Out of the Depths

Out of the Depths Psalm 130 As we read Psalm 130 we're reminded once more that the psalms are, of course, prayers. And here in this prayer we have someone who is turning to God in a state of mind which is, actually, often the sort of state that people are in when they pray. Because isn't it so often when we're in difficulty, when we're at our lowest, that we're most likely to come to God in prayer? Until that point far too often we're happy to run our own lives. Yes, giving a nod to him that things are going well, but other than that there's an attitude that we can cope very well on our own. And here we have someone who's very much in the doldrums, who is in deep waters. "Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord" they pray, "O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy." But then here there's no sense that prayer is something that they're unfamiliar with. On the contrary they know to whom they're praying. "I cry to you Lord" they say, using the name given by God to Moses at the burning bush ... The Lord, Yahweh, I Am, the living personal all caring and all-knowing God. It's clear that they've a long experience of Him, he's their Lord, and so they're not coming to him as a last resort. And neither do they treat him as one amongst a number of alternatives that are out there to maybe give them help. No, we're given the clear impression that, for them, the Lord is the first port of call. And that's because they do know the Lord, and what's more they know that only He is able to help - and how do they know that? Again, because of their experience. How wonderful it is, when we're facing difficulties that threaten to overwhelm us, when we know the Lord God Almighty to be our Lord, our God, our heavenly Father! And yet how hollow and how futile will be the cry to God in prayer of the one who doesn't understand, or can't accept, that salvation is to be found only through Jesus Christ, his son and through no thing, or no one, else! Here then the psalmist is in deep trouble, they're in the depths, and being there they appeal to the Lord to rescue them. But what sort of trouble is it that they're looking to be rescued from? Well it could have been many things. Perhaps they found themselves in a state of affliction: of deep sorrow due, for example, to illness, loss of friends or of something or someone else that had been precious to them. Or maybe they were weighed down by a deep sense of their own failure, sin and guilt. Perhaps they were cast low by depression, by feelings of a lack of usefulness, by temptation, by disappointment or of sadness of heart. Whatever their problem, the point is that they realise that, actually, there's nothing that they can do to escape it. And in this there lies their great hope because, actually, they're seeing things as they are, with clear eyes. They're realising that only God can help but that, at the same time, whilst they're able to come to him with confidence trusting that he'll keep his promises to hear them, they don't actually deserve his help. They've come to the same understanding that Paul was to have as he wrote to the Christians in Rome, in Romans chapter 3, verse 22, where he says: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". This, Paul realises, is the natural state of everyone. In other words the reason why we become cast down, the reason why we suffer, the reason why bad things happen, is because of sin in our lives and in the world. And this realisation has come to the writer of Psalm 130. And it's come because of God's gracious dealings with them. In other words God has given them their understanding. And now, because they have it, because they understand and accept their current relationship to a holy God, their lack of righteousness in the face of one who is perfect righteousness, they're able to cry out to God with confidence. They see the great gulf that exists between them and the Lord as regards moral goodness, but rather than leading to further despair this actually gives them hope. And that's because, whilst humanly speaking the sinfulness that they see in themselves is simply unforgiveable, God forgives - he doesn't "keep a record of sins" (verse 3 of our psalm). Yes, if he did so then our situation would be hopeless but with the Lord, the Psalmist knows, there is forgiveness and so there's real hope. There is forgiveness - didn't the Israelites in the desert discover that when the Lord didn't destroy them all after they'd broken the very first commandment when they bowed down to the Golden calf god that they'd made for them-selves? Didn't David taste God's forgiveness after his terrible murder of Uriah the Hittite and his adultery with Bathsheba, Uriah's wife? Yes, amazingly God is the God who's in the business of forgiveness. And not because mankind can offer him any reason to forgive - but simply because that's who he is. If we just believe his word which tells us that he will forgive, and in repentance ask for his forgiveness, then we can be sure that he will. What a contrast with those people who when they're cast down because of their circumstances, by their feelings of failure or despair, automatically start to look around for someone to blame. There's always the thought there: "it's anybody else's fault but mine, it's the fault of my parents, they didn't give me the love and the help which they should have or, it's the fault of my teachers, or my friends have all let me down, if it wasn't for them I'd be a success, I'd be happy". And now the psalmist goes on to tell us of the behaviour on our part which will demonstrate that we've received God's forgiveness. Saying, in verse 4: "With you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared". So often on the human level we can take peoples forgiveness for granted, or as read, can't we? We do something wrong and immediately the word that comes to our lips is 'sorry' and then we feel that everything should be alright, and we don't understand when it isn't. And that's probably because we don't think that what we did was actually that bad. In effect we're actually treating them with a lack of respect, showing that we don't really think they deserve to be apologised to ... we're being arrogant and selfish. A terrible attitude to have. And yet how much more so when we act in similar ways towards God. When we dismiss his offer of forgiveness outright, or else where we show that we feel that a quick prayer of 'sorry Lord' after we've done said or thought something that we know we shouldn't have, to say nothing of the many sins that we're not aware of, is apology enough. What we're in danger of actually showing then is that we don't in fact understand what God's forgiveness is about. That we don't fully appreciate what our sin means in terms of the massive and seemingly un-reparable damage that it's caused to our relationship with God. That we don't have any clear idea of what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us in dying on the cross. But a true understanding, obtained by true salvation, resulting from true faith, leading to true repentance will, as the psalmist says, cause us to look at God in fearful awe and wonder. Asking ourselves: "how could he forgive such as me?" And giving ourselves to him in obedient service. Leaving no room for that presumption on our part which asks: "how can a God who's supposed to be love not forgive me?" An ignorant question which so many people hide behind when they're challenged to make a commitment to the God who gave his Son that even they might be forgiven. Look though at the attitude of the psalmist to their realisation of the stupendous nature of God's forgiveness - "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope", they say. "I wait for the Lord" ... in other words there's no presumption here. No they accept that the Lord is the one who freely gives this gift of forgiveness, and of reconciliation and of renewal. So what right have they to question it, and what right have they to demand it? God promises to forgive and they see their role as being to simply take him at his word and to trust him, to wait patiently for him to reveal his forgiveness, his redemption, his lifting them out of the depths, his setting them free from their sins, whilst at the same time studying his word so that they know what they're trusting in. Now the psalmist is writing in the time before Christ's birth, before the time of which the prophets spoke, when God would send his son, the perfect Lamb of God who'd achieve what all the Jewish sacrificial lambs never could. And yet they're happy to wait for that time, however far away it might be, because they're convinced of God's integrity. And so they wait with such eagerness; their very soul waits, because they're so sure of what they hope for. Just as the watchman is certain that the dawn will come, so the psalmist is certain, but even more so, that one day God will make possible full salvation for all who respond to the invitation to 'knock that the door might be opened'. Because you see they realise that God's forgiveness isn't just for them. No, he promises it to all who recognise their sin, to all who recognise the depth to which they've sunk, and come to him begging to be lifted out of the mire. That's why in the final two verses of the psalm they turn from themselves to the people of God, to Israel, the Ecclesia, the church of the Old Testament, praying that in view of all this God's people might all trust in him, put their hope in him alone ... "for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption". In other words, they're saying that: God's forgiveness, God's salvation, which he promises you in his Word, is all you'll ever need for full peace, assurance, security, certainty of acceptance by him ... it will cover all your sins and make you his child for ever. And isn't this what the Lord tells us in Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 18 when he says: "Come now, let us reason together" ..."Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land"... How wonderful that this is the salvation that God's word, as we find it in our New Testaments, is telling us about ... a full salvation, a full redemption, offered and available to all. And about which C. H. Spurgeon writes: "Full redemption." Why, that means deliverance from the bondage of many lusts, freedom from the thraldom of strong passions, a ransom of captives from fierce taskmasters. My God, I long to be so delivered, and redeemed, and there is with thee all grace and power, and provision for full deliverance by redemption; but this is found in Christ alone. I charge you, my hearers, do not look for escape from the slavery of sin apart from the redemption of Christ. Do not expect to overcome the smallest sin except by the blood of the Lamb. There is nothing, I believe, more deceiving than the notion of the unregenerate heart that it is seeking after holiness, though it is destitute of the power of the Holy Ghost, and takes no thought of the merit of Jesus Christ. Spurgeon goes on to say: We need grace fully, full redemption, in fact: but all of all that we receive must come to us from the Lord, by Jesus Christ the Mediator. The problem is, you see, that so many are looking for such a full redemption as this, they're looking to be taken out of the depths, but they're doing so without taking Christ into account, in fact purposely rejecting him as an option. So many people feel the need to be freed from their burden of guilt and fear; they're aware that they languish in the depths and they want to escape, but they're looking for the way out in the wrong places. Our political leaders for instance tell us that it's to be found in what they present as being greater equality, greater tolerance of divergent views and lifestyles, or else in new kinds of cultural integration or separation. Whilst the providers of different forms of leisure activities, the manufacturers of alcoholic drinks and drugs, the pedlars of sex, the representatives of false religion and philosophical thought, are telling us that they have the answer to our need for freedom, for contentment, for peace of mind ... And all the while Jesus is saying to us those words that we find in our passage from the gospel of John: "I am the bread of life. They who come to me will never go hungry, and they who believe in me will never be thirsty" "And no-one and no-thing else will do this for you. This is what I've been telling you since I created you. This is what so many countless millions have found to be true whilst billions more have been fruitlessly searching whilst simply increasing their burdens and sinking ever lower into the depths, whether they knew it or not". So then let us all have the mind of the Psalmist and, accepting that God, through Jesus Christ alone, is the one able to lift us out of the depths which are the common lot of mankind, let us be looking only to him for our strength for our direction and for our salvation. And let's continue to come to God our Father through Jesus Christ our Lord in prayer and by the constant study of his Word. Not forgetting to have a heart too for the salvation of others. Yes, encouraging each other in the faith but also, seeing the need that's all around us along with all the phony salvations that are being offered, let's stand up for the true faith. Let's have the psalmist's courage and say along with them to those who're looking the wrong ways: "hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption". Amen