PSALM 130 – Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

THEME OF THE DAY. A HEALING PSALM. Today’s scripture is a special place to many Christians. In the life of John Owen, arguably the greatest of the Puritan theologians, it was this Psalm God used to deliver him from deep trials and suffering. He wrote, “I was brought to the mouth of the grave, and under which my soul was oppressed with horror and darkness. But God graciously relieved my spirit by a powerful application of Psalm 130:4, There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be healed.” On a personal side, Psalm 130 has been used of the Lord during a dark time in my walk with Him. I recall not a few sleepless nights of praying Psalm 130 because I had no words of my own. And still this day, this “healing Psalm” is a dear friend to me. I hope you will make it yours as well when the dark night of the soul comes and you struggle with words to pray.

As we approach this Song of Ascent, it provides a solid framework about praying; really praying. Too often our prayers are so me-centered and temporal instead of God-centered and spiritual. Think about how we pray. We ask God for things, largely physical things or situations to make our lives comfortable. To test my last statements, consider these next two questions – When is the last time we came to God in prayer just to be with Him to adore Him, love Him, and worship Him – no petitions, just sitting at His feet in awe and adoration? Do we primarily come to God for spiritual needs and desires?

For illustration purposes, have we been praying for God to answer the prayer the Apostle Paul prayed in the book of Ephesians – For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:14-19). This is the most important prayer a Christian may pray and, if answered, takes us into the pinnacle of the Christian life – the love of Christ.

In David’s Psalm, he is pouring out his soul, not for deliverance from a temporal situation, but for mercy. And it is a mercy that grants him assurance of forgiveness. When we are “in the depths” of spiritual attack, spiritual anguish, and spiritual barrenness, the devil and our conscience work hard to make us question God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness. It is in dark times that trying times come. David is in the depths. He doesn’t cry for a change of circumstances. He cries for his God to show him abundant mercy. Friends, when trying times come, don’t pray for deliverance. Instead pray for more of the reality of God’s Person in our trials. Some of the most precious times of fellowship with God will be in the toughest of times. Learn to pray like David for God’s mercy. Learn to rely upon God’s Word like David. Learn to wait upon God like David. And when those dark seasons come, don’t sit and fret. No, run to Psalm 130 and embrace it as “the healing Psalm” for which it is.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to see prayer not only to get things from You, but to get close to You.”

QUOTE: “Don’t let prayer be reduced to simply asking God for things. Use prayer for what it really is – closeness to Him”