Psalm 130 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.
When I looked up “wait” in a word search of the Bible, 17 quotes appeared from the book of Psalms. It is the book that talks most about waiting on God. I am surprised that Psalm 130 is a psalm of ascents because I think of waiting as a maintaining time, not an ascending time. The author is unknown but it was sung as pilgrims climbed the hill to Jerusalem. It focuses on repentance.
My kids love to recall stories like when “Mom mushed Molly.” I drove over our dog who weaved infront of our car as I drove in the driveway with all the kids who felt the car go thunk, thunk. I would love to erase that story! Verse 4 rejoices in the Lord’s forgiveness. Our past will not be thrown up in our faces as we wait..
The author waits “more than a watchman waits for the morning.” That is an interesting image. As a chaplain I pulled night shifts or was on-call. Do watchmen wait for dawn so they can see clearly if the enemy is sneaking up? That line is quoted twice! After a long night of worry, perhaps bad dreams, of anticipation of an upcoming operation or celebration, it is indeed a relief for the daytime to arrive and the process to start. Waiting is finished.
What are you waiting for? Jot it down. We are all journeying to our own Jerusalem, our own destination. Let’s read this psalm one more time and allow its promises to soak into our souls. Blessings as you wait on the Lord.
On the Way to Wonder 