A song of ascents.
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;
2 Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
5 I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
6 I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
8 He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.
Studying Psalm 130
Psalm 130 is a Psalm of Lament Like Psalm 120 and Psalm 123
What was the Psalmist lamenting in Psalm 120?
What about 123?
Out of the depths I cry to You, LORD;¹ LORD, hear my voice.² Let Your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.³ If You, LORD, kept a record of sins,⁴ LORD, who could stand?
What is the Psalmist Lamenting in Psalm 130? His ___________.
Lamenting Our Sin
Isaiah pronounced six woes against others. 5:8, 11, 18, 20, 21, 22)
Then in the presence of the LORD said “Woe to me. I am a man of unclean lips.
In Psalm 129, the Psalmist is calling down curses on the wicked. As the pilgrim draws closer to the LORD in Jerusalem, he is overwhelmed by his own sense of sin.
“That saved a wretch like me!” ~ John Newton
James Montgomery Boice (Pittsburgh Native)
Our problem today, especially in appreciating a psalm like this, is that most of us do not have much awareness of sin. We live most of our lives with very little awareness of God, and where God has been abolished an awareness of sin is inevitably abolished also, because sin is defined only in relationship to God…
We need to recover a sense of sin.
We need to discover how desperate our condition is apart from God.
We need to know that God’s wrath is not an outmoded theological construct but a terrible and impending reality. We need to come out of our sad fantasy world and begin to tremble before the awesome holiness of our almighty Judge.”
God’s stance on sin remains unchanged from the Old Testament to the New.
He hates sin, and His justice demands that it be punished.
- Habakkuk 1:13 (NIV) – “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; You cannot tolerate wrongdoing.”
- Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.”
- Psalm 5:4 “For You are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with You, evil people are not welcome.”
Martin Luther on Psalm 130
“The 130th Psalm is one of the chief Psalms. It is a proper Pauline Psalm, and might well be called a Pauline Psalm because it teaches that justification comes by faith alone, without works.” Preface to Psalms
Jesus Became a Curse, so that we Could be Blessed.
Galatians 3:14-15
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.’ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”
THE BLESSING
“The LORD bless you and keep you Make His face shine upon you.
And be gracious to you The LORD turn His face toward you. And give you peace”
Numbers 6:24-26
Think of the opposite of this blessing.
The LORD curse you and remain far from you. May He look upon you with disdain
And not be gracious to you. The Lord turn His face away from you. And give you emptiness.
Psalm 120:1 says, “I call on the LORD in my distress and He answers me.”
Jesus called on God the Father in His distress, but there was no answer.
Matthew 27:46
“About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ (which means ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’)”
1 John 1:5-7
5 This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.6 If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.
“If you kept a record of sins, LORD, who could stand” But with You there is forgiveness.” Psalm 130 :3-4
“The Greek does not include the verb ‘is,’ making the phrase literally read, ‘With You, forgiveness.'”
Questions:
- What does it mean that Christ became a curse for us? How does this help us understand the seriousness of sin?
- Why was it necessary for Jesus to take the curse upon Himself instead of God simply forgiving sins without the cross?
- How Does Jesus’ sacrifice change the way we read and pray Psalm 129?
- What is the Psalmists response to being forgiven?
- How does the psalmist express overflowing joy and actively share the message of forgiveness with others?
Prayer
Guided prayer:
LORD, I come to You. [Identify to the Lord how you are “arriving”: joyful, anxious, distracted?]
I’m thankful for Your forgiveness. Please forgive my sins, anything that I have done today that dishonored You and Your Name and was not worthy of Christ.
[Sit with feet flat on floor or in a comfortable stance. Be still. Breathe.]
I wait for You. My soul waits. In Your word I put my hope. My soul waits for You, LORD.
[Be still. Breathe.]
I put my hope in You, LORD. I trust in Your unfailing love. I’m so thankful for your great power to redeem me.
[Breathe. Reflect on Christ’s great love and redemptive power].
