Psalm 130
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· 11 viewsA short meditation on Psalm 130 prepared for weekly home fellowship on 06/29/24
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My Soul Waits for the Lord
My Soul Waits for the Lord
A Song of Ascents.
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.
This is one of the seven penitent Psalms. The others are Ps. 6; 25; 32; 38; 51; 143. This is given as a song of ascents. Ps. 120-134 are all songs of ascents, also called as the Pilgrim Songs. The city of Jerusalem is situated on a high hill. Jews traveling to Jerusalem for one of the three main annual Jewish festivals traditionally sang these songs on the “ascent” or the uphill road to the city. According to some traditions, the Jewish priests also sang some of these Songs of Ascent as they walked up the steps to the temple in Jerusalem. Each of the psalms in this collection begins with the title “A Song of Ascents.” While perhaps they were not originally composed for this purpose, these psalms were later grouped together for use in traveling toward Jerusalem for the yearly Jewish festivals.
This Psalm is an individual lament, and this helps people to see their condition, to know that they are forgiven people, to help us wait on the Lord, and to give assurance to us. It can be divided into the following 4 sections:
A cry for help (vs. 1-2)
Repentance before God (vs. 3-4)
Hoping in the Lord (vs. 5-6)
Find assurance in the Lord (vs. 7-8)
A cry for help (vs. 1-2)
Illustration: children crying for help.
A similar theme in Lam. 3:55, Jonah 2:2, among other places. The first thing we have to understand is that, because we are God’s children, we are allowed to ask God for help. And God is happy to hear us. Illustration: me asking my parents for food in the middle of the night. But why is the author crying for help and mercy? Because he knows that God is merciful (vs. 4). God does not have a limited amount of mercy, but He has infinite amount of mercy.
“There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.” - Richard Sibbes. And this is the confidence we have. But our confidence should not overshadow the fact that we are sinful people. Sometimes we take God’s forgiveness for granted. We have to acknowledge our sin before God, and this we see in the next verses.
Repentance before God (vs. 3-4)
Illustration: Abigail not confessing after lying or doing something wrong, Sellu bike, etc.
Some people think God just forgives everyone freely, unconditionally. But the God of the Bible has not said that anywhere. We read it in 1 John that “If you confess your sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us” (1 Jn. 1:9-10). If God marks our iniquities who can stand. Rom. 3: 9-11. But with you there is forgiveness, and that’s the beauty of the gospel. Because of the work of Christ, we have forgiveness. And the forgiveness leads to fear. Not fear as in we are scared of God, but this is a fear of reverence. Rom. 6:1, according to this, we do not continue in sin that grace may abound, but one who is truly forgiven lives a life of repentance. Christian life is a life of repentance, it is not that we do not sin at all after accepting Christ, but we do not continue in sin.
Hoping in the Lord (vs. 5-6)
Lev. 4:21 might be the reason why he is waiting. But he is waiting on the Lord for relief and comfort. And the reason why he is able to wait is because of God’s word. His word is the reason why we can trust in all that God says, and also because God is unchanging, His word is unchanging. And look at how he waits on the Lord. He waits more than a watchman waits for morning. The watchman of a jewellery store waits for the morning so that the thieves do not come. More eager than that, he is waiting on God.
Lev. 4:21 might be the reason why he is waiting. But he is waiting on the Lord for relief and comfort. And the reason why he is able to wait is because of God’s word. His word is the reason why we can trust in all that God says, and also because God is unchanging, His word is unchanging. And look at how he waits on the Lord. He waits more than a watchman waits for morning. The watchman of a jewellery store waits for the morning so that the thieves do not come. More eager than that, he is waiting on God.
Find assurance in the Lord (vs. 7-8)
Ex. 34:6 - 7, there is steadfast love and plentiful redemption with the Lord. And He will redeem all Israel from their sins. Only God is able to redeem us, because only He purchased our salvation. And He is going to redeem us from our sins. But here it says only Israel, and that was what people those days might have thought. But we know that we who believe in God are the true Israel.
Ex. 34:6 - 7, there is steadfast love and plentiful redemption with the Lord. And He will redeem all Israel from their sins. Only God is able to redeem us, because only He purchased our salvation. And He is going to redeem us from our sins. But here it says only Israel, and that was what people those days might have thought. But we know that we who believe in God are the true Israel.
