Psalm 130<\/b><\/p>\n
A song of ascents.<\/p>\n
1<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Out of the depths<\/b> I cry to you, O Lord; Introduction<\/b>:\u00a0 <\/b>How are you at waiting?\u00a0 I walked into a waiting room the other day.\u00a0 The room was full.\u00a0 Every chair was taken. I thought. Oh no!\u00a0 This is going to take a while.\u00a0 If you\u2019re like me, you\u2019re not very good at waiting.<\/p>\n We wait for all kinds of things.\u00a0 For a friend to come by.\u00a0 For the dentist to stop drilling.\u00a0 We wait to hear what the doctor has to say.\u00a0 We wait for our child or grandchild to be born. \u00a0We wait to see who\u2019s going to win the big game. Much of our lives are spent waiting.<\/p>\n Of course there are times when we try to do something about our waiting.\u00a0 Maybe we call that friend to ask them to arrive sooner.\u00a0 Maybe we tell the person up front, I don\u2019t have a lot of time to wait.\u00a0 <\/i>There is some waiting we can do something about.\u00a0 But sometimes we just have to wait.\u00a0 And that can be hard.<\/p>\n Advent is a season about waiting.\u00a0 It\u2019s about God\u2019s people of all times.\u00a0 People like you and me waiting for the Lord. \u00a0To come, to act, to hear, to answer, to save.\u00a0 And that can be hard for so many reasons.\u00a0 I like this psalm because it helps us in our waiting. \u00a0It starts in the depths and it ends with us waiting with hope.<\/p>\n Psalm 130<\/b><\/p>\n A song of ascents.<\/p>\n 1<\/sup><\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; In what depths<\/b> have you cried out to the Lord?\u00a0\u00a0 In Worry or Fears Sorrow, depression or Guilt<\/p>\n This believer was down in the depths because he saw his sinfulness. In Romans, we hear the Apostle Paul cry out from the same depths.\u00a0 O what a wretched man I am?!\u00a0 Who will rescue me from this body of death?<\/span><\/p>\n Of course, we might not attribute our \u2018feeling down\u2019 with sin. \u00a0\u00a0Yet isn\u2019t there always some kind of connection.\u00a0 The results of my bad choices, my failures to listen to God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 Or we find ourselves on the receiving end of someone else\u2019s.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been there and so have you.\u00a0 And then there are those times when we look around at this world with its corruption and evil.\u00a0 It\u2019s discouraging.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know about you, but I have prayed, How long, O Lord.\u00a0 How long?<\/i><\/p>\n And sometimes we feel the very opposite of the psalmist.\u00a0 We feel so down we lose the energy to pray. \u00a0\u00a0Maybe we pull away from the Lord.\u00a0 But the psalmist shows us the way.\u00a0 Turn to Him.<\/p>\n 3<\/sup><\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, Turn to the Lord.\u00a0 But why would the Lord want anything to do with us?\u00a0 Think of the word used here for our sin.\u00a0 In Hebrew it describes something twisted and perverted<\/i>.\u00a0 Well just imagine that God kept a record of those things.\u00a0 If we sinned just two times an hour over eighty five years that equals about 750,000 offenses against the Lord.\u00a0 Oh but I sleep ! \u00a0Well that makes it about half a million.\u00a0 With that on our record who could stand?\u00a0 Who could stand before God and be accepted?\u00a0 We\u2019d hear no answer to our prayers but the deafening sound of silence.\u00a0 We\u2019d have nothing to wait for from God but the back of His hand.<\/p>\n But with you there is forgiveness.<\/span>\u00a0 Think of how good we are at keeping a detailed record of how somehow has hurt us or wronged us.\u00a0 We may have forgiven them but years later we still have no problem telling the tale.\u00a0 God\u2019s forgiveness is totally different.\u00a0 It wipes the slate clean.\u00a0 God remembers our sins no more.\u00a0 And why?\u00a0 The psalmist could only see it from a distance.\u00a0 The virgin with child.\u00a0 The Lamb of God. \u00a0By his wounds we are healed.\u00a0 He could only see it from a distance. Jesus. The Son of God come to be our brother. In him is our forgiveness because of this.\u00a0 He took our guilt and paid it\u2019s awful price.\u00a0 He took our guilt and made things right.\u00a0 with you there is forgiveness, therefore you are feared.<\/span>\u00a0 Yes, feared –not feared like we might fear a tornado, but feared as in this: Lord you forgave me!\u00a0 Yes, You forgave me!\u00a0 <\/i>It\u2019s awesome, dear Christian. \u00a0Don\u2019t take it for granted.\u00a0 <\/i>That brings us to heart of the matter.<\/p>\n 5<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, What was this man waiting for?\u00a0 When you read a little further you see.\u00a0 He calls it Full redemption<\/i>.\u00a0 He was waiting for the Lord to come and bring an end to this evil age and make all things new.\u00a0 To bring that time when there will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain.\u00a0 No more sin in our world and in our hearts.\u00a0 For this I wait for the Lord, my soul waits and in his word I put my hope.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n But we don\u2019t just wait for that Day. I have sat with dear people and prayed.\u00a0 Lord help us here and now.\u00a0 I have prayed and waited for the Lord to act, to show us his way.\u00a0 And there have been anxious times of waiting.\u00a0 You know such times, yearning like the psalmist:<\/p>\n 6<\/sup><\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My soul waits for the Lord But in his Word<\/b> we can put our hope.\u00a0 Words of promise like this:\u00a0 I am the Lord who takes hold of your right hand and says to you.\u00a0 Do not fear. I will help you.<\/span>\u00a0 (Is 41:13)<\/p>\n Then think of this coming Sunday. We will come to the altar and wait for the Lord.\u00a0 We will wait for the Lord to come to us with his true body and blood he once gave for us and shed for us on a cross.\u00a0 So much does he want you to know his love and forgiveness.\u00a0 And in his word, we put our hope.<\/i>\u00a0 His word that invites us and assures us.\u00a0 Take eat this is my body given for you.\u00a0 Drink from it\u2026 this cup is the new testament in my blood, poured out for you for the forgiveness of sin<\/span>. In his word we put our hope.<\/p>\n Up to now the psalmist pretty much speaks to the Lord.\u00a0 He gives us a window to his soul.\u00a0 I\u2019m in the depths.\u00a0 Yet, how blessed I am to be forgiven.\u00a0 Now I wait.\u00a0 I anxiously look forward to your day. O Lord<\/i>.\u00a0 But now he turns his attention to his people.\u00a0 O Israel<\/span>, he pleads. Well his words are also for us who know what it\u2019s like to be down in the depths.\u00a0 These words are also for us who wait on the Lord.<\/p>\n put your hope in the Lord, AMEN<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Psalm 130 A song of ascents. 1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; 2\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. 3\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? 4\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. 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\n2<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 O Lord, hear my voice.
\nLet your ears be attentive
\nto my cry for mercy.
\n3<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins,
\nO Lord, who could stand?
\n4<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But with you there is forgiveness;
\ntherefore you are feared.
\n5<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
\nand in his word I put my hope.
\n<\/b>6<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My soul waits for the Lord
\nmore than watchmen wait for the morning,
\nmore than watchmen wait for the morning.
\n7<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 O Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
\nfor with the Lord is unfailing love
\nand with him is full redemption.
\n8<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He himself will redeem Israel
\nfrom all their sins.<\/p>\n
\n2<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 O Lord, hear my voice.
\nLet your ears be attentive
\nto my cry for mercy. <\/b><\/p>\n
\nO Lord, who could stand?
\n4<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But with you there is forgiveness;
\ntherefore you are feared. <\/b><\/p>\n
\nAnd in his word I put my hope. <\/b><\/p>\n
\nMore than watchmen wait for the morning,
\nmore than watchmen wait for the morning. <\/b><\/p>\n
\nfor with the Lord is unfailing love
\nand with him is full redemption.<\/b><\/p>\n