THE SONGS OF ASCENT – PART 14 – PSALM 130 – FROM OUT OF THE DEPTHS TO GOD’S FORGIVENESS
Just a reminder that this Psalm forms a collection of 15 psalms that were sung by the pilgrims travelling each year to the feasts of Jehovah in Jerusalem and they came as representatives from all over Israel. As they journeyed along they sang and these psalms were always included. The ascent to Jerusalem was tedious and as they neared the end of their travels their singing was more intense as the goal was close. These are beautiful psalms and the one for today is magnificent, not only for the people of the time but definitely for Christians today.
[A]. DEEP EMOTION CTYING FROM THE DEPTHS
{{Psalm 130:1 “Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD.
Psalm 130:2 Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.”}}
It is interesting to ponder what lays behind this psalm and verses 1 and 3 and 4 give the clue I think. As we proceed we will look at that in detail.
These two verses are ones of pleading but other words that mean much the same are intercession, beseeching, entreating and imploring and supplicating. They also are biblical words. We can’t get into the head of the psalmist but something had happened, and he was in a dire state. When we find ourselves in a position where we begin to feel hopeless, we have to realise there is no solution in ourselves. It is then we know we have to look outside of ourselves.
What had happened to this psalmist? Not being fanciful, I think he had sinned, and in such a way that it caused him trouble that had him in considerable turmoil. When a person sins and confesses that sin he/she puts it right with God, but sometimes confession will not solve problems, if those problems have come from the consequences of sin. I think that is what happened in in the psalmist’s case. Verse 2 indicates it was an ongoing supplication.
He was utterly undone and no human resource could solve his problem. Have any of you ever been in that situation? I have so I feel I can relate to this psalm. We are fragile as human beings and some may put on a brave and strong exterior but it is merely a façade that leaves an empty soul. I think most of these acclaimed celebrities are like that. They parade around and on TV and in films and on the stage greater than life, but in the secret of their isolation, inside they are most miserable. Some end their lives in suicide or drunkenness or drug addiction.
What is wonderful is that the Lord ALWAYS knows all about it, and there is not one of you that undergoes trouble, even deep trouble, that the Lord does not know all of it, or cares for you. It may not seem like it at the time. I have found that there are times when we have difficulties, even great trouble, and we set out trying to solve it all by contacts we have, and other devices, and when it seems we are not getting anywhere, then we pray to God in desperation. And you know what? That should have been the immediate action we should have taken, not the last resort.
The psalmist used the expression, “Out of the depths I cried to You.” What do the depths remind you of? Well I think the ocean, that place where there is no standing for our feet. It speaks of helplessness. One other was in that position. Listen to these words – {{Jonah 2:1-3 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the stomach of the fish, and he said, “I called OUT OF MY DISTRESS to the LORD, and He answered me. I CRIED FOR HELP FROM THE DEPTH OF SHEOL. You heard my voice, for You had cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current engulfed me. All Your breakers and billows passed over me”}}
Jonah was not only in the depths of the sea; he was in the depths of the fish. He knew there was nothing he could do and threw himself entirely on the mercy of God. “Needing a friend to help me in the end, where could I go but to the Lord?” That line is from a Christian song but it is very true.
There was One other who went through that deep experience of trouble and also cried from the depths of emotion and spiritual turmoil. Listen to these words – {{Psalm 69:1-3 “Save me, O God, for the waters have threatened my life. I HAVE SUNK IN DEEP MIRE AND THERE IS NO FOOTHOLD. I have come into deep waters and a flood overflows me. I am weary with MY CRYING. My throat is parched. My eyes fail while I wait for my God.”}}
{{Psalm 69:15 “May the flood of water not overflow me and may the deep not swallow me up and may the pit not shut its mouth on me.” Psalm 69:20-21 Reproach has broken my heart, and I am so sick, and I looked for sympathy, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. They also gave me gall for my food and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”}}
Those words come from the Messianic Psalm 69 and the words are the prayers of the Lord on the cross. The New Testament does not bring out much at all about the Lord on the cross but Psalm 22 and 69 and Isaiah 52 and 53 do. When Jesus was made sin for us and bore the ensuring penalty for sin, He was in a place of no standing and sank in the depths of judgement; the judgement that should have been ours; the judgement we deserved, not the Lord. With the weight of the sin of the world on Him, he cried out.
[B]. RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU ARE INNOCENT!
{{Psalm 130:3 “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?”}}
Of course the answer is, “No one can stand.” Nearly every version translates as “iniquities” but the NIV says “a record of sins” and Holman says, “if you considered sins.” God does keep a record of all individual sins and all those sins have consequences and will one day meet the penalty.
Have you ever thought why God can not overlook sin? Could God just sweep sins under the carpet to a place of forgetfulness? Well, the answer is “No.” And why would that be so? It is because of who God is. We have a very poor understanding of the righteousness and holiness of God, even as Christians, but the very character of God can not allow sin to be in freefall without consequences. All sin, every single sin, has an outcome and must come under the judgement of God. That is why the psalmist penned the words “O Lord, who can stand?”
Sin is unrighteousness and unrighteousness is penalised in judgement. All have sinned and have come short of the glory of God. Every single one. This start of this next verse is short and precise – {{Ezekiel 18:20 “THE PERSON WHO SINS WILL DIE. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity. The righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.”}} Although the verse is in the context of son-father and who truly is to blame, that small sentence is wider than it seems. The death in this Genesis verse is both physical and spiritual death and separation from God - {{Genesis 2:17 “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it YOU SHALL SURELY DIE.”}}
Back to our verse in Psalm 130:3 – you see it begins with an “If” that some people like to think as “What if” as in “What if the Lord took any notice of . . . (maybe He doesn’t),” but the fact is the Lord DOES! It would be contrary in God’s character not to do that.
Before we leave that verse let us just sum up. The psalmist cried to the Lord in great distress and then went on to say that no one could possibly stand when the Lord took notice of iniquity or sin. If that position advanced no further than that, we would all stand condemned without any hope whatever. All would be lost. Then the resolution lies in verse 4.
[C]. WHO IS A PARDONING GOD LIKE THEE OR WHO HAS GRACE SO FULL AND FREE?
{{Psalm 130:4 “But THERE IS FORGIVENESS WITH YOU that You may be feared.”}}
How glorious is that. The Lord cried out on the cross in deep distress when He was made a sin offering for us. However there was another cry and it is - “It is finished!” In triumph it rang out all over the world with hope at last for the sins of mankind. Salvation was procured for us.
Since our salvation’s been procured,
Eternity has been secured,
Through the cross which Christ endured -
This is our peace.
On one hand God marks iniquity, but on the other hand He graciously offers forgiveness. Between those two positions lies the cross, for it was there the redeeming work of Christ was done so the righteousness and holiness of God could be satisfied, resulting in a perfect harmony with His justice and judgement. Isn’t that just the perfect work of our Lord Jesus?
What about the account of all the sins God has marked down for every person in the world? What about the sins on your account?
Let us place two people side by side – a Christian and an unsaved person. Both are sinners of course, and both were condemned by sins that were on account. Let us open the account of the sins the Christian has on his/her account. Page 1 is empty so they must be on the next page. That is empty also. Ahhh but you skipped the Preface page, and when you open it, you see written in red there in God’s own hand – “Cleansed by the blood of my Son on the cross,” and under that we see this – “He has blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against you, which was contrary to you, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross,” or as it is in the NASB – {{Colossians 2:14 “having cancelled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us, and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”}}
There is no record of sins for those who are in Christ Jesus. The slate is not only wiped clean but it rests before God in a perfect pristine condition. The slate is clean. John says it exactly – {{1John 1:8-9 “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness.”}} God’s forgiveness for us is so lovely, so sweet, so loving and so eternal. It brings peace and security and hope and love.
However what of the unsaved person in that illustration? What about his account? Let me read to you some of the severest words ever written; the saddest words ever written, because there is no hope – {{Revelation 20:11-15 “I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them, and I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. The sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds, and death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”}}
I will close verse 4 with a lovely passage from Exodus – {{Exodus 34:6-7 Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth, who keeps loving kindness for thousands, WHO FORGIVES INIQUITY, TRANSGRESSION AND SIN; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”}} And dear child of God you are included in that!
If you have never repented of your sin the wrath of God hovers over you. If you leave this world unsaved then for certain, your end is in the lake of fire. Please give your life to Jesus the Saviour while He is still gracious to you.
[D]. HOW IS YOUR WAITING GOING?
Psalm 130:5 “I wait for the LORD. My soul does wait, AND IN HIS WORD DO I HOPE.
Psalm 130:6 MY SOUL WAITS FOR THE LORD more than the watchmen for the morning, indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.”}}
Do you wait for the Lord? Are you waiting for His coming with such a longing? Take to heart this verse – {{2Timothy 4:8 “In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, and NOT ONLY TO ME, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”}}
In verse 6 is the mention of watchmen. These men had served all through the night and kept faithful watch in the darkness of this world. How they longed for the morning when their work was to be done and joy would be theirs. Christian, if you are faithful to the Lord through this world’s increasing darkness and waiting for the morning of that new day when the Lord comes to rapture you home, great will be your joy. It will not be long now. The Rapture is very close.
The psalmist was waiting patiently, but that is only part of the story. Look at the end of verse 5. “And in His word I do hope.” God gave us His word to be our hope but even more, our hope in God’s word builds us up to strengthen us against adversity and to prevent us from falling into sin, and then having to cry from the depths for deliverance. Hope in God’s word. Make the bible your book of life; your source of joy and peace.
{{Psalm 119:11 “YOUR WORD I HAVE TREASURED in my heart that I may not sin against You.”}} If you know the AV wording it is, “Thy word I have hid in my heart . . .” Treasure God’s word and do not make it a casual book. It is your lifeblood in a sense. Hope in the word of God.
THE STARS ARE SHINING NOW
This story occurred in 2000. One night I was about to leave a friend’s place (Flanagan’s actually) to where I had walked, and was going to walk home when it began raining. The rain was not too heavy, more of a shower. The comment was made that the sky was dark and black. I waited the 10 minutes or so for the shower to pass then looked at the sky and replied to my friend, “The rain’s gone. Now the stars are shining.”
I thought about this on the way home. Perhaps the inference here was that at one stage the stars were not shining. After all, a few minutes before, I could not see them, not even one. Therefore I could assume because the stars were not visible, they did not shine.
The fact is, however, that the stars were always shining and the reason I might conclude they did not, was because there was darkness and a barrier between me and the stars. When the barrier was lifted, the stars could be seen to be shining in their distinct beauty.
This world is full of people who conclude that God can not be seen and therefore does not exist. The fault does not lie with God but with the barrier between, a barrier of darkness. God has always existed but that barrier must be lifted and only then can we truly understand the light of God’s glorious presence. May we each know what it is to look to God without a barrier between.
In the psalmist’s case his sin created the barrier and all looked dark and dismal, but the stars were still shining. The right perspective will show that. When the darkness seems to be blotting out your view of God, and you cry to Him, remember the stars are still shining.
STARLIGHT IS ALWAYS THERE
No cloud between, Lord; no cloud between.
May light shine through, and Your face be seen.
With nothing bleak to obscure our sight
Our gaze rests on Him, Jesus our Light.
Rain and storms, they can cause us dismay;
Dull the vision, and distort the way.
Looking to Jesus reveals what’s true.
The light of His stars comes streaming through.
Jesus, for us, You are always there,
Always willing Your great love to share.
May any blackened sky Your presence veil
May Your goodness to us never fail.
Ron Ferguson 8th May 2020 9-9-9-9
Jesus is our LIGHT. Look to Him for His grace shines upon you.
Psa. 130:7 O Israel, hope in the LORD for with the LORD there is loving-kindness, and with Him is abundant redemption,
Psa. 130:8 and He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
ronaldf@aapt.met.au
