Ps 123 reminds us that if God is Lord over all, we are His servants. We much prefer to be friends of God and co-heirs with Christ than to acknowledge God as our Master and Lord. But Paul reminds us ‘You are not your own; you were bought at a price.’ (1 Cor 6:19-20) Formerly, we were slaves to sin, but Christ’s sacrifice for us means we now are urged to ‘count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.’ (Rom 6:11-14) Becoming a Christian means a transfer of ownership: God now is our Lord and Master and our eyes now look to Him.

Often, we find this idea off-putting because our experience of earthly masters is so negative. In the world, we have endured no end of ridicule from the arrogant and contempt from the proud. (Ps 123:4) Instinctively, we assume that God will be like that too. However, what we find when we approach God is that He is merciful and gracious towards us. He is the God ‘who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s’ (Ps 103:3-5) and ‘who does not treat you as your sins deserve.’ (Ps 103:10)

We pray ‘have mercy on us’ ultimately because we know that is how God acts. We know something of His heart and His character. Kutless sing,

‘Even though You reign high above us,
You tenderly love us.
We know Your heart
And we rest in who You are.’ (‘Even If’, Kutless)

When we realise the generosity and kindness, grace and mercy of God, being His servant is no hardship. We serve a God who demonstrates servanthood to us through His Son (see John 13:13-17, Mark 10:42-45) and so we choose to give ourselves freely to God, to be bound to Him by the cords of love, to have our ears pierced as the masters did to those slaves who, when given their freedom chose to remain with them out of love. (Deut 21:5-6) It’s a choice only we can make, but it’s the wisest choice we ever make, for the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.’ (Deut 4:31)