My Soul Waits For The LORD!

"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! If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. 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. 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)

I am facing many adversities on account of past sin. I stumbled across Psalm 130 this morning, and God really opened up my eyes to the meaning of one of the verses. "My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning." The Lord asked me, 'How does a watchman wait for the morning?' I realized that a watchman does not think morning is coming, and he does not believe morning is coming, but he KNOWS morning is coming. The watchman waits in anticipation!I found this study of Psalm 130, and consider it a miracle! I was incredibly blessed and encouraged by reading it, and hope you will read it and receive blessing from our good and sovereign Lord!

(The study is by Jason Dulle, not sure who he is, found the website randomly - http://www.apostolic.net/biblicalstudies/psalm130.htm )

V.1) "Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!"

The psalmist cries out from the “depths”, which is a reference to the depths of the sea. To the ancients the sea symbolized chaos. The psalmist uses this metaphor suggesting he is engulfed in a chaotic calamity, much like a person engulfed in the depths of the sea. The depths he is in have separated him from His God, causing him to cry out with a sense of alienation. This “cry” helps us to feel his sense of pain and anguish, and utter dependence on God.

V.2) "O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!"

This verse is a continuation of verse one's cry for help, finishing the first section of the lament. The psalmist acknowledged God as his lord (master), and requested that the Lord would hear his plea for mercy.

V.3) "If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?"

The psalmist realizes that if the Lord were to keep track of sins, no one would be able to stand before Him. If God were to keep track of all our sins we would never be able to stand justified before Him. Our sins would incriminate us, humiliating us before the King. There is no one righteous, able to say he has clean hands before God. If God were to reward us according to our works, our judgment would be immeasurable. Thank God for His wonderful grace and mercy that forgives us of our sins!

V.4) "But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared."

This verse indicates why the Lord is willing to forgive. We know from other parts of Scripture that the Lord is willing to forgive because it brings Him “honor”. Many translations render this as “feared”, but to the modern ear this connotes “to be scared of”. The meaning of the Hebrew is reverential fear, or awe of God. It is paying Him the respect that is due Him. When the Lord forgives our sins it produces in us a gratitude and awe of the Almighty, causing our loyal respect for His willingness to erase our debt of sin.

V.5) "I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;"

This verse is a beautiful confession of the psalmist's faith. While he cried to the Lord for forgiveness, his cry was a cry of faith. He knew the Lord would show him mercy, but did not know exactly when. He would wait for the Lord's word confirming the extension of His mercy. It seems that the psalmist had more in mind than forgiveness of sin because one does not have to wait for the Lord's forgiveness. It is likely that the psalmist's sins had caused some temporal difficulties for him that he wished to be delivered from. While the Lord had forgiven him his sin, the Lord had not delivered him from the temporal effects of his sins.

V.6) "my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning."

Here again the psalmist indicated that his soul waited, including once again the reference to the Lord, but now a description of how he waits: more than the watchmen wait for the morning. This is a beautiful illustration. The psalmist's patient and anticipatory waiting for the Lord is compared to the watchman's patient and anticipatory waiting for the break of dawn. Just as the dawn is assured to come for the watchmen, so is the Lord's mercy assured to the psalmist. It is not a matter of if God will extend mercy, but when God will extend mercy. The mercy will come, we need only wait for it. In addition the psalmist employs repetition. It emphasizes the painful watching for the Lord's mercy. While the night may be long, joy comes in the morning! The thought expressed in this verse is that we need to be patient and anticipatory in our waiting for God's display of mercy, and can be assured as its arrival.

V.7) "O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption."

Here it is stressed why Israel should hope in the Lord. With the Lord there is steadfast love and plentiful redemption. Both describe attributes of God. The psalmist here begins his exhortation to Israel to hope in the Lord. His exhortation grows out of his own personal experience. He has found the Lord to be merciful and full of loyal love in the past, and is assured that the Lord will also exhibit such behavior toward Israel now because He knows the Lord's character.

V.8) "And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities."

Seeing that the Lord possessed so much redemption the psalmist was assured that He would redeem Israel from its iniquities. God's forgiveness of Israel's sin is compared to "redemption." This redemption can include sin and adversity. It is most likely that the psalmist is referring to Israel's adversities caused by their sin. This last expression is the psalmist's final expression of trust in God. He is assured that God will redeem Israel from the consequences of her sins. How does he know? He knows because he has experienced the Lord's deliverance, and because he knows the character of God. This is not only an expression of personal trust in God, but it is an exhortation to Israel to hope in the Lord along with the psalmist, waiting in faithful confidence for the word of the Lord.

This is an amazing psalm of a repentant believer who is in need of God’s mercy. Not only is he fully assured that such will be granted, but he also exhorts his fellow Israelite’s to wait for God’s redemption, knowing that such will come because of the character of the Lord.

Thanks for reading! God bless!