Consider the “Song Of Ascents” from Psalm 130.

Psalm 130 often appears under the heading, “A Song of Ascents”. These Psalms or songs of ascents were common songs that were sung by everyday people as they ascended to the city of Jerusalem from the countryside. Songs of ascent would bring the minds of the people into focus before they entered the city to give sacrifices at the temple.

Throughout this message, try to keep this in mind. Try to remember that this was an actual song that was written by someone and was actually sung by the people of Israel.

Psalm 130:1-8

“1 Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD; 2 Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. 3 If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you. 5 I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. 6 I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. 7 Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. 8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.“ (Ps. 130:1-8)

There are a lot of amazing things we can pull out of eight verses! I’d like to walk through and hit some highlights. In particular, I’d like to walk through this Psalmist’s experience within three areas:

1. The Psalmist’s Initial Response
2. The Psalmist’s Recovery Plan
3. The Psalmist’s Testimony

The Psalmist’s Initial Response – Vs. 1-3

To start with, a couple of weeks ago, when I began studying this Psalm; a couple of questions kept coming to my mind: What happened to this guy and what did he do? Look at this again and sense the desperation in his writing:

“1 Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD; 2 Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. 3 If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?”

Crazy right? Let’s think about this for a moment. For a moment, bear with me and let’s pretend this Psalm was never written.

You sit down on the couch and in the crack of the couch is a folded piece of scratch paper. You open it up and in your son’s, daughter’s or maybe your spouse’s handwriting, you see these words:

“1 Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD; 2 Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. 3 If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?”

How much more is your heart stirred by these words now? Your heart would be burdened, wondering what kind of trouble they’ve got themselves into. And yet, you would be glad of one thing: That they cried out to the Lord! Their first response was to cry out!

You see, our loved ones, you and I sitting here today, we are always one or two decisions away from deep trouble. At any given moment, we are a couple of decisions away from damaging ourselves and the people around us. We are a few decisions away from being in the depths. Some of us are in the depths today.

When our sin has brought us to a place of despair, we do have choices. Some of us chose to handle it on our own, in secret. Of course, this usually means distancing ourselves from God and the people who love us and want the best for us. Many times, we try to find an alternative remedy for our despair, but they’re all fleeting.

Today, our Psalmist is showing us, that anyone who is struggling should begin their return to the Lord by crying out to Him. This Psalm and our recovery begin with crying out.

The Psalmist’s Recovery Plan – VS. 4-6

As we end verse three and the Psalmist’s cry for mercy, his thought process turns to the One whom he cries out to. Here we see the Psalmist’s recovery unfold.

“4 But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you. 5 I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. 6 I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.”

The Psalmist acknowledges that forgiveness is available and that with reverence, the response is service. Lord, because you have forgiven me time and time again; I choose to bow down before you, awaiting your call to service. Our response to forgiveness is reverence and service.

As we continue further, the Psalmist says that he waits! That’s his next step, nothing! More specifically he waits on the Lord, putting his hope in the Word of the Lord. His eyes are fixed on God’s word and he waits.

The next part has been the most interesting for me to study this week; he waits for the Lord, “…more than watchmen wait for the morning.” The Psalmist chooses to use watchmen to describe his waiting on the Lord. Furthermore, this is stated twice, which tells us that this is an important piece of this passage.

If we think about this watchman concept for a moment. A watchman has a huge responsibility, while everyone sleeps, he is in charge of reporting dangers that may be approaching. Whether thieves, storms or invading enemies; he must be steadfast in his watch. Then at dawn, as the sun breaks, the watchman breathes a sigh of relief as his time of rest has arrived.

Once we have cried out to the Lord and we wait, placing our hope in His Word; our waiting should mirror this concept. We should be attentive, not distracted. Our focus should be steadfast, not allowing fatigue to wear us down. In our lives, there are thieves, storms and invading enemies that wish to break down everything we cherish.

As we walk through this life, we should remain as the watchman; attentive and steadfast to our position with Christ. We should be resisting our sinful desires that would break down the walls of everything we have committed to uphold and protect. Our time of rest will soon be here. The dawn will soon break!

The Psalmist’s Testimony – VS. 7-8

As we round out this Psalm, we see the Psalmist move the focus from himself to his people. In the last two verses, he turns this Psalm into a testimony of what God has done and what He will do.

“7 Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. 8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.“

It’s almost like the Psalmist is saying to the people of Israel, look at my redemption story. And now that you’ve heard my story, know that you may also receive the same unfailing love and forgiveness. In verse five, the Psalmist spoke of putting his hope in the Lord. Now, he speaks of hope again, encouraging the people of Israel to put their hope in the Lord as well.

Finally, verse eight is a direct complete thought and promise. Israel will be redeemed from their sins. Keeping in mind that this was written far before Jesus ever walked the earth. Bringing us back to today, many years after this song was written; we can learn a lot from this Psalmist.

We too should be telling our redemption story. Perhaps, in song or poetry like this man. We all have a testimony of God’s unfailing love and we owe it to this world to share it willingly and often.

Bringing It All Together

Now that we’ve explored this Psalm a bit, let’s remember that this was an actual song that people knew and sang. Try to imagine, common people, singing this song of ascent as they walked across the countryside. Everyone, young and old, knows every lyric by heart.

As they sang, surely the words brought forward heart issues in their lives that needed to be addressed, before they entered the city and the temple courts. The amazing thought is that this all started with one person crying out to God! One person, convicted and ashamed, longing for restoration, crying out! We should be encouraged to cry out.

This Psalmist found his hope in God’s word and we need this God’s Word to pierce us and cause us to cry out as well. Perhaps, you’ve got a friend or family member who is struggling in the depths? I’d encourage you to come alongside of them, comfort them and maybe help them cry out. Perhaps, write out this Psalm on a card or in a letter? It might be exactly what they need to start waiting on the Lord.

Join the Conversation, Leave Your Thoughts

• Should you or someone you know be crying out?
• What happens to our pride when we cry out to God?
• What happens to our fear when we cry out to God?