Psalms 123:1

Psalms 123:1 says, A Song of degrees. This is another psalm identified as a song of degrees, then verse one says, Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. David said he lifted up his eyes to the One that dwellest in the heavens.  We usually pray with our heads bowed in a sign of humility, but spiritually even then we should be lifting up our eyes to God.  Our focus needs to always be on God.  Verse two adds, Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.  David said that we should look to God the way that a servant should look to his or her master or mistress, with respect knowing that the master or mistress is the one who provides for them.  We do not look to God demanding that He provide for us, but instead knowing that He will out of His mercy.  Verse three states, Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.  Just as David asked for God to have mercy on the people of Israel because the world had contempt for them, we must ask for Him to have mercy us because the people of the world often have contempt for Christians.  No matter how badly we are treated by the people of the world, we are always secure in the mercy of God as followers of Christ.  Verse four adds, Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.  When we think that we have it bad in the world today as Christians, we need to understand that we are not the first to believe that we are.  Even in his day, the psalmist said that those who put their faith in God were the contempt of the proud, those who put their faith in their own abilities instead of God's grace.