Reflection on Psalm 130[1]

“Are the gods not the gods just?”
"Oh no, child. What would become of us if they were?”

― C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces

Psalm 130 is an ascent psalm, a psalm to get us up and get us going—especially on those days when we cry "out of the depths" of our troubled, sin-ridden souls, knowing that we will sin again—and again (130:1).

If God “kept a record of sins”—if he were solely just—what would become of us? (130:3). But—and here’s a lovely Old Testament grace note—with him “there is forgiveness,” for in due time God himself bore our sins, past, present and future, in his body on the Cross.[2] What can I say but “Awesome!” (130:4).

Thus, forgiven for all time and eternity, we await our final redemption from sin: ”I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I my hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning" (130:5,6).

Morning is a sure thing and so is our ultimate salvation, but we must wait. There is no final deliverance from sin in this world, though there should be and will be progress in righteousness. But the promise holds: “With the Lord there is unfailing love (now) and with him is full [and final] redemption” (then) (130:7).

Now we are enveloped in his sure and certain love, and very soon, when he comes for us or we go to him, “he himself will redeem [us] from all our sins” (130:8). When we see him we shall be like him!

When Julian of Norwich asked God why sin entered world, she replied, "Sin is necessary, but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."

Lift up your heads. Your redemption is nigh!

David Roper
5/21/15

[1] It would be helpful to have the psalm in front of you.
[2] God’s forgiveness is based on the Cross, an event in time with timeless implications. Jesus “is the lamb having been slain from the creation of the world” (Revelation 13:8).