I lift up my eyes to you,
to you who sit enthroned in heaven.
2 As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
till he shows us his mercy.
3 Have mercy on us, LORD, have mercy on us,
for we have endured no end of contempt.
4 We have endured no end
of ridicule from the arrogant,
of contempt from the proud. -- Psalm 123 (NIV)
Believing in God has perhaps always been suspect, but it seems to be more that way now. Perhaps it is the difference between living personal experience and looking through the historical looking glass? Faith is a sensitive topic. It (and we) are easily misunderstood. Science has made objective and provable into a religion of it's own and it's arrogant and prideful tenets are often called on to be used against my pre-modern subjective soul-filled way of knowing. Others' assumptions immediately pop into place when we express
anything about how we see God working in our lives, to the point that the almost across the board accepted etiquette is to remain as silent as possible about faith. Embarrassment abounds, except for the most stalwart of proselytizers. All of this is what came to my mind when I read - "We have endured no end of ridicule.... of contempt..." While I can feel confident in my heart of hearts about what I know, defending it against double blind placebo studies and yard sticks that measure down to nanometers leaves me shy. "Have mercy on me," says the Psalmist. "Look to the Lord until He shows us His mercy." "Endure to the end..." Wow. Really? Could it take a lifetime of enduring all this before mercy is received and faith is made easier? Again, wow!
anything about how we see God working in our lives, to the point that the almost across the board accepted etiquette is to remain as silent as possible about faith. Embarrassment abounds, except for the most stalwart of proselytizers. All of this is what came to my mind when I read - "We have endured no end of ridicule.... of contempt..." While I can feel confident in my heart of hearts about what I know, defending it against double blind placebo studies and yard sticks that measure down to nanometers leaves me shy. "Have mercy on me," says the Psalmist. "Look to the Lord until He shows us His mercy." "Endure to the end..." Wow. Really? Could it take a lifetime of enduring all this before mercy is received and faith is made easier? Again, wow!
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