Psalm 130,
English Standard Version
Hope in the LORD’S Forgiving Love.
A Song of Ascents.
1 Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD.
2 Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.
3 If You, LORD, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait,
And in His word do I hope.
6 My soul waits for the Lord
More than the watchmen for the morning;
Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the LORD;
For with the LORD there is lovingkindness,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
8 And He will redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.
Prayerful Meditation
This week, take time to meditate on Psalm 130, but also take a look at Psalm 116:1-2, which also corresponds to this specific psalm.
I love the Lord, because he has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
When we look at Psalms, the book is comprised of 150 different poems. The book itself is categorized into five different sections: Psalms 1-41, 42-72, 73-89, 90-106, and 107-150. Why is it structured this way? The simplest explanation is that it was meant to mimic the Torah, or Pentateuch. The emotions that are conveyed within the various psalms touch on just about every emotion available to humanity. This week's Scripture is a psalm of lament, which expresses sorrow or grief.
Desperation for hope.
This psalm begins with prayer of desperation, as the writer is crying "out of the depths." This passage helps us to see that we should see ourselves as forgiven people, and that the only right that we possess to enter God's kingdom comes from Him and Him alone.
Each and every one of us deserve to be condemned for our sins. (For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. -Romans 2:23) Because of this, the entirety of our hope lies solely and completely in God's grace and faithfulness to His children. 130:4 tells us that he will not forsake us, nor withhold any of His love from us. 130:5-6 stress the importance of waiting upon the Lord. When you take a moment to think about what hope is, it is inextricably linked with the word waiting. Watchmen during that period were guards or lookouts. It was not only used for military, but also for shepherds. Waiting and watching was the differences between life or death in certain circumstances. But what we need to understand is that patiently waiting with joy in our hearts is not something that comes naturally or easily to us.
We are to seek out God in every circumstance and ask that He would help us to be properly equipped to wait out on the hope! Lastly, remember that God's steadfast love is what will ultimately redeem His people. Whenever we fall for the glittering idols or temptations of this world, God is there ready and waiting to hold us again, as if we never left.
