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Psalm 123 - The Favor of God · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle talk. Today we are in Psalm 123, Psalm
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  123, and this is a very little Psalm.
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  It only has four verses, so we'll see if this is a
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  particularly short Tabernacle talk episode or if there's some
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  things here that might make me go on a little longer.
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  There's only one way to find out.
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  Psalm 123 is another one of the Song of a Sense.
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  These are 15 songs that the children of Israel would sing
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  every single year. 3 * a year as they went up to Jerusalem to the
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  Temple for their annual festivals.
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  There were three of those that they went to.
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  And so this is one of those songs, Psalm 123 and verse one
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  says this, I lift my eyes to you, the 1 enthroned in heaven,
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  like a servant's eyes on his master's hand, like a servant
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  girl's eyes on her mistress's hand.
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  So our eyes are on the are on Yahweh, our God, until he shows
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  us favor. Show us favor.
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  Yahweh show us favor. For we've had more than enough
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  contempt. We've had more than enough scorn
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  from the arrogant and contempt from the proud here.
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  This is such an interesting Psalm at as I think about this,
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  verse 2 is kind of where the main focus is.
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  And I can almost wonder if walking along the path when I am
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  in the car with my 2 kiddos, they love playing I spy or you,
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  you know, you do little games that get each one of them
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  involved and that way they're not quite focusing on how long
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  the journey is. They're not concerned about, you
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  know, whatever else have you. So as, as they are on this
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  journey up to Jerusalem, I almost wonder if, like in verse
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  2, if the boys might sing one part of this song and then the
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  girls sing another part of this song.
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  And this one seems like just a very, very short 1.
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  And so maybe they sing it through a couple of times, or
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  maybe everyone together did when at verse 2 where it says like a
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  servant's eyes on his master's hand, like a servant girl's eyes
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  on her mistress's hand. I just don't know if maybe
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  during the one part everyone did like a deep voice, like a
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  servant's eyes on his master's hand, and then the next part
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  like a servant's girl's eyes on her mistress's hand.
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  Like if there was a high and low thing going on.
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  I just don't know. But I I wonder what it would
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  have sounded like to hear the children of Israel on the road
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  singing these songs. So let's dive into it and see
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  what God has for us. Verse #1I lift my eyes to you,
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  the 1 enthroned. In heaven.
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  We get earthly minded. We care about the here and now.
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  We care about our four O 1 KS. We care about what's in our bank
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  account. We care about when the kids next
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  sports event or practice is. We care about when's my next
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  doctor's appointment. We get so earthly minded and I
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  want to every time that we're at Tabernacle talk, I want us to
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  lift our eyes up to see that there was more than just the
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  here and now. There's a song that I love here
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  and by Steven Curtis Chapman. It's the song More to this life
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  and I the the chorus. I don't know it as well as I
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  know some other songs. So I'm going to try and do my
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  best. I'll I'll link it in the show
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  notes for us. There's more to this life than
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  living and dying, more than just trying to make it through the
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  day, more to this life than than these eyes could ever see.
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  And there's more that this life alone, more than this life alone
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  can be. And I love that thought of he's
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  talking in the song about people just going through the mundane
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  and going through difficulties and hardships.
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  But there is more, and that more is our relationship with God
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  that plays into the here and now.
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  It's not just anticipate heaven someday and you know you'll
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  you'll eventually get through the hardships of this life.
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  No, it's more than that. It's that what we do, what we
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  say, even how we think and what our attitudes are play into what
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  our next life will be. That as we reign with Christ for
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  1000 years, we will receive according to what we've done
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  that the good that I do in the here and now, truly from the
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  heart for God, for love of people and love of my Lord, it
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  will result in something happening in this next life.
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  Or if I choose to only live for myself, I, I will still be
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  saved, praise the Lord, but I will experience loss on that
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  judgement day that I will not experience everything that I
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  could have had. And I'll tell you guys that just
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  blows my mind that the here and now effects the hereafter.
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  And so I want to, along with the psalmist here, say, God, would
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  you help me to get my eyes off of just the mundane?
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  To say, God, you are enthroned in heaven.
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  And if you're enthroned, it means I'm OK.
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  The king is not worried. The king is not, if you will,
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  pacing the floor of the palace. He's seated and He is OK.
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  He is not worried. And if he is not worried and he
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  is my Father and my Lord and my Master and my Savior, and even
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  from scripture, my friend, then I know that I'm OK.
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  Because if he were not seated, then I could worry a little bit.
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  But he is seated. And because He's seated, I can
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  be seated as well, if you will, metaphorically, that I can calm
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  down a little bit. So often we get anxious.
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  I am one of the worst culprits at that.
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  And I know many of my friends, even even here at Tabernacle,
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  we've commiserated. We've talked together about how
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  easy it can be to fall into worry.
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  And worry says I don't think God's going to take care of me.
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  Worry says I don't know that God knows about the situation, but
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  he does and he cares and he loves and he knows.
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  And so I can rest secure in the love and sovereignty of my King.
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  OK, so that's all verse one, I lift my eyes to you, the one
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  throne in heaven. Verse #2 like a servant's eyes
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  on his master's hand, Like a servant girl's eyes on her
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  mistress's hand. So our eyes are on Yahweh, our
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  God, until He shows us favor here.
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  This would be something like when a servant would do
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  something for the master and they would look to see, all
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  right. Does he like the, you know, cup
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  of wine that I brought him? Is he happy with the garment
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  that I made for him? Is he good and have I done my
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  job in bringing him the book that he wanted or the scroll
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  that he needed? And so they are looking for the
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  mark of approval. You know, nowadays we have like
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  a thumbs up or, you know, if you're particularly goofy, give
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  him the old finger guns. Yeah, sure thing.
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  Thanks, bud. And so here, this is what the
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  psalmist is saying. We are looking attentively to
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  go, all right. Is he happy with what I have
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  done? I think for us on the most basic
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  element, when it comes to our eternal standing, we know that
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  we are in the Father's favor if we have accepted Jesus Christ,
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  that there will never be a day where God casts us out if we
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  have come to know Jesus. When you think about even the
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  warning passages in Matthew 24 and 25, those that are cast out
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  into utter darkness are those that Jesus says I never knew
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  you. And while their actions
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  reinforce the fact that they did not know Jesus, for those of us
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  that do know Jesus, we can know God looks with favor on us and
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  he has joy. He is excited that we are his
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  children. There's not a kind of
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  bittersweet, yeah, they're not going to hell, but man, they
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  they're really stinking it up in the here and now.
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  We can know that we have favor with God, but we can choose, as
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  Paul tells us, to walk worthy of the calling of the vocation that
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  God has called us to. That we are ambassadors for
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  Christ and we can be good ambassadors.
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  And we ought to be those that bring pleasure and joy to the
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  heart of our Father through the way that we live.
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  That every action when I wake up in the morning, I want to do
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  things that would make my Heavenly Father happy.
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  When I am at work like I am right now, I want to do this out
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  of a pure heart that says, God, I know that I'm imperfect.
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  I know that I'm flawed, but I want to be a blessing to someone
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  else through what is done. So God work through my
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  brokenness. And God, would you be glorified
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  in me? And if I'm truly doing that from
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  the heart, then I can know that my Father is pleased.
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  And I want to hear, well done, my good and faithful servant,
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  enter into the joy of your Lord. And I want to live for that
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  statement on that day. And so let's, let's operate.
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  Let's think and speak and act for the favor of our God.
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  We already have it in Jesus, but let's go for some more as well,
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  if you will. We are already we've already won
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  the game because Jesus put us ahead 3 million to nothing.
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  Let's run up the score even more in the power of God's Holy
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  Spirit living and residing and working in us.
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  It is not Brian's goodness that would Curry any more favor with
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  God. It is Jesus and his Spirit
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  living in and through me that would allow anything good to
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  take place. It's Jesus's actions, his words,
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  his love. It is not my own.
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  So I I got to tell you guys I grew up in.
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  I don't know that anyone ever overtly stated this.
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  I think this is just the way that a religious mindset works.
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  I grew up thinking God's really unhappy with me all the time.
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  Like I, I sin, I think wrong things, I say wrong things, I do
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  wrong things I don't want to. I'm struggling with this.
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  I'm not just saying this is who I am and everyone else just has
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  to, you know, kind of deal with it.
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  No, I wanted to follow God and just felt like a straight up
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  failure doing it. And so I never felt like God was
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  pleased with me because I couldn't go very long without
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  sinning. And so I have a sensitivity both
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  towards, I don't want to put a new pressure on anyone to say
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  you are responsible for currying favor with God.
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  But I also want to be faithful to Scripture to say the favor of
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  God rests on me because of the work of Christ and because God's
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  own presence lives inside of me. And if he lives inside of me, he
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  is pleased to dwell within me and he wants me to do good works
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  and he wants me to walk worthy that I can live as though I
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  truly am a child of God and that the Holy Spirit truly lives
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  inside of me. So I, I'm certain that you guys,
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  as you're listening or you're watching, you're like, yeah, I
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  can, I can kind of hear how you have that ping pong match that
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  you have going on even within your head of the favor only
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  comes because of Jesus and his Spirit, and you can participate
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  in receiving that favor. So that's just something I'm
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  wrestling through in my own life.
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  And I'm thankful for the Lord's goodness and patience towards us
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  for those times where we do not do actions in the Spirit that
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  are reflective of the favor of God.
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  Verse #3 show us favor, Yahweh, show us favor, for we've had
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  more than enough contempt. I think about this.
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  Well, actually, no, no, I I'd say I think about this a lot.
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  I've thought about aspects of this before.
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  I didn't really know that I had a verse that I could go to, to
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  pray this back to the Lord. This is something that I've
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  certainly thought a lot over the last year, year and a half where
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  I've gone, Hey, God, you've seen all of these like hardships that
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  I've been walking through. Could you give me a break?
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  Like could you give me some peace?
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  Could you bring some joy? Could you allow there to be, you
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  know, some salvations or someone joining the church or something,
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  'cause it just feels like I'm being constantly beat up.
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  And here in this verse, I echo the psalmist here.
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  Show us favor, Yahweh, show us favor, for we've had more than
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  enough contempt. And I love that Scripture had
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  something here that I didn't even know that God had already
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  phrased out for me, but that echoed the cry of my heart.
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  And I hope that as you go through Psalms that you
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  experience that as well, whether it's your fighting against sin
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  or you're sorry for your sin. You can read Psalm 51 and you
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  go, yeah, God, that's that's all the words that my heart has been
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  crying out. Or here is in Psalm 123 three,
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  that God had this prayer, this song written 2500 years ago that
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  perfectly encapsulates how I felt.
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  And I'm so thankful for that. And that Scripture just brings
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  out these truths from the human heart in a way that is
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  glorifying and honoring to God and honoring what He wants to do
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  in and through US. Verse #4 As the soul ends here,
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  he says we've had more than enough scorn from the arrogance
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  and contempt from the proud. Every person experiences this.
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  And frankly, every person can be the arrogance and the proud.
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  I want to caution you don't live your life with scorn and
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  contempt from others. I'm going to look up these words
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  real quick. To scorn is to deride.
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  It's to jeer at someone else. I love that this word is lag is
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  how it appears to be with the pronunciation thing that I have
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  here. It it's literally to stammer
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  that someone goes, I don't want to be cruel in in any way and
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  how this would come across, but maybe when someone's making fun
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  of another person due to a speech impediment, you know,
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  they might say, I lift my eyes to you and then someone would
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  mock someone that actually had that difficulty in how they were
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  speaking. That's kind of what happens.
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  It's a score and it's it says you are nothing and your
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  difficulties and your sins and your failures have earned my
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  mockery. And so may we never do that to
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  other people. That is something that is so far
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  from the heart of God. And it doesn't matter, frankly,
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  if you see politicians doing it, it doesn't matter If you see
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  people on TV or on, you know, a YouTube short or Instagram reel
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  or TikTok video, do it. Let's not live our lives in
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  mockery and derision of other people.
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  Let's treat them with kindness and love and grace, even as we
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  seek kindness and love and grace from God.
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  So that's scorn from the arrogant and then hear contempt
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  from the proud. It's that you despise someone,
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  that you just don't want to be around them, You don't want to
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  listen to them. And may we not despise other
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  people. Our God has every reason to
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  despise you and I, and yet He does not do so.
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  But we choose to despise other people made in the image of God,
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  who have never sinned against us in the ways that we have sinned
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  against God. So what's the take away for us?
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  Don't be arrogant, don't be proud.
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  Treat others with kindness and love and grace, and if you will
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  favor, just as we seek to operate in the favor of God,
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  operating from the favor given to us in Christ Jesus and the
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  Holy Spirit, that we then do more and more actions that are
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  favorable in the eyes of our heavenly Father.
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  So don't focus on the here and now, Focus on the hereafter.
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  But what you do in the here and now matters hereafter.
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  So treat others with kindness and love and respect and grace,
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  even as you would desire those things to come to you from God.
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  Thanks for tuning in. Have a wonderful day.
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  Next episode will be in Psalm 124.