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Daily Devotion: Psalm 123:1 and 124:1

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Psalm 123:1    "Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens."

Psalm 124:1    "If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say..."

Since we finished Psalm 119, we have been looking at "Psalms of degrees".  It seems we are building on what we learned about the importance of God's Word. In looking at these Psalms, we have been taking the words that were written and building a relationship with God based upon them.  Aren't you thankful that God's wisdom moved men of old to pen Heavenly Words that can be read, understood, and received as being the absolute truth of God?  They are words from God's heart sent directly to our hearts.  The Word of God instructs us to place our eyes on Him and take them off situations, circumstances, struggles, pain, and suffering.  

Today, He takes us from lifting up our eyes unto the hills from whence comes our help to the place of lifting our eyes unto the Lord.  It is possible that at times our prayers are directed heavenward when they should be directed to the very King of kings and Lord of lords.  There are times when our prayers are sort of cast in the right direction, but we need them to hit the very target to which we are aimed.  Today, David is telling us that he is not praying in a vertical, heavenly direction; rather, he is praying to the God of all heaven and earth.

He now acknowledges as he realizes the importance of that relationship with the Lord, "If it had not been the LORD who was on our side..."  Can you look back on your life and see times when you know without a doubt that if the Lord had not been on your side, you would not be here today?  Was there a time, something prodded you to look again back to the right before pulling into traffic?  Have you ever been stuck behind a slow moving vehicle only to find a terrible accident a few miles down the road where you would have probably been if not for the slow moving vehicle?  Have you ever found yourself in a tremendous blessing that you know you did not deserve nor could have ever planned for it to be so wonderful?  If any of these things, or something else, rings a bell with you, then you and I can say, "If it had not been for the LORD...."

When we come to that place of realization, it is important to say, "Thank you Lord for your blessings and for your favor upon me."   Relationship! That is where God is drawing us.

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