Comfort for the downcast. Calvin on Psalm 123:1.

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Regi Addictissimus

Completely sold out to the King
I find great comfort in Calvin's exposition of Psalm 123:1. My prayers are that it will also do the same for anyone else that may be in a season of affliction.


Unto thee lift I up mine eyes,
O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
- Psalm 123:1
God is here expressly called the God who dwelleth in the heavens, not simply to teach his people to estimate the divine power as it deserves, but also that, when no hope of aid is left for them on earth, yea rather, when their condition is desperate, just as if they were laid in the grave, or as if they were lost in a labyrinth, they should then remember that the power of God remains in heaven in unimpaired and infinite perfection. Thus these words seem to contain a tacit contrast between the troubled and confused state of this world and God’s heavenly kingdom, from whence he so manages and governs all things, that whenever it pleases him, he calms all the agitations of the world, comes to the rescue of the desperate and the despairing, restores light by dispelling darkness, and raises up such as were cast down and laid prostrate on the ground. This the Prophet confirms by the verb lift up; which intimates, that although all worldly resources fail us, we must raise our eyes upward to heaven, where God remains unchangeably the same, despite the mad impetuosity of men in turning all things here below upside down.

Calvin, John, and James Anderson. Commentary on the Book of Psalms. Vol. 5. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010. Print.
 
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