Psa 123:1-2
The psalmist says, “Unto You I lift up my eyes.” This means that when he prays he looks towards God and expects help. He looks to God for mercy in his difficulties. Like in v3 “Have mercy in us!”

God didn’t have mercy on him immediately. His problem wasn’t solved overnight. He was still praying and asking God for mercy.

“As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, so our eyes look to the Lord our God.”

There’re several meanings to a servant looking to the hand of their masters:

1. The servant is ready to listen to the command of their masters
   Masters usually issued commands with their hands, not yelling throughout the day, especially in front of guests. That would be inappropriate. It shows that the servant is not well trained. The master uses different gestures to issue different commands. The servant ought to be ready and attentive at all times. Then he’ll be able to execute whatever the master commands him.

But if the servant is not attentive to the hand, he’ll miss the hand gesture and will be punished for failing to fulfil his duty.

When we pray, we need to be like a servant looking to the hand of a master. We need to understand what the will of our God is and execute is. If we pray and focus only on ourselves, not focusing on the hand of the master, it’s not pleasing to God. We begin our prayer in the name of Jesus but our prayers are according to our own will. And if we don’t ask according to His will, our prayers won’t be answered.

1 John 5:15
People whose prayers aren’t answer like to quote this verse. “Won’t the Lord hear whatever we ask of Him? Whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. Why is it that I’ve prayed so long and still haven’t received? Wrongly recorded ah this verse?”

We ought to read v14.
“If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”
Like when a child asks something of us as a parent. If it’s according to our will, we know it’s good for them, we’d agree to their request. But if their request isn’t according to our will and isn’t good for them, we’d reject their request. What more our Heavenly Father?

In prayer, we can tell God our requests. But we can’t force God to listen to whatever requests we have. We need to learn to let go of our own will and conform to His. Our own will may not be the best for us. But His will is always the best.

Therefore when we pray we must be like the servant looking to the hand of the master, attentive to His commands. Such a prayer pleases God.

Next meaning to a servant looking to the hand of their masters:

1. Means the servant wholeheartedly trusts in the master
   The servant knows the master’s hand has power. He believes the master has greater wisdom than his. The ability of the master far surpasses his own. So he won’t take matters into his own hands and do things according to his own will. The servant learns to let go of his own will and obey the master’s. The servant trusts in the master wholeheartedly.

Gen 32:7, 19-20, 24-26
When Jacob heard Esau was coming to welcome him, he should’ve been happy. But when he heard Esau was coming with 400 men, he became greatly afraid. How was he to face the wrath and vengeance of his brother? So he made preparations according to his own wisdom and abilities. Luckily, he knew his preparations may not result in success. Such preparations may be able to resolve normal conflicts but the enmity between him and his brother was too deep. Gifts may not be able to resolve it. He knew he had to rely on God. We see how he grabbed hold of God and said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me.” He knew only God could resolve this for him. In the past, relying on his own wisdom and abilities helped him to get what he wanted. But he knew at this juncture, he had to rely on God.

Some people say Jacob wasn’t firmly grasping onto God but something else. We grasp onto things that are important to us. Especially when many important things are laid before us, naturally we’d grasp hold onto the thing that’s most important to us. When our lives are threatened, what do we grasp hold of? Many Christians know they have to rely onto God. But at critical junctures, what they grasp onto is not God.

We know only the hand of the master is powerful and can resolve our problems. If we have this understanding, we’d grab firmly onto the master’s hands.

Like Jacob, let’s not just rely on our own wisdom and abilities to make our preparations. That doesn’t mean we should prepare. We can. But know our preparations are limited. We must wholeheartedly trust in God.

When we pray, be like servants looking unto hands of the master. Trust in his hands. But be careful. Don’t mistake Man’s hands to be our Master’s.

Acts 3:12, 16
When Peter healed a lame man, everyone ran to Peter. All eyes stared intently at the hands of Peter. “What great power these hands have!” Peter understood what was going through their minds and said, “Men of Israel, why do you look so intently as us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?”

They looked at the wrong hands!

Do we sometimes wish we had a Peter today? Once he lays hands, people are healed. Today when the speaker lays hands for so long, people don’t receive Holy Spirit or aren’t healed.”

Peter reminds the people, “It’s not my hands. It’s by the hand of God. It’s by the hand of God people receive Holy Spirit and illnesses are healed.” Peter may not be with us but Jesus Christ is.

We mistaken the hands of Man to be the hand of God. We need to readjust our thoughts and eyes. Don’t mistake the hand of Man to be our masters.

Third meaning of servant looking into hand of Master:

1. Absolute submission to the hand of the master
   The servant is ready. Once the hand of the master issued a command, the servant follows the command to the end.

We have to treat the master’s issues as our own issues. When we do, the master will treat our issues as his. How can we expect the master to treat our issues as his when we don’t treat his issues as ours?

A servant that doesn’t listen to the command of the master isn’t a servant that is pleasing.

To obey is better than sacrifice of the fat of rams (1 Sam 15:22). The mercy of God is reserved for those who obey the master.

Acts 5:32
If we always ask why God doesn’t give us the Holy Spirit, this verse may be an answer to your question. Do you obey God in your life? If you don’t obey God in your life, how do you expect Him to listen to your prayer? Unless you repent, resolve to subject yourself to God, you’ll receive mercy from God. Often, the problem doesn’t lie with God but us. Instead of wondering why God isn’t answering our prayers, reflect on whether we have been obedient towards God.

A mother and daughter fought. They went to their own rooms to pray.
Mother: God please change my daughter. Be more gentle and not throw tantrums.
Daughter: God please change my mother. Make her more patient and take away her nagginess.

Both prayed with tears and faith to God. But both unwilling to subject themselves to the will of God to change themselves.

Pray not for others to change but for ourselves to change. Start with changing ourselves. Such a prayer will be pleasing to God. Will edify you and others around you.

1. Servant looking towards hands of master shows servant is patient
   “How long must I wait? I’ve been looking at the master’s hand until my neck hurts. But the master still asks me to wait!” The servant continues to wait because he knows the master has his own time. When we pray, we ought to adopt the same mentality.

Like what the psalmist says: look upon the Lord until He has mercy on us. UNTIL means God has His own time. We don’t know when that is. We just wait patiently UNTIL the day He has mercy on us. Some people’s prayers are answered immediately. Some take years. But it isn’t because purposely wants the person to wait. It’s because God has His own time.

Jas 5:7
After the farmer sows his seeds and sees no rain day after day, his heart grows more anxious day by day. But those who rely on the Lord won’t be anxious despite the lack of rain. Because they believe God will send rain. Such faith allows them to wait patiently without anxiety. He believes God has His own time and so waits patiently for His time. James teaches us here to wait for the Father when we pray. Establish our hearts and look at the Father until He has mercy on us.