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"A Prayer for Help"

Psalm 130

Good News Translation (GNT)

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  1  From the depths of my despair I call to you,
   Lord.
  2  Hear my cry, O Lord; listen to my call for help!
  3  If you kept a record of our sins, who could
   escape being condemned?
  4  But you forgive us, so that we should stand in
   awe of you.
  5  I wait eagerly for the Lord's help, and in his
   word I trust.
  6  I wait for the Lord more eagerly than sentries
   wait for the dawn - than sentries wait for the
   dawn.
  7  Israel, trust in the Lord, because his love is
   constant and he is always willing to save.
  8  He will save his people Israel from all their
   sins.

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Commentary taken from 'word-on-the-web'
supplied by Scripture Union

'A Prayer for Help'

   Psalm 130

The movement in this psalm is from the depths of despair to the joy of forgiveness.

Martin Luther loved the book of Psalms and this testimony, which begins in 'the depths' and climaxes in the declaration that with the Lord 'he always willing to save' (v 7) was among his favourites.

The language used in verse 1 suggests the experience of drowning. Anyone who has ever been in danger of drowning, will know how terrifying this can be, bringing a sense of separation from the world and from life.

Here this language is used metaphorically to describe the isolation and abandonment resulting from sin and guilt.

Language of this kind is rarely heard in contemporary Western culture, yet there are people who, like the psalmist, are deeply aware of the depths of their failure and wickedness and despair of ever recovering hope and freedom.

The despair with which the poem commences is wonderfully matched by the celebration which follows the assurance that 'you forgive us' (v 4).

What had seemed an utterly hopeless situation is transformed by the knowledge that God - and God alone - can deliver the sinner from the depths.

So great is this deliverance that the psalm ends with testimony: all Israel must be told that with the Lord there is 'unfailing love' and 'full redemption'. No one is beyond the reach of divine grace.

No matter how deep the depths of sin and despair may have been, those who wait on the Lord will discover that he redeems the lost 'from all their sins'.

Reread this beautiful psalm and allow the radiant hope it expresses to speak to your heart and strengthen your hope.

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