”Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD. 

Lord, hear my voice: 

Let thine ears be attentive 

To the voice of my supplications.“

Psalm 130:1-2

Explanation:

This week we will be looking at Psalm 130. It comes in four stanzas at 2 verses apiece. It carries the title “A Song of Degrees” or some say “A Song of Assents” and carries all of the characteristics of that kind of psalm. It was a song that would have been sung as worships went “up to Jerusalem”. When one went to Jerusalem, Mount Zion, one went up to it. This would have been one of several songs sung on the journey to worship God in the temple at Jerusalem.

This is a psalm of lament, not of crisis or calamity of natural causes, but a lamentation and confession of sinfulness. It has all of the normal attributes of a lament- Invocation ( Psa 130:1, Psa 130:2, Psa 130:3, Psa 130:5, Psa 130:7 (“Lord, Lord”), Complaint    Psa 130:1 (“out of the depths”), Petition    Psa 130:1 (“listen to my voice”), and Expression of trust    Psa 130:4-6 (“for with you is forgiveness”). 

In verse 1 the psalmist begins by referring to “the depths”. This was a common way of speaking about the chaotic seawaters which was thought of as a place of danger and calamity. When you take the whole psalm into account, this would have been a cry for help from the difficulty that has been brought about by sin. The psalmist has experienced and is experiencing the depths of his difficult situation- the absolute chaos that comes from his wrongdoing- and is calling on the Lord to respond.

Application: 

When we have sinned, we should go to God and experience His forgiveness.  Four stanzas of Psalm 130 describe what we must do and what we will experience.

The first thing we must do is demonstrated for us in these first two stanzas. We must cry to the Lord in the chaos. (V.1-2). We must be broken over our sin. When we see our sin the way God does, then we realize that we cannot save ourselves. We cannot forgive ourselves. We cannot salvage all that our sin has done. We need to cry out to the Lord in that moment. 

Am I facing the consequences of sin? Do I think that I am getting away with sin in my life? Is there a level of acceptable sin in my own eyes and heart? Too often we have to get to the depths before we cry out to the Lord for help and confession. Don’t wait. Cry out to the Lord in the midst of the chaos of your sin. 

Response

Heavenly Father, it is so important for me to cry out to you when I sin. You know my heart and my thoughts. Help me not to be ok with thing that you are not ok with in my life. Help me to be intolerant of my own sin, and to cry out to you in the chaos. Amen