Looking for Favor
Do you ever feel like it is always someone else who is the winner? You put your best effort in and someone else is chosen? This desire for favor is within us, a craving for acceptance and significance. We all want to be the one chosen and appreciated. But the irony is, that while we are looking for favor, in Christ, we already have it, yet many still strive blindly for favor that looks different than what they have been given.
Maybe you feel like the 1% of the population where Murphy’s Law resides. That other shoe is about to drop. And you just want some relief. I get it, believe me. Join me for some sweet relief today from the psalmist as he points us to the favor of God that never fails is.
Bible Reading of the Day: Psalm 123-125
Psalm 123
The Psalmist is looking for God’s favor. Notice that the eyes are the focus in this Psalm. He is actively choosing to lift his eyes to God, and setting his eyes on the LORD.
He recognizes that his help comes from God and no one or nothing else. And he admits his problems to God and cries out. He does not try to placate his troubles or go elsewhere for rescue.
Psalm 123:1-4
“I lift my eyes to you, the one enthroned in heaven. 2 Like a servant’s eyes on his master’s hand, like a servant girl’s eyes on her mistress’s hand, so our eyes are on the Lord our God until he shows us favor. 3 Show us favor, Lord, show us favor, for we’ve had more than enough contempt. 4 We’ve had more than enough scorn from the arrogant and contempt from the proud.”
The Psalmist asks for favor and reveals his hardship to God. But the presence of hardship does not mean the absence of God.
Looking for Favor—Recognizing God’s Favor in Our Lives
Psalm 124
We often think about our struggles in the context of when will God deliver us from them, but perhaps we do not consider what God has already spared us from. This is the heart of Psalm 124.
The “if . . . then” statement of the psalmist reveals that the favor of God is the difference in the equation of life.
The psalmist shifts from looking to and on God to recognizing that God was already there. His favor was already there.
1 “If the Lord had not been on our side—let Israel say—2 if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us, 3 then they would have swallowed us alive in their burning anger against us. 4 Then the water would have engulfed us; the torrent would have swept over us; 5 the raging water would have swept over us. 6 Blessed be the Lord, who has not let us be ripped apart by their teeth. 7 We have escaped like a bird from the hunter’s net; the net is torn, and we have escaped. 8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
Looking for Favor—Trusting in God at All Times
Psalm 125
Our stability hinges on what we are trusting in. Are we trusting in favor as our rescue, or God? Favor on this earth is temporary, like popularity in a fickle world. But the favor of God lasts forever.
“Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion. It cannot be shaken; it remains forever. 2 The mountains surround Jerusalem and the Lord surrounds his people, both now and forever. 3 The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous, so that the righteous will not apply their hands to injustice. 4 Do what is good, Lord, to the good, to those whose hearts are upright. 5 But as for those who turn aside to crooked ways, the Lord will banish them with the evildoers. Peace be with Israel.”
Scripture of the Day: Psalm 125: 1-2
“Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion. It cannot be shaken; it remains forever. 2 The mountains surround Jerusalem and the Lord surrounds his people, both now and forever.”
Friends, we are surrounded by God’s favor. So much so. But the world around us is full of troubles and we are affected by that.
Application
- Don’t look for a rescue or favor from man or anywhere in this world.
- May we recognize the favor of God in our lives and choose to be grateful when life is hard.
- When we feel surrounded by troubles, may we remember that God surrounds us and His favor is enough.
- The presence of hardship does not mean the absence of God.
𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘁 12 𝗽𝗺 𝗘𝗧.
Day #304: Psalm 123-125—Looking for Favor
𝒱𝑒𝓇𝓈𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒟𝒶𝓎: Psalm 125:1-2
Audio: https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/audio/csb/Ps.123
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