Why Isn’t He Throwing The Flag?

Psalm 123

A song for the ascent to Jerusalem.

1I lift my eyes to you,

O God, enthroned in heaven.

2We look to the LORD our God for his mercy,

just as servants keep their eyes on their master,

as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal.

3Have mercy on us, LORD, have mercy,

for we have had our fill of contempt.

4We have had our fill of the scoffing of the proud

and the contempt of the arrogant.

Imagine that it’s the last minute of the Super Bowl. Behind by one touchdown, the quarterback throws a long pass into the end zone, and his swiftest wide receiver races down the field and reaches out to grab the football. An opponent is also in pursuit, and just as the catch is about to be made, the opponent grabs the arm of the receiver. The pass is dropped, and the opponent gloats exultingly. He thinks he has gotten away with it. Nobody saw him grab the wide receiver’s arm, or so he thinks.

On the ground the receiver has his eyes on the referee. Has the referee signaled a penalty? Where’s the flag? Didn’t the referee notice the infraction? What if the game is lost because the opponent got away without a penalty?

Nehemiah felt like that (Nehemiah 4:4). He had come back to Jerusalem to rebuild its walls, and all had been going well—that is, until the enemies started their scoffing. So Nehemiah prayed, “Hear us, O our God.” Didn’t he notice what the enemy was doing? Why wasn’t he penalizing them?

That’s also what the psalmist felt like in this psalm. Actually, we all feel like that from time to time. We look for instant replay to vindicate us instead of keeping our eyes on the referee.

What Nehemiah did was to keep on praying and to keep on working. And we need to do the same. The signals are already being called for the next play. Get in the action.

Awake, our souls! Away our fears!

Let every anxious thought be gone!

Awake, and run the heavenly race,

And put a cheerful courage on.

ISAAC WATTS

A Word on Words

Contempt (verse 3) can be more murderous than anger (Matthew 5:22), but it is an honor to receive it if it is for the sake of the gospel (Acts 5:41).

Notable Quotable

“We must use our eyes with resolution, for they will not go upward to the Lord of themselves, but they incline to look downward, or inward, or anywhere but to the Lord.”

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON