Psalm 123, the fourth song of
degrees or song of ascents, reads as follows. Unto thee lift I
up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the
eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as
the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so our
eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon
us. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we are
exceedingly filled with contempt. Our soul is exceedingly filled
with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt
of the proud. Unto thee lift I up mine eyes,
O thou that dwellest in the heavens. This fourth Song of Degrees,
this fourth Psalm of Ascent, returns somewhat to the theme
of the second of Psalm 121, where the psalmist lifted up his gaze
unto the hills from whence cometh his help. His help coming from
the Lord, he said there, which made heaven and earth. Here,
as we come to the 123rd Psalm, his gaze is more specific. Unto
thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
The gaze is closer, not just to the hills, not just to the
heavens where God dwells, but now as he approaches a little
closer, He looks specifically to the Lord in the heavens. Unto thee lift I up mine eyes,
O thou that dwellest in the heavens. As the people of Israel ascend
towards Jerusalem, ascend towards their Lord, ascend towards his
temple, their gaze is taken ever closer feel the opposition of
man in this world, they feel the depravity of their sin but
they look to the one, the only one who can save them. He who
dwellest in the heavens, he who is on high unto thee lift
I up mine eyes. Again as in previous psalms we
see how the psalmist speaks personally at the beginning of the psalm
unto thee lift I up mine eyes o thou that dwellest in the heavens
And then he goes on to speak collectively. As the people of
God, behold, as the eyes of servants look under the hand of their
masters, and as the eyes of a maiden under the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until that they have
mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have
mercy upon us, for we are exceedingly filled with contempt. He writes in the singular in
the first verse, unto thee lift thy up mine eyes. And as it were
sets the example, leads the people and their gaze who follow on
and look unto the Lord their God until he has mercy upon them. Here again we see pictured by
the psalmist Christ in the midst of his people. leading them forth. He looks to his Lord, he looks
to the Father. He looks not to men, he looks
to no man, for no man can help and no man did help when Christ
walked and lived upon this earth when he needed help the most. all stood aside. Though there
were at times multitudes who heard him, and many who followed,
and many who professed to believe, though there were when many of
them went away, yet the twelve who continued with him. At the
end, when his hour was come, when the Jews came to take him,
to crucify him, to put him to death, at the end even the twelve
were scattered and deserted. It is written that he came unto
his own and his own received him not. And when he was taken, even his
brethren, even the disciples, the apostles, were scattered
and fled and he stood alone, alone, alone in the whole world,
alone in the darkness, alone upon the cross, he hung alone,
suspended between heaven and earth. Men rejected him, men
reviled him, He was filled with the contempt and the scorning
of their hearts. He was filled with the contempt
of the proud, the scorning of those that were at ease. They
spat upon him, they mocked him, they jeered him, they derided
him. crucified him. He was alone and
yet in such a place as at all times he lifted up his eyes unto
the Lord his God under his father. Even when his father in strict
justice having laid upon his own son the sins of all his people,
the sins of the elect, even when Christ was made sin and hung
there guilty of all the sins of all his people. throughout
all time, even when the father poured out his anger and his
wrath upon his own son, because he could do none else, his righteous
judgment, the penalty of the law was poured forth upon his
own son, even at that hour, Christ yet looked, by faith, in love,
in perfect trust, unto his father. Unto thee lift I up mine eyes,
O thou that dwellest in the heavens. As the eyes of servants look
under the hand of their masters and as the eyes of a maiden under
the hand of her mistress, so his eyes waited upon the Lord
his God until he had mercy upon him. He hung and endured the
wrath of God, the judgment of God, eternal wrath, eternal judgment,
an eternity of hell. He endured until the end when
finally he gave up the ghost. He cried out, it is finished.
And when all was taken away, when every last sin was blotted
out, When every judgment of God had been poured out, when the
fires of God's wrath were quenched, then God received his spirit. And he was received into the
presence of God, righteous, perfect, at one with
God himself. Have mercy upon us, O Lord. Have mercy upon us. Yes, this first verse is Christ.
Who lifted up His eyes unto Him who dwells in the heavens. Unto
Him who dwells in the heavens. Who rules over all. Who has all
events in His hands. As we walk here below we are
troubled by that which comes upon us.
We behold what men do, think and say. We behold the swirling
movements of time and the events of time, the events of history,
the events of our times which come upon us. We see the troubles
in the world, we see the wars that come about, we see the disease
that comes about, we see the anger and the hatred. This is
an uncertain world, there's no peace. There's no certainty here
below. There's no certainty in those
things which are outside of us. In the events and circumstances
around us we see all sorts of trouble, all sorts of hatred,
all sorts of violence. And yet there's one that reigns
over all. Every event is in his hands.
He controls over all things. There's not one sparrow that
drops to the ground. There's not one hair that falls
from our heads that God does not know about. There's not one
circumstance that comes about in our lives that God hasn't
purposed, that God isn't in, that God isn't using for the
good of His own. There is nothing that can come
upon the child of God which will ultimately harm him. And the only one to whom we can
look in this swirling tempest of sin that is here below in
the darkness of this world, in the troubles and trials that
we pass through, the only one who we can look to, who can answer,
who can help, is he who dwellest in the heavens we may look to
men men may do what they can but ultimately they're helpless we may look to ourselves but
if God teaches us we will discover that we have no strength whatsoever
in self no ability no wisdom no righteousness. We are lost. We are in the dark. We are as
blind men in the darkness. We know not where we're going.
We cannot see aright. We do not know the way. We have
no strength. We fall and stumble every day. We are lost and it's only he
who dwells in the heavens, who can come to our aid. The natural
man never looks up. The natural man doesn't care
to look up. You and I by nature refuse to
look up. We have no care for God. We have
no care for his truth. We have no care for his gospel.
We think we stand in our own strength. We will stand in our
own wisdom. We walk by our own knowledge
and our own understanding. We think we know. We think we
are able. We think we know best. And yet all comes to nothing.
Our life is brief. Our life is a vapor. It's gone
in a moment. what moment we are young and
we stand up tall in our own ability the next day we're old and we're
cut down and whatever we purpose to do we cannot do we may feel
the same inside but our body is crumbled on the outside it's
broken we can no longer do that which we once did our life fades
away and sooner than we could possibly imagine that life which
once we saw stretching ahead of us is taken from us and we
enter eternity. And then if we have never looked
before then we will look with our eyes upon he who dwells in
the heavens. Then the Lord God that rules
over all things, who we treated with scorn, who we turned our
gaze away from, who we in our hearts despised, then he will
stand before us and demand an account of what we have done,
fought and said in this world. He gave us life and what did
we do with it? He gave us understanding, natural
understanding and what did we use it for? He gave us our bodies
and where did we take them? We never served him as we should. We never worshipped him as we
ought. We never considered him, we went
our own way. We robbed him of all that he
gave us and we used it for our own glory. Never to glorify him. And when he asks us to give an
account, whereof shall we give an account? What shall we say? How shall we excuse our rebellion? How shall we excuse our unbelief? How shall we excuse how we have
lived our life for our own gain, our own enrichment, our own pleasure? With no thought or care for God
and His glory, no thought for His Son, no care for what Christ
suffered for sinners. What shall we say if we have no answer? His justice
will demand the penalty of that law we broke consistently each
and every day, every hour, every moment. It will demand an eternal
penalty upon our head and He will be just to bring it upon
us. And the only thing we can do
before such a God Such a judge, such a creator, is to cry for
mercy. If we come to stand before him
on that day, never having cried, it will be too late. But the
psalmist and the people here in this psalm, by the grace of
God, were brought to cry now. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have
mercy upon us. Has the Lord brought you where
he brought them? Has he taught you your need of
mercy? Has he shown you that you are
nothing before a holy and a righteous God? Where are you looking? Where are you looking as you
walk through your life in this world? Where is your gaze? Upon what are your eyes set? You have your goals, you have
your ambitions, you have your desires but where will they be
in eternity? Where will they take you? As God come in the Gospel and
said unto you, look unto me. Look unto me, all ye ends of
the earth, and be ye saved. Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. Look unto me. Where are your eyes? As the eyes
of servants look under the hand of their masters and as the eyes
of a maiden under the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait
upon the Lord our God until that he have mercy upon us. Where
are your eyes waiting? Where are your eyes looking? The eyes of a servant looks under
his master, the eyes of a maiden under her mistress. We are God's creation. Then why do we look unto others? Why do we look unto self and
not unto our master? Not unto the Lord that dwells
in the heavens. Not unto him, he who rules over
all things. He who gives us life, he who
sustains us. He who has the answer. He who
can save us. When we're in trouble, why do
we go to those who can do nothing? When we should look unto Him
who has the power, the strength, the wisdom to deliver us. Our eyes wait upon the Lord our
God until that he have mercy upon us. Where are you looking?
Here the Lord's people speak of whom they look unto for mercy. They find no mercy, no help in
men. They find no help in themselves. But their eyes wait upon the
Lord. They're God. They wait upon the
Lord for mercy. They wait. They wait. And they wait. And they wait. True faith never gives up waiting. Faith never gives up waiting. By nature we're very impatient.
We live in a world that encourages instant gratification,
instant answers. Want things now. And if something
isn't provided now, we're encouraged to go and make it happen, go
and get. There's no patience in this world. There's no patience taught by
this world. Everybody wants things given
to them immediately. But the Lord will teach His children
to wait on Him. Sometimes we cry. We're brought
to cry unto Him for help. We're brought to cry unto Him
for salvation. And our prayers, our cries may
seem to be unanswered. We find ourselves in trouble.
We find ourselves in soul trouble. We want to know the Lord is our
Saviour. We want to know Christ died for
us. We want to know we were one for
whom his blood was shed. We want to know that his blood
has washed us from our sins. We know the truth. We know he
died for sinners. We know that others believe,
but did he die for me? We want to know and we call out
to God for mercy, Lord make Christ known unto me, cleanse me in
his blood, hear me for Christ's sake, cleanse me, deliver me
from hell, deliver me from judgment, deliver me from the captivity
and bondage of my sin, Lord have mercy upon me. We want to know
but so often we cry. the Lord doesn't seem to hear.
We pray week after week, year after year, decades can go by
even and we still wonder if we've been answered. We're brought into trials and
troubles as believers even. We know we're the Lord's But
we're brought into a trial and the trial seems to go on for
years. When will the Lord hear? When
will he deliver? Has he put me in this place forever? Has he cast me out? Have I done
that which is unforgivable? Will he chastise me for always? Or will he hear? Sometimes He brings us to endure for a
long time, for a long time, but faith never gives up. when He
brings you to call because you've got nowhere else to go and no
one else to go to, when He shows you your sin and your depravity
and your need to be delivered from it, your need to be cleansed,
your need of righteousness, when He shows us that we need salvation,
more than we need food and water, more than we need clothing and
shelter, we need salvation, we need our sins forgiven, we need
to be cleansed. When he shows us this, we can
do nothing but cry. We've nowhere else to go, we're
shut up, we're locked up, we can't go forwards, we can't go
backwards, we're brought to cry out, have mercy upon us, oh Lord. We're brought to cry and to look. Our eyes wait upon the Lord our
God. They look under Him, they look
up under Him until that He have mercy upon us. They wait. We can do nothing but wait. And in the end, after what seems
like an eternity at times, But when we look back upon it, it
seems like a moment. What seemed like an eternity
when we were enduring through the trial, when we were crying
out, in the end He hears. He always hears and He always
answers His children. He always answers their cry.
When the people of God cry, have mercy upon us O Lord, have mercy
upon us for we are exceedingly filled with contempt, He hears. He's moved with compassion upon
his people. He feels for them. He knows what
it's like to suffer. He knows what it's like to be
in the darkness. He knows what it's like to feel
cast out. He knows what it's like to cry
out unto God for help and that help seemed to be delayed forever
because he went through worse. When he hung there upon the cross
in the darkness, he endured eternity. In the span of three hours of
time, he endured eternal wrath in hell for his people. It went
on and on and on and on. And yet he waited upon his God
for mercy. He waited. He knows what it's
like. And when we are brought to a
place like that, when we're brought into suffering, when we're brought
into darkness, when we're shut up from all things, when we're
cast out by all men, and we've got nowhere to go but Him and
we cry out, He knows what we feel. He knows the darkness within. He knows the darkness without.
He knows how we suffer. He has compassion. he's showing
us in but a brief span of time something of what he endured
for us to deliver us from our sins and when he answers us and
His love floods into our hearts and His mercy is poured upon
us and we feel His grace and His compassion and He lifts us
up and quickens us and causes us to stand upon the rock when
His love is made known unto us, then we will know, then we know
something of His love for us through what He endured for us. as we've considered before from
Philippians. This is what Paul wanted to know,
he wanted to know something of God's love, of Christ's love,
of what Christ knew, knew and suffered for him. In Philippians
he said that I may know him and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his sufferings be it made conformable unto his
death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. He wanted to be one with his
Saviour. He wanted to endure with his
Saviour. He wanted some understanding, some unity, some shared fellowship
with the sufferings of his Saviour for him, so that he could understand
just the depths to which Christ went to deliver him. And so God
puts his people through this. He causes them to wait upon him,
that they may know. the depths of his love for them,
that they may know something of what he who went into the
abyss suffered for them. They're brought to wait and to
wait and to wait until that he have mercy upon us. Have mercy
upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we are exceedingly filled
with contempt. Our soul is exceedingly filled
with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt
of the proud. Hear the people cry. In verse
3 they declare that their eyes wait upon the Lord their God
until he has mercy upon them. that's their declaration of faith
in the one that can save them in verse 2 in verse 2 they say
that their eyes wait upon the Lord their God until he have
mercy upon them that's their declaration of faith in their
Savior but here in verse 3 they cry out have mercy upon us O
Lord have mercy upon us for we are exceedingly filled with contempt
They cry out twice, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us. Oh the depths of their feeling,
the depths of their heart here. They repeat it, they go on. Have mercy upon us, have mercy
upon us Lord. Hear us, hear us for Christ's
sake. Have compassion, deliver us. It's repeated, it goes on, it's
heartfelt. This is a broken people, a lost
people, a people without strength, a people without ability, a people
with no wisdom in themselves, a people who know they're nothing,
who cast themselves upon the Lord, have mercy upon us, O Lord. And not only is it repeated,
it's said collectively, us. Not have mercy upon me, but have
mercy upon us, the people as one, as a collection, as a gathering,
as the church, as the people of God. Together they cry out
in unison, have mercy upon us, O Lord. This is the only psalm
where you will read a phrase just like that, have mercy upon
us. There are numerous psalms where
the psalmist and where David cries out, have mercy upon me,
oh Lord. In the singular. There are various
places in the scriptures where you hear characters cry out,
have mercy upon me. But this is the only psalm where
the people come together as one and cry out, have mercy upon
us. And the only real place in the
scriptures where you will find something similar, where more
than one cry out together for mercy, is in Matthew's Gospel,
where Christ passes two blind men by the wayside on his way
from Jericho towards Jerusalem. as he walks up on his ascent
towards Jerusalem. And as the Lord passes them by
on the wayside, these two blind men cry out to him, have mercy
upon us. Matthew 20 verse 29. We read, As they departed from
Jericho, a great multitude followed Jesus. And behold, two blind
men sitting by the wayside, when they heard that Jesus passed
by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And the multitude rebuked them,
because they should hold their peace. But they cried the more,
saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. Jesus stood
still and called them and said, what will ye that I shall do
unto you? They say unto him, Lord that
our eyes may be opened. So Jesus had compassion on them
and touched their eyes and immediately their eyes received sight and
they followed him. Oh what a picture this is and
what a connection with the psalm we've read. For these two blind
men sat by the wayside between Jericho and Jerusalem. Here Christ
is passing them by on his ascent to Jerusalem, on his ascent to
that place where he would lay down his life for them and his
people. Indeed in the prior verse, verse
28, Christ says even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered
unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. Well here he is on his walk up
towards Jerusalem where he would be taken and betrayed. crucified
and where he would give his life a ransom for many. Here these
two men, blind men, helpless dead sinners, cry out unto the
Lord as he passes them by, have mercy on us O Lord, have mercy
on us. Twice their cry is repeated. Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou
Son of David. The multitude rebuked them because
they should hold their peace, but they cried the more, saying,
Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. They cry out twice,
they cry out to the Lord, they repeat it. And yet they're met
with derision by the multitude, who tell them to hold their peace.
They're filled with contempt. The proud tell them to be silent. The multitude mock them and treat
them with scorn. Yet they cry out. The people were following Jesus
on the way. He departed from Jericho. A great
multitude followed him. We see here a picture of Christ
and his people heading for Jerusalem. we see him encountering these
lost sinners who cry out for mercy and he says unto them what
will ye that i shall do unto you and they say unto him lord
that our eyes may be opened so jesus had compassion on them
and touched their eyes and immediately their eyes received sight and
they followed him they followed him They got up and they followed
him on his ascent to Jerusalem and their eyes were opened. Their
eyes looked unto the Saviour. Their eyes looked unto Thee. Their eyes looked unto Him and
they followed Him. They were helpless blind men
waiting upon the Lord until He showed them mercy. We're just
the same. if we're his, if we're brought
to a similar place. When we're brought to that place
where we can't go forwards and we can't go backwards, we're
blind, we're dead, we're helpless, we're without strength, we're
nothing. When we're trapped by our sin
and trapped by our circumstances, we are as it were stuck beside
the Red Sea. The Lord's begun a work. He's
drawn us out of Egypt, but now we're stuck by the Red Sea with
the Egyptians pursuing to put us to death. And with the sea
before us, we can't go back and we can't go forwards. We're stuck
and we cry out, Lord, have mercy upon us. And the Lord comes in
the gospel and says unto us, stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. He'll cause us to stand still. He'll cause us to stop. Two blind
men were sat by the wayside and Jesus came by and healed them. He'll cause us to stop and to
see the salvation of the Lord. He'll touch our eyes and he'll
open them and we will see. We will see. Christ comes our
way, he parts the waters before us, he leads us forth on dry
ground, he opens our eyes, he puts faith within the heart and
he has mercy upon us and until we're brought there we will know
nothing of mercy and nothing of salvation but when we're brought
there, oh what a salvation we're brought to see, oh what mercy
we receive. how we need it. How we need it
because we are filled with contempt. Have mercy upon us O Lord have
mercy upon us for we are exceedingly filled with contempt. Our soul
is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at
ease and with the contempt of the proud. We're filled with
contempt both of those outside of us the scorning of those that
are at ease and the contempt of the proud. And also from ourselves,
within ourselves, we're filled in our flesh with contempt. our own selves, our own flesh. We scorn, we mock, we deride
the gospel. We have no time for Christ and
his salvation. We have no time for the truth
of God. Our own hearts are filled with contempt, with unbelief,
with hatred of God and his righteousness. Our flesh despises him and all
things concerning him. And it despises him. as those
around us despise Him. It scorns Him as those around
us scorn Him. It mocks Him as those around
us mock Him. Because Christ and His gospel
expose us. The truth exposes us. It exposes
our shame. It exposes our depravity when
the truth comes unto us. It shows forth the glory and
the righteousness and the majesty of God in Jesus Christ. And it
shows forth our sin, our unbelief, our rebellion, our hatred, our
wickedness, our iniquity. the darkness within our souls
it shows forth the evil within our every thought and our every
action religious or irreligious we may walk as it were with the
people of God we may walk alongside them we may come into their meetings
and sit and hear the gospel we may be brought upon this journey
We may hear of the mercy of God and hear of the salvation of
God and hear of the Saviour, but our hearts by nature are
filled with contempt, filled with unbelief, filled with that
cry of Satan whispering within, where is God? Where is his salvation? Filled with scorn. We are exceedingly
filled with contempt. It's through and through from
head to toe in all our thoughts and all our ways and all our
actions. We're filthy. Even our righteousnesses
are filthy or as filthy rags. There's no good in us. We never call upon God by nature. We never follow God by nature.
We never love God by nature. We don't care. You don't care. You have no time, you have no
care by nature. And yet you need his salvation. More than anything that you can
need in this world, you need his mercy, you need his salvation. We're filled with contempt. But
oh, what a picture of Christ is seen in all of this. Whose
sorrow is like unto his sorrow. Who else knew the full contempt,
the scorn of the proud and of those that were at ease like
he did? Who suffered as he suffered? Who was cut off as he was cut
off? Who was mocked and derided as
he was mocked and derided? Who felt the darkness like he
did? who felt the hatred and the anger
of men as he did. The experience here of the Lord's
people is but a reflection, a small drop in the ocean compared to
what he suffered, especially what he suffered in those hours
upon the cross. Oh, what his soul suffered. for
we are exceedingly filled with contempt our soul is exceedingly
filled with the scorning of those that are at ease and with the
contempt of the proud there he hung and all the voices around
filled with contempt how they mocked him how they jeered him
how they laughed at him how they whipped him how they railed upon
him how they hated him and how we did the same and how if we're
left in our sins today we do the same today every time we
hear the gospel and turn our gaze another way and turn our
attention another way and turn our thoughts another way how
we take the whip and whip the back of Christ how we take the
hammer and we nail the nails into his hands and his feet.
How we take the spear and we thrust it in his side. How we
spit upon him when we turn to our own things and our own thoughts
and our own ambitions. When we close our minds to him,
how we put him to death. Oh, what he endured. to save
his own. What love he had for those that
hated him, those that pierced him, those that filled him with
contempt. But oh, what victory he had in
this hour, when all the world railed upon him, when he hung
alone in the darkness, when God's wrath was poured out upon him
for his people's sin. What victory he had. He waited upon the Lord. His faith was answered, he was
delivered and his people were delivered in him. At that hour,
Satan bruised his heels, Satan brought all his strength, all
his might, all his ability to bear in putting the Saviour to
death. Satan felt this was his hour
and this was the moment that he could destroy the Son of God. But in bruising Christ's heel,
Christ bruised, he crushed Satan's head. And what was true of Christ
in so doing is true of all those in him. In Christ Satan may bruise
our heel, he may bring us into trouble, he may cause us to suffer,
he may put us to confusion in the darkness, but in Christ we
bruise, we crush Satan's head. In Christ and his gospel we have
the victory. We crush Satan's head. We can't
do it. We have no ability. But in him
Christ does it for us. He crushed him. He was victorious
and we're victorious in him. The Lord hears us and shows us
mercy. The Lord hears our cry and he
comes and touches our eyes and makes us to see. The Lord comes
our way and makes us to live. When we're full of contempt,
filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, filled with
the contempt of the proud, filled with our own unbelief and hatred
of God, we need mercy. This is why we need mercy, because
we're exceedingly filled with contempt. But when God comes
unto us in the gospel, in Christ, and comes our way, and causes
us to cry out as those two blind men cried out, have mercy upon
me, Lord, our son of David, then he touches us. He touches our
eyes and causes us to see. By nature we don't just come
short. We're not just short of God and His righteousness. We
don't just miss the mark by a narrow margin. We are nowhere near. We despise Him by nature. We're
full of enmity, unbelief, hatred of God. We're sinners through
and through, from head to toe. We're blind, we're dead. But
praise God that Christ came to save sinners like this. Sinners like you and me. Sinners
who are lost in the darkness. Sinners who are blind. Sinners
who are filled with contempt. Sinners in need of mercy. He
comes our way in the Gospel and he says, look unto me. Oh may God give you, give me,
give all his people the grace, the mercy to see, the faith within
to open our eyes and behold the Saviour hung upon a tree, hung
upon the cross, suffering in our stead that we might be spared. Unto thee lift up mine eyes,
O thou that dwellest in the heavens, the Saviour who hung upon earth.
but rose victorious, who ascended and dwells in heaven above, who
is coming again to deliver his people, to gather in all his
people, the Saviour whose love is eternal and everlasting, whose
love is never quenched, the Saviour whoever liveth to make intercession
for them, the Saviour who gave his all that sinners like you
and I should live. Oh may God come unto us in his
gospel and cause us to see, to wait upon him and to have his
mercy. Have mercy upon us O Lord, have
mercy upon us.