Day 269
Psalm 123:1-2 NIV
"I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in the heaven. As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he shows us his mercy."
A slave can make no provisions for himself. He earns no salary. He depends on his master for shelter, food and clothing. The same picture exists with the maid the Bible refers to in Psalm 123:2. The psalmist compared his own dependency on God to that of a slave to his master, or a maid to her mistress, to show that he had no alternative plans in his pursuit for help. God, and God alone would bring him and his people deliverance.
Psalm 34:IO NIV says, "The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing." In other words, those whose eyes are on the Lord, as the eyes of a slave are on his master, will not be disappointed. Some people who look to God do so with the attitude that He may be one source of help if all else fails. They will take help no matter where it comes from, so help from God is just another option. If those people ever get God's help, it will probably come through someone else's prayers.
God is not a god. He is God. He is not an answer. He is the answer. He loves us very much and knows how to care for what belongs to Him. For us to experience a true love relationship and not a phony one where we have no choice but to have Him interact with us and respond to our needs, He has to give us freedom to involve Him or not to involve Him in our affairs.
Why is it important for us to look to God as a slave looks to his master? Although he may not know how or when his master will respond, a slave has to wait, with all his hope and faith in the master upon whom he is totally dependent. We cannot contact God with our natural senses. Therefore, as we seek His help, we must wait in faith. If we begin to consider other options, we will step out of faith and away from His power to act on our behalf. Hebrews 11:6 NIV says, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." The scripture says we must believe God rewards those who earnestly seek Him. If we believe that, we will not look in any other direction. No matter how long it takes, or how impossible it seems, God must be the focus of our attention. Our attitudes will be like Job's, who said, "All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come." How will we respond when we hear the questions, "Where is your help coming from?" With single-mindedness, like the psalmist in Psalm 121:2, we will say, "My help comes from the Lord."
I will look to the Lord as my help today. He is the source of my total supply. It is He and He alone who will help me. Because I know He has my best interest in mind, I will allow Him to choose which way He will help me, as well as the vessel He will use to come to my aid. I will wait patiently for Him. He will never fail me. He is God. He is my God.