(A Song of degrees.) Unto thee do I lift up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
The psalm opens with a single upward glance from someone hemmed in by scorn on every side. Its strength lies in where the eyes go — and in the One they find, enthroned above every circumstance on earth.
Lifting the eyes is one of Scripture's plainest pictures of dependence. It also answers a question raised two psalms earlier: where does my help come from?
This first verse shows their attitude of dependence. How much in the Scriptures is tied to lifting up the eyes or the hands to heaven! The Old Testament is full of instruction on this point. We read of the blessed Lord Himself lifting up His eyes to heaven as He poured out His heart's desires in John 17. (See also John 11:41.) This action proclaims that God Himself is the confidence and help of those who wait on Him. He is their only resource, and there is no help anywhere else. Blessed is the soul that has learned this lesson. The last clause of verse 1 of Psalm 121 may be rendered, "From where shall my help come?" The next verse gives the answer. In keeping with this, the psalm before us begins with this posture of expectation from Him who dwells in the heavens.
The address matters. The singer does not call on God as settled in His city on earth, but as the One who dwells above it.
This first psalm, like the first psalm of the group before it, gives only the distress, which has not yet gone as far as it will go. Jehovah is the one resource — and He is seen as dwelling in the heavens, not in Zion. But these eyes that turn to heaven are servants' eyes: the spirit of obedience is in their hearts, and along with this the conscious need of grace. Here the trial is the pride of man; before, it was his deceitfulness and spirit of strife.
Why look up at all? The evil pressing on the singer cannot reach where God dwells.
The psalm looks at Jehovah as dwelling out of the reach of the circumstances where the evil really was. Then, beyond the reach of circumstances, the believer could direct his heart. There was the ground of patient faith… Patience, submission, the awareness of no merit, yet the confidence of mercy — this characterised this waiting people.
The psalm rises out of scorn. One writer traces where that scorn comes from.
With the blessedness of the house of the Lord and the city of Jerusalem filling the soul (Ps. 122), the godly decide to face the pilgrim journey that leads to the city of God. But such a decision by a small and feeble remnant calls out the contempt and scorn of the ease-loving and proud men of the world. The same decision of faith will lead to the same results in this Christian day. The believer who enters into the blessedness of the house of God, and the heavenly calling, will gladly take up the pilgrim path. He will then find that those who have their portion in this life despise him.
One writer sees Jesus Himself living out this verse.
The Lord took up the five loaves and the two fish. In front of the whole crowd He raised His eyes to heaven. He did the same when He healed the deaf and mute man (Mark 7:34), and when He came to the grave of Lazarus (John 11:41). This was an attitude of prayer and heavenly communion (John 17:1)… By this act the Perfect Servant sets an example before all. He acknowledges His dependence on the One who sent Him, and in effect takes up the language of the psalmist.
The verse also trains us how to pray. One writer ties wandering thoughts to wandering eyes, and both to what we love.
If you want to keep your mind fixed in prayer, keep your eye fixed… Much emptiness comes in at the eye. When the eye wanders in prayer, the heart wanders. Love is a great fixer of the thoughts. Someone in love cannot keep his thoughts off the one he loves… If we loved God more, our minds would be more intent on Him in prayer. If you let your thoughts run empty outside of prayer, they will hardly be different in prayer.
- Look up. The lifted eye says that God alone is the help, and the singer looks nowhere else.
- Look high. The prayer goes to God enthroned in heaven, not to Zion — the one resource while the distress runs its course.
- Look safe. Evil works below where He sits. That distance is the ground of patient faith.
- Look like Him. Christ raised His eyes to heaven in dependence. As the Perfect Servant He took up the psalmist's own words.
- Look steadily. When the eye wanders, the heart wanders. Loving God more holds the gaze steady in prayer.
Behold, as the eyes of servants [look] unto the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so our eyes [are directed] to Jehovah our God, until he be gracious unto us.
This song belongs to people under scorn. They have no help on earth, so they lift their eyes to the God who dwells in heaven, and verse 2 pictures their waiting as a servant watching the master's hand for the smallest signal.
The comparison comes from service. A movement of the hand is enough to give an order. One writer reads the verse as faith that has given up its own will and refuses every other rescue.
Verse 2 sets out how complete and how intense the expectation of faith is. It is beautiful beyond words. It tells of unshaken confidence and of the perseverance of faith. These godly souls fix their eyes on the Lord their God, just as servants watch their masters for the sign of their will in the motion of their hand. This is to have no will of your own in God's presence, and so to be completely at His disposal. They suffer scorn and insult, yet they will not grow impatient, and they will not hit back. They will not look to any human source for relief from their trouble. They will quietly wait on until the Lord, in the compassion of His heart, steps in for them... Many of us lift up our eyes to Him in our distress, but we fail to wait on until the help comes. We pray and tell out our griefs, but this unconquerable perseverance of faith is often missing.
Watching is not passive. It is the only way to get direction. One commentator ties this attitude to two things at once: knowing our own weakness, and knowing His care.
This watching is the product of two things together: the sense of our weakness, and His wise and holy guardianship and guidance. And how, apart from this attitude, can we be guided by His eye?
The verse ends with a plea, not a demand. It holds two things together: no claim of deserving, and full assurance that God will answer.
They wait on the LORD their God, who is in the heavens, like a servant or a maid watching her master and mistress. They are helpless. They have nothing of their own to do until they get their master's word, until He has mercy on them. Patience, submission, the sense that they deserve nothing, and yet the confidence of mercy — this marked out this waiting people. So their sorrow and the contempt they suffered became a reason for mercy — a plea. That is what is in their mouth, and that is always so when the heart is in this state.
One writer describes the situation behind the song, and names the pressure that lifts their eyes.
There was need to seek the city's peace, as Psalm 123 shows. The godly could reach Jerusalem, but the ungodly were still in the land, and they still longed to see the Lord's presence shown in His house. So they turn to God — but to God as dwelling in heaven, not as sitting between the cherubim. They wait for Him, and watch His movements... And there will be plenty of reason for them to wait like this. Their soul will be filled to the brim with the scorn of those who are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.
One writer finds the same upward look in Jesus Himself.
In front of the whole crowd He raised His eyes to heaven. By this act the Perfect Servant sets an example to all. He acknowledges His dependence on the One who sent Him, and in effect takes up the words of the Psalmist: "To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master... so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he has mercy upon us."
The verse describes a home. Where the head of a house is himself looking upward, the servants' looking is transformed.
It is clear that the master and mistress of such a household wait on the Lord their God. So the servants look with willing eyes to the hand of their masters, and the maids to the hand of their mistress. This is not the trembling, fearful look of slaves under the iron yoke of a strong-minded and strong-willed master. They serve gladly and with goodwill. Even those in the house who do not believe cannot help seeing, and must admit, that their master and mistress give their orders only in obedience to a higher Master.
- Look. The eye lifted to heaven says God alone is the resource. There is no help anywhere else.
- Watch. A servant reads the master's hand. Without that fixed attention, His eye cannot guide us.
- Yield. To watch like this is to have no will of your own before God — no impatience, no hitting back, no looking to people for rescue.
- Wait. "Until He has mercy" holds two things together. They deserve nothing, yet they are sure mercy will come. The contempt they suffer becomes their plea.
- Learn. Many lift their eyes in trouble but fail to wait until help comes. This verse teaches the perseverance of faith — and the Perfect Servant Himself took the same upward look.