. Some servants of God who are called to shepherd God’s people and preach the Word of life are usually scorned by the ungodly. The psalmist had already come to the conviction that ​”Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law, he meditates day and night. (Psalms 1:1-2). If we know that we shall be blessed if we shun the company of the wicked, sinners and scoffers then we should have faith that if the wicked come against us and those who look upon us with contempt continue to stand against us, God will show us mercy. It is, for this reason, the people prayed in Psalm 123:3-4 that  “Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt. Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud” (Psalms 123:3-4).  We are assured in Psalm 37:6 that the Lord  “…will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.  We are again greatly encouraged in Isaiah 50: 7-9  that “But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.” (Isaiah 50:7-9).  In every scornful or contemptuous situation you find yourself in, continue to give the look of love to God for His grace is sufficient and He is forever faithful.  Shalom. 

PRAYER 

“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh, I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.” (Job 19:25-27)

Jean-Paul Agidi (Rev)