This is the encouragement we can draw from Psalm 123. We read: “To you I have raised my eyes, O You who are dwelling in the heavens.” (Ps. 123:1) Since the Almighty God resides in the highest heavens, it would only be natural for the psalmist to speak of raising the eyes upward when appealing to the Creator for favor. Illustrating the reason for looking to Jehovah, he continues: “Look! As the eyes of servants are toward the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant are toward the hand of her mistress, so our eyes are toward Jehovah our God until he shows us favor. Show us favor, O Jehovah, show us favor; for to an abundance we have been glutted with contempt. Abundantly our soul has been glutted with the derision of those who are at ease, of the contempt on the part of the arrogant ones.”​—Ps. 123:2-4.

The psalmist and his fellow Israelites were being ridiculed. Because of the degraded way in which they were being looked upon by their enemies, it was most appropriate for them to plead that Jehovah show them favor. The contempt heaped upon them came not rarely but as a matter of course. It was abundant. The “arrogant ones” responsible for it were “at ease,” that is, they seemed secure.