I’m going to guess that most people reading this do not have a household filled with servants. I certainly don’t have any! However, I do know that one requirement of being a good servant, perhaps a butler or housekeeper, is that they always need to be attentive to the needs and wishes of their master or boss. They need to keep their eyes on their employer, always ready, always attentive. A sloppy or lazy servant won’t keep their position long. This holds true for any job. The employee needs to be alert to what they are assigned to be doing, their eyes on their boss. Today’s psalm is a very short one, and believers are compared with being servants who are alert and attentive to their master, keeping their eyes always upon him.
The psalmist of this extremely short psalm makes two statements. The first is that believers are to always keep their eyes upon the Lord, just as a servant does to his or her master. As I mentioned, a good servant is always attentive to the one they work for. The best of butlers, after having worked for their employer for a little while, will anticipate what they may want without always having to be told. In an office, a good administrative assistant always keeps an eye on their boss in order to be ready. The good legal assistant always has the papers and folders ready to go to court, without having to be told. They aren’t lingering around the coffee room, catching up on the latest gossip. The housekeeper and butler aren’t back in the kitchen, watching the soap operas on TV.
Our psalmist prays to the Lord, telling Him that he is keeping his eyes always upon Him, ready and waiting on the Lord (vs. 1-2). He has made his prayers to the Lord, and is waiting for His answer. Now he is waiting, waiting for the Lord to answer His prayers, and waiting for Him to tell him what to do.
What was the prayer of the psalmist? He doesn’t specifically tell us, though he is requesting mercy from the Lord. Later in the psalm he speaks of the ill treatment he is experiencing from the unbelievers, so his prayer is likely about that, asking God to have mercy upon him, and bring relief. His eyes are upon God, waiting for His answer, as attentive as a servant.
Sometimes God does not immediately answer our prayers for help or mercy. We might wonder why, perhaps thinking that He doesn’t care for us or has forgotten us. However, God does not forget His children. He might have a better plan for us, or greater blessings He wishes to bestow on us. Sometimes His delay in answering is because He knows something that we do not know with this situation we are in. As Jesus told His disciples, He wants us to keep on asking God until He responds (Luke 18:1-8). God wants us to be persistent in prayer, to be attentive to Him, our eyes always upon Him, and not upon the world. We will never find our answer, our help, from the world.
The last two verses of our psalm contain the lament of the psalmist about the contempt he is feeling from the lost, the unsaved (vs. 3-4). The definition of “contempt” is when a person is felt to be beneath consideration, worthless, or deserving scorn. So often the unsaved show nothing but contempt for believers. Over the last number of decades this scorn has only increased, and Christians are held in contempt in the movies and media, the butt of late-night comedy and talk show host’s jokes. A Christian’s unsaved co-workers often heap contempt if the believer does not take part in their behavior or attitude. It is also often the rich, those “at ease”, and the proud who dish this scorn out.
The psalmist knows that he needs to trust in God despite distressing situations. He does what we all should do when we get heaped with contempt, and while we wait for God to answer our prayers, and that is lift our eyes to the Lord, waiting and watching for Him to send His mercy. The more the psalmist waits, the more he cries out to God because he knows the world offers no help. They only show contempt for the Almighty.
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