Welcome to another episode of Struggling Well. we hope that you have been struggling well. And this morning, Jimmy is going to share with us some thoughts from Psalm 130.
Yeah. It's one of the psalms of ascent that Israel would say there were three times in the Jewish calendar that Israelites were to go up to Jerusalem. Jerusalem's geographic location is high and that's why they would say they were going up to Jerusalem. So, and the festival of the booths was one of those And that's coming up in September as also is Rashashana and other Jewish holidays that we at least are aware of, may not celebrate, but we're aware of them. And so the psalms of ascent were sung by Israel as that people traveled up to Jerusalem. 15 of those psalms are listed in the psalter. four were written by David, one was written by Solomon, 10 including the 130th psalm. There's is an unknown author. And so where it fits in the historical place of Israel's life, we don't know. But what I love about it and what I love about all the psalms is just the honest cry of the psalmist heart. and this psalmist says in Psalm 130, he doesn't waste any time. He gets right to what's going on. Out of the depths I cry to you, oh Lord. Oh Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my plea for mercy. So he's got a big huge issue. We don't know what it is. there's wording there that is used only in Psalm 130 and in the book of Nehemiah when Nehemiah understands the condition of Jerusalem with the walls torn down, the gates burned and he asks God to be attentive. That's the word that's used in only the only two places that word is used. Is it possible that's the historical setting for this psalm? It's possible. but the truth of the matter is we've all experienced hard times. I mean, you all know this now. that's the sense of the title of our podcast every week, struggling well. and sometimes those struggles feel like the depths to us.
I remember a time in my life when I had made some bad choices and some hard things. And the visual picture that was there for me was I had a shovel in my hand and I had dug this deep pit and I looked up and there was no way out of the pit. and that's just the that for me that was the depths at that time. I don't know what those might be for you whether you're in those now, whether you've just come out of one of those. But that honest cry to the Lord to hear me and to see me, Lord, and what I'm going through is something I think all of us can resonate with.
You know, often times we're wondering what we should pray when we're in our solitude, our time with the Lord. And these words right here of Out of the depths I cry to you, oh Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to me. He goes on to say if you, oh Lord, should mark iniquities, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. As I wait for the Lord, my soul waits for him. what a prayer.
Yeah. The great need that we have, but then the great God that we serve. And I often think of the fact that it's amazing to me that my sins have been forgiven.
and of course, we have a historical perspective to look back on. Calvary, the psalmist at this point in time in history didn't have Calvary to look on, but did know the character of God and how he had proved himself and how there was forgiveness offered by God for those who had faith in God. And so, there's that beginning point of seeing God as this unbelievable forgiving God of the things that I'd messed up. That's one of the things that I love about scripture is all the men and women of faith that scripture talks about who did great things for God, who spoke for God. Scripture also includes their fallings
and their failures. And so, th this psalm in and these eight verses captures so much of that story that is the story of all of scripture. And then the idea of waiting I wait for the Lord. My soul waits. I wait for the Lord more than a watchman in the morning. so much of what God requires of us is to wait cuz it's not our timetable, but it's his timetable. And that's really hard to do. to wait, but then to be attentive and to be on the look and to be watching.
Watching and as the psalm says here, watching for the morning. I think that's a way of talking about watching for God moving
and God being on the move and God entering in and so it waiting is not just a passive thing. Waiting is an active thing as I'm watching and with anticipation for what God is going to do.
And if you notice in Psalm 130 and if I'm cutting in on what you were going to say, snooze, you lose because here I go.
You go right in.
Of course, you know, I'm like a bulldozer. I'm looking at this psalm and seeing that as they are crying out to God, But it's interesting to me how they mention his attributes. They mention that he is a god of mercy. they mention that he is a god of forgiveness. that in his word they're hoping that his love is steadfast. I love that his mercy is steadfast and his pl his redemption is plentiful and he redeems. So they're not praying. They're not just babbling along you know trying to get God's attention. They know who he is because they know his word. And so, you know, that speaks to me. I need to know him as I'm praying to him. It's like you and I, if we had never met, having a conversation with you would be, you know, we'd kind of try to get to know each other, but the more I would get to know you, the more our conversation would deepen and become richer.
Yeah. And, and you
did I jump on your stuff?
It's all right. Because we know we I mean, This is who we are. I mean, this is how we operate. But when he tells them to hope in the Lord, he talks about the character of God. And then you just mentioned him. The what I know, why would I hope in God? Well, because he is a God who has steadfast love, covenantal love. He brings plentiful redemption. He's a God of forgiveness. He's a God who has his mercies. Those are the things the attributes of who God is that when he says to Israel or he says to you and me, "Hope in the Lord,"
that's why that's who and because it's who he is who he is. And so I think about this and I had the privilege of preaching recently at a local congregation that our friend and producer Tim Briggs pastors and it was really summed up this way. Not to oversimplify it, but I think it is simple. I wait. I watch. That's the watchman on the tower.
And then I hope.
Yeah.
So, so much of how I handle life and how I handle my struggles is waiting, watching and hoping, which sounds almost trit except that when you understand it in the context of my life that my life is filled with all kinds of struggle, but that I also have God in the midst of my life, it really is the pathway that I go down and that pathway is reinforced because of who he is in the nature. And I'm strugg struck by those two that he says in there in verse 7 that steadfast love, the covenantal love and the plentiful redemption. It's not just redemption. It's the plentiful redemption that he offers through his son Jesus. And so I don't think you have to sing it just three times a year, which is what Israel did with these psalms. but it ought to be a daily cry of my heart to live in that kind of hope. We've talked a lot in the last few weeks on these podcasts about hope. but I think that's cuz we're in a place in our world that we're desperate for hope and where we find that is an important thing.
I know I don't know if we have time, but I'm going to add a little addendum. A little is that the word I want to use?
I don't know.
I don't know either.
You can go where you want to go.
I, you know, I am like wild thing. Woo.
but I was thinking as you were talking about, say your three things again. The
to wait
wait
to watch and to hope
and to hope. Okay. When we're talking to people that are struggling so often, I've said it myself and I've had it been said to me this phrase, everything will be okay. All right, great. That's like, okay, great. It'll be okay because of what? But what would it be like for us as believer to believer and sharing with anybody to just say just wait for what God is going to do? Watch. Look, look for him and then hope in who he is. That's giving somebody some solid encouragement. It's not just some words that really mount up to nothing and can be, you know, like the fog, they're gone. But to encourage one another with the truth of God's word as opposed to saying everything will be okay.
Yeah. Because I'm not I can say everything will be okay in one sense, mean that and believe it to be true. But I know how we use it. And I don't think that's true.
We use it like everything's going to be okay. That life's going to work out the way you want it to.
And that is not true,
right?
But everything will be okay in light of eternity, in light of who he is.
Yes, everything will be okay.
And so again, I do think it's a much more honest, real way to put it when you're talking to people of wait on God. Not your timetable, his. Watch what he's going to do. Even if you don't understand. understand what he's doing and hope in him. So, there's a thought for this week that you can take with you. We hope you will and we hope you have a great week.