Life's as easy as 123

Sermon on Ascent Psalm 123

Introduction
Have you been enjoying the sermons on the ascent psalms so far? I think it is a really good exercise for us to go through them together. At the very least, these psalms are brutally honest about life. They take a good look at the world and with that in mind, they reflect on the promises of God. Whether it is a song or a prayer, they are very sincere in expressing their thoughts about God. Psalm 123 is no different. It is a truthful reflection on life. And sometimes, if you are really frank and blunt, you will be faced with the common colloquial phrase “Life sucks”. My personal experience with many atheists is that they cannot believe in the existence of God because they perceive a world of misery and suffering. True enough, life is difficult and perhaps even more so for Christians who believe in finding meaning and purpose to our existence. To those who strive to make sense of all the unhappiness and to make it a better place, life is indeed difficult. Like a swimmer in the sea, life is like the waves throwing you out, and like the currents sucking you in. Either way, you are seldom in control, and never able to relax.
For the psalmist, a pilgrim journeying to the promised land, there is hope in the midst of all these. Sure, the reality is that there will always be the proud and arrogant who scoff at our vision of a perfect world in obedience to God's laws. These people ridicule us. “There is no God. Where is the evidence? I can be totally free to do whatever I want. Power is what I need more and more. You Christians are so silly to subject yourself to the authority of an imaginary friend and the church.” We have to endure their contempt. “Christians are illogical. They are just living on blind faith. They are irrational and weak.” This is a reality that the psalmist faced and he admitted as such in his prayer. But there is hope to be found in his prayer as well. Life can be difficult for the common man. But if you learn the secret, it is as easy as 123. This is my sharing today: Life's as easy as 123.
Point 1: One Master
One of the main difficulties of life is that we can never seem to find happiness. In the past, we thought the problem was the oppression from those in charge. The nobility, the rich and the educated dominated all the resources and the resulting poverty made us miserable. But today, we have so much to the point of wastage. Slavery has been abolished and we have freedom! We think we can control our own destiny because we have no overlords over us. Freedom is on everyone's lips. Freedom is announced and celebrated. But not many feel free or act free. Why? Because we have become slaves to our desires and greed. Everywhere we turn we hear complaints: I can't spend my money the way I want; I can't spend my time the way I want; I can't be myself; I am under the control of others all the time. We subject ourselves to the control of bad work habits, and addictive use of entertainment, shopping and short-term pleasures. We trade masters; but we stay enslaved.
The psalmist recognized the horrors of slavery but he was wise not to choose personal freedom as the way out. The Christian is a person who recognizes that our real problem is not in achieving freedom, but in learning service under a better master. The Christian realizes that every relationship that excludes God becomes oppressive. We can even oppress ourselves. Recognizing and realizing that, we urgently want to live under the mastery of God. Hence this is the first secret of the 123 of life: one master. And our master is God. Needless to say, the identity of God is very important. God is the one whose throne is in heaven. This means that God is the one who is sovereign over all things. There is great satisfaction in choosing such a God as master. If God is God at all, he must know more about our needs than we do; if God is God at all, he must be more in touch with the reality of our thoughts, our emotions, our bodies than we are; if God is God at all, he must have a more comprehensive grasp of the interrelations in our families and communities and nations than we do. In short, if God is God, God knows what is best for us. Ironically, when we submit totally to the lordship of God, we gain true freedom. God guides us to be the person we are meant to be.
Point 2: Two Eyes of a Servant
Hence this is the first secret of life: One master. The master who is God. But there is more than just choosing God as master. The psalmist also shows us the proper response to such a master. He lifts up his eyes to the master. And this is the second secret of life I wish to share: the two eyes of a servant. In lifting up his eyes, he demonstrates his reverence and trust in the higher authority of his master. His personal avowal of trust sets the tone for the declaration of reliance upon God. A word picture is drawn of a household of master, mistress and slaves, the last depending completely upon the former two for material support. The servant assumes a certain posture, a stance. It is one that spells out attentiveness, ever ready to respond. The psalmist acknowledges, and pleads, upon their covenant relationship which places them in the position of slaves before their divine master. They are utterly reliant upon him. The corollary of this relationship is that the master has committed himself to support them as his people. For this help the psalmist has been waiting and will wait on expectantly, conscious that he has no other help save that which is from God.
Point 3: Three Expectations
The first secret is the recognition of one master: God. The second is the proper response: the two eyes of a servant entirely reliant of the master. And the final secret is the expected outcome of such a relationship. The psalmist and his community had been suffering for a long time. He brings his prayers to Yahweh by expressing his own dependence upon God: Yahweh is the heavenly king for whose power human opposition is no match. This short psalm gives powerful expression to a reaction to human stress in terms of religious trust and hope. The two final verses resound like a repeated S.O.S. signal sent off by desperate men. Yet, the expected outcome is the answer to the woeful situation. His implicit call to faith opens up a way forward by appealing to the supernatural resources which the God of the covenant can and surely will supply. The final secret to life is three expectations of the outcome. They are mercy, mercy and mercy. These three expectations are stated in the psalm. Our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy. Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us.
What is it like to expect mercy? It is to have a conviction that God intends good for us and he will get his way in us. He is like a potter working with the clay of our lives, forming and reforming until, finally, he has shaped a redeemed life, a vessel fit for his kingdom. Things are going according to his plan. This is the expected outcome of such a relationship of a servant relying on such a master. We live under his mercy. God does not treat us as alien others, lining us up so that he can evaluate our competence or our usefulness or our worth. He rules, guides, commands, loves us as children whose destinies he carries in his heart.
Conclusion
I think the one actual historical situation that this psalm is based best on demonstrates what I have spoken so far.
(Ne 2:19-20; 4:1-6) 19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. "What is this you are doing?" they asked. "Are you rebelling against the king?" 20 I answered them by saying, "The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it."
1 When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, 2 and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, "What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble--burned as they are?" 3 Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, "What they are building--if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!" 4 Hear us, O our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. 5 Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders. 6 So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.
The mission of Nehemiah was to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. As we have read, it was not easy, as they were subjected to ridicule from their enemies on the audacity of their task. The psalm shows that devout leadership redeems a situation of adversity by guiding into paths of hope and by reminding the community of the covenanted mercies of their God. Nehemiah called out to God in times of trouble and relied on his mercies. It was the affirmation of trust, that “God is still on the throne”, which was its reassuring message to pilgrims who longed for the establishment of God's kingdom. Life indeed is difficult. Many times we cannot make sense of all the trials we have to overcome. But the psalmist, just like the example of Nehemiah shows us the secrets that makes life easy as 123. One master that is God, two eyes of a servant which is our response and three expectations of mercy, mercy and mercy. God is king, it is he we serve.