Psalm 130—Cry Out and Stand in His Righteous Redemption

Life will crash in upon you at some point. Eventually. The only question is how brokenness will make itself known to you.

Paul says, “But evil people and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13). This declaration follows his list about those who are evil in the last days. Those days promise that difficult times will come. People will be “…lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…” (2 Timothy 3:1-4).

Evil prevails and brokenness pours in upon us. The time will come.

“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!” Psalm 130:1-2

Lesson number one is to turn to God, and cry out from the depths. It matters where you turn. Pour out your voice from inside the pit of pain. Lift your voice and beseech that he hears you and delivers mercy in response to your pleading. Trust and act as if you believe he is an attentive Father.

“If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” Psalm 130:3-4

In a broken world full of brokenness and broken people, the gospel speaks directly to the problem. Brokenness is defeated. We do not cry out because we deserve mercy; we cry out because he does not mark our iniquities. Our iniquity—which is very real—is plunged beneath the blood of Christ. William Cowper wrote the hymn, “There is a Fountain.” In it he has aptly written, “There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains…”

Wonderful forgiveness is ours. He hears our pleas for mercy on the merit of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth.

Thus, we are given strength to stand!

“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.” Psalm 130:5-6

Therefore, we employ patience, faith, and hope. We wait—our very souls wait—in hope in his word. We stand on his righteousness. We cry out from the depths. We wait. We trust fiercely.

“When we walk with the Lord in the light of his word, what a glory he sheds on our way! While we do his good will, he abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey.” John H. Sammis, “Trust and Obey”

We employ diligence as we wait and watch for the morning. Like the wise virgins in Matthew 25, we do not become drowsy when watching and waiting. The wise virgins trimmed their lamps to be ready for the bridegroom. The foolish were not ready; they were not watching (Matthew 25:1-12). Jesus delivers important instructions: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matthew 25:13).

Cry out but stand in faith. Wait but watch diligently through the pain of loss. There is hope in the Lord alone. There is lavish steadfast love with the Lord. There is plentiful redemption with the Lord.

“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.” Psalm 130:7-8