Psalms 130:1-7

Psalms 130:1. Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD.

God's people have to go into the depths, and God's people pray in the depths, and often they pray best in the depths. The rarest pearls lie deepest in the sea; and the most precious prayers come out of the depths of affliction: «Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord.» Cannot many of you say the same? Looking back upon your past afflictions and trials, yet you can feel that you did pray in them. He that can pray in the depths will soon sing in the heights. If thou canst pray, thou canst not be drowned by all the seas that roll over thee. God who brought thee into them will bring thee out of them if thou canst pray.

Psalms 130:2. Lord,

Or, « Adonai,» Sovereign Lord,-

Psalms 130:2. Hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.

«Do hear me, Lord!» What is the use of prayer if God does not hear it? It is said to be a profitable spiritual exercise. So it is, because we believe that God hears it; but apart from that, it would be an idle waste of words. «Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.»

Psalms 130:3. If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?

Not one of us, surely. If God were now to deal with us according to our sins, who among us could stand in his presence?

Psalms 130:4. But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.

See, this is all in the first person. Dear friend, can you use it in the first person? Can you say, «I wait for Jehovah»? Blessed are they that are content to wait his will, but yet with holy eagerness are prepared to do that will or to suffer it, as he pleases. «My soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.» All my hope is there. If it were not for his promises I should have no confidence, but one word of God is better than all the things that can be seen. It is better to trust in God's declaration than in man's oath. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.

Psalms 130:6. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.

Those on the sick bed, who long for their weary waiting to be over, those afflicted ones who cry in the night of pain, «Would God it were morning! « Those, too, that stand as sentinels the night before the battle, or after the fight, watch and long to see the morning light. There are many such weary waiters, and my soul is one of them, waiting for the Lord «more than they that watch for the morning.»

Psalms 130:7. Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.

Enough to buy us back from all our slavery, and to buy back our inheritance as well. Our Redeemer is the redeemer of the inheritance that has been mortgaged, and now is burdened by the enormous debt of sin: «with him is plenteous redemption.»

Psalms 130:8. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

That is our worst slavery, our in-equities, our want of equity, our having acted unfairly to God and unfairly to man. He will redeem us from all that evil; yea, he has redeemed us by price, and he will redeem us by power.

This exposition consisted of readings from PSALMS 129, 130, and 131.