Our Benefactor & Our Judge

To you I lift up my eyes,
O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
Behold, as the eyes of servants
look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maidservant
to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
till he has mercy upon us.

Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
for we have had more than enough of contempt.
Our soul has had more than enough
of the scorn of those who are at ease,
of the contempt of the proud.

~Psalm 123

As Calvinists we are known for our stance on God’s sovereignty, namely, that He sovereignly predestines the salvation of His elect, sovereignly allows the reprobate to remain in their sin, sovereignly exercises His irresistible grace to call His elect to Himself, and sovereignly governs and protects His saints (the church).

This doctrine, however, does not do away with our responsibility to obey. It’s all too easy to assent to the truth of God’s sovereignty and then live our lives in such a way that we deny it.

What many modern Christians need to understand (and some pastors need to start preaching) is that Jesus is not your “buddy.” He is your Lord and master! And as such, He is both our benefactor and our judge and is worthy of our love – and fear. Consider how the psalmist describes our position before the Lord:

...as the eyes of servants
look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maidservant
to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
till he has mercy upon us.

May we look to Him as humble servants, with fear and love, and may He grant us mercy to walk rightly before Him.