Reflections on Psalm 130

The life of every human being has its lights and shadows, its seasons of joy and its depths of sorrow. These make up the 'warp' and 'woof' of experience, and the web of character that flows from the active loom of life. This will be fine and beautiful, or coarse and homely, according to the skill and carefulness with which the individual appropriates and weaves into it the thread of experience. In every life, under the present reign of sin and evil, the sombre shades predominate; and to such an extent that the Scriptures aptly describe humanity in its present condition as a "groaning creation". Nor is the Christian exempt from these conditions that are upon the whole world; for "we also groan within ourselves, waiting for deliverance." (Rom. 8.22, 23.)

But while we wait for the deliverance, the daily experiences of life have a most important mission to us, and the manner in which we receive and use them should be a matter of deepest concern to us. According to the use we make of them, each day's prosperity or adversity bears to us a blessing or a curse. Those experiences that we are accustomed to regard as prosperous often have in them subtle dangers. If wealth increases or friends multiply, how almost imperceptibly the heart finds satisfaction in earthly things. On the other hand when the keen edge of sorrow and disappointment are felt, when riches fail and friends forsake, and enemies take up a reproach against us, the natural temptation is to despondency and despair.

Just here is an important part of the great battle of the Christian's life. He must fight the natural tendencies of the old nature and confidently claim and anticipate the victory in the strength of the great Captain of his salvation. He must not succumb to the flattering and deceptive influences of prosperity, nor faint under the burden of adversity. He must not allow the trials of life to sour and harden his disposition, to make him morose, or surly or bitter, or unkind. Nor may he allow pride or ostentation or self-righteousness to grow and feed upon the temporal good things that the Lord's providence has granted him to test his faithfulness as a steward.

Sorrows indeed may, and often will, come in like a flood, but the Lord is our helper in all these things. The soul that has never known the discipline of sorrow and trouble has never yet learned the preciousness of the Lord's love and helpfulness. It is in seasons of overwhelming sorrow, when we draw near to the Lord, that He draws specially near to us. So the Psalmist found it, when, in deep affliction He cried to the Lord saying: "Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. O Lord, hear my voice: let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy" (Psa.130. 1,2). Feeling his own shortcomings and longing for full deliverance from every imperfection, and prophesying the bountiful provisions of the Divine plan of salvation through Christ, he adds: "If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, therefore you are feared."

How blessed are such assurances when the soul is painfully conscious of its infirmities and of its inability to measure up to the perfect law of righteousness. When the heart is true and loyal, God does not mark our infirmities in a record against us. They are not imputed to us, but are freely forgiven through Christ in whose merit we trust and whose righteousness is our glorious dress, arrayed in which we may come with humble boldness, even into the presence of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

If God so overlooks the weakness of our old nature and receives us into His fellowship in Christ, His children should look upon one another in the same light. It is different if these natural weaknesses are cultivated, indulged and justified so that the errors continue. (1 Cor.11.31, 32).

The Psalmist continues "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning." How necessary is this patient waiting for the Lord! In the midst of cares, perplexities, difficulties and infirmities we may remember that all the jarring discords of this life are working together for good to those that love the Lord, to those called according to His purpose. But for the consummation of this purpose of God towards us we must "wait ", and while waiting patiently, endure hardness as good soldiers. "Trust in the Lord and wait patiently for Him, and He will bring it to pass." Time is an important element in all God's plans: we are not, therefore, to be disappointed when the test of endurance is applied while the blessings we crave tarry long. God took time to frame the world and to fit it for human habitation. He waited to give the world its necessary experience with evil and time to prepare for the advent of Christ as the world's Redeemer. He gave time for the preparation of the church to share in Christ's glorious reign and time must be allowed for the shaping and adjusting of the individual experience of all His people. God has not forgotten when the answers to our prayers seem to tarry long. He who heeds the sparrow's fall and numbers the very hairs of our heads is not indifferent to the faintest call or the smallest necessity of His humblest child.

"My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning." Christ's brethren are not in darkness about the dawn of the morning, because they are taught by the Spirit (1Thess.5. 4) and their eyes of faith are on the Day Star. They know that "weeping may endure for the night but joy comes in the morning". Many can see signs that "the night is far spent and the day is at hand" and soon and in spite of terrible storms of trouble that will temporarily hide the signs of morning all the world will awake to the fact that "the morn breaks at last".

Many rejoice because in this age of human equality, general education, decreased toil, and increased privileges, comforts and luxuries but "God is not in their thoughts" when they look for the morning. They are not guided by God's revelation and only those guided by the Spirit know the mind of God.

(1 Cor.2.11,12). They fail to see the real object of the coming age of blessing, and are championing the interests of the masses against the advantages of the wealthy. They cannot see the greatest blessings of the new day. It will bring the great blessing of a trial for everlasting life; that it will be the world's Judgment Day, to determine who, under those favourable conditions, will come into harmony with God's character.

While God's people should appreciate the coming earthly blessings, more importantly, it is the Lord, His character and His work as the great Physician, Priest and King than earthly favours that will attend His kingdom's rule. They wait for the Lord Himself, longing to see the King in His beauty, the fairest among ten thousand, the one altogether lovely. Yes, truly we "wait for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning."

Then let all the Israel of God hope in the Lord (verses 7, 8), for with the Lord there is mercy; mercy not only in dealing with our infirmities, but also in shielding from overwhelming trials. He gives grace to help in every time of need to those who "abide in the Vine" by faith and obedience.