Seventh Sunday after Pentecost: Psalm, Psalm 123

Psalm 123

It was an interesting thing to find that one of my daily Psalm readings is also the psalm reading for this Sunday. Psalm 123 belongs to that wonderful set of shorter psalms known as the “Psalms of Ascent.” Traditionally, these were the songs of pilgrimage as the Old Testament saints streamed toward Zion for festival. Various themes mark these psalms, but one that is consistent is that it was deemed a holy and awesome thing to be in the community of Yahweh. And while that was, and is today an inestimable privilege, being a follower of the only true and living God marks one with a target for the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Psalm 123 declares that, as a people, these pilgrims sensed keenly that they were held in derision by their enemies, those at ease and those who were proud in their own eyes. But it is for their solution to this degradation that the psalm caught my attention this morning. The mention three times of waiting upon the mercy of God as the hope of God’s people is arresting. God’s people don’t call out for vengeance upon their enemies, but rather acknowledge that they themselves have to approach God with repentance of heart. Mercy is called for when one realizes that he truly has no other recourse. And so it is here in this psalm.

Lord, grant us humility of heart before You, forgive our sins, bless our enemies and lead us all to Zion. Amen!