Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

Lessons From The Deep

PSALM 130:1-6 – 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.

THEME OF THE DAY. LESSONS FROM THE DEEP. Psalm 130 is a treasure chest of truth and experience for the believer. It contains intense human emotion each of us may identify with, rich theology of the character of God and humanity, and serves as a wonderful model of a Christian during a season of deep pain and struggle who is determined to honor the Lord despite these difficulties. From this treasure chest, let’s identify four lessons; lessons we will call “Lessons from the Deep.”

First, we only really learn to pray when life is hard, overwhelming, and we feel at the end of our ropes. The Psalmist starts out in prayer, not a “Now I lay me down to sleep” or “Lord, thank you for the food” type of form and lifeless prayer. No, he is wailing out of the depths of pain. His words are serious, brief, intense, and sincere. He feels like he is drowning in life’s floodwaters – “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!” Friends, we need hard times to teach us dependent and soul-emptying prayer before our God. It is when we have nowhere to go, and really know we have nowhere to go but God that we truly go from just saying prayers to pouring out our hearts in prayer. Jesus also models this in the Garden of Gethsemane. Take time and observe the sacred prayer time our Lord had in the Garden. It show us true prayer out of the depths of a person (Matthew 26:36-44; Luke 22:39-44).

Another lesson from the deep is we see God as He really is and ourselves as we really are – “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared.” What is the first thing the Psalmist realizes about God during his intense and sincere prayer? His holiness. What is implied about the condition of humanity in his realization of the holiness of God? Man’s sinfulness. And this is the most important lesson to learn in life – who God truly is and who we truly are. Without this, no humility meaning no repentance, meaning no confession, meaning no salvation, or fellowship with God. When we are learning true prayer, these realizations of God’s holiness and our sinfulness always come to the front and shape our praying.

A third lesson from the deep is we develop patience – “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.” However, there is a “catch” if we are to learn patience in the most trying of times. We must submit to God with a teachable heart. I know this is hard, but if the depth of the trial we are in is really doing its work in us, we will submit to God because we know we have nowhere else to go. Patience will develop.

Finally, when the depths of life’s overwhelming circumstances come upon us, we cling more to the Word of God – “In His word I hope.” God will put us in the depths of situations to drive us to total reliance upon His Word. He knows we only trust Him when we cannot trust ourselves or anything else. It takes hard times to develop faith in us. Hard times really do become learning times; a learning that teaches us to rely more and more on God’s unfailing promises.

Lessons from the deep. They are life-changing as God does His greatest work in us in the depths of life’s difficulties. Be teachable when they come.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to be teachable when trials are long, and my heart is hurting.”

QUOTE: “Let tough times be teaching times, not fretting or complaining times.”