Psalm 130 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 130 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
Verse 2Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!
Verse 3If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?
Verse 4But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.
Verse 5I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
Verse 6my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.
Verse 7O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.
Verse 8It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
Devotion
When I lived in the Northern climate, I suffered from seasonal affective disorder (SAD)—a depression caused by too much darkness. The only remedy was for me to sit under “my lamp” and take vitamin D. The writer of this “Song of Ascents” cries out to God in some form of pain, be it depression, poverty, grief, abuse, illness, causing feelings of being deep in the pits of life. Still the psalmist cries out from the depths, confident that the God of mercy will hear and respond.
Even in the deepest pits of life, my soul can wait on the Lord, knowing that with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with God there is power to redeem. God hears our cries from our depths, meeting us in the abyss of our pain and suffering and walks with us in and through it, sharing and leading us to the light of God’s redemption.
Prayer
Almighty God, we give thanks that even when we are in the dark depths of life, you hear our cry, you come to us, lifting us up and showing us the light of your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.
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