The Mercy of the Lord

Out of the Depths

He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.—Psalm 40:2

A verse-by-verse study in Psalm 130

Psalm 130 is the eleventh of the fifteen “Songs of Degrees.” While many attribute these to Hezekiah, others, more justifiably we think, believe these were songs sung by pilgrims on their way to one of the feasts in Jerusalem.

Many of them fit the geography of one coming from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulon as they passed through the rugged and robber-infested hill country of Samaria. The closing two are suggestive of the sights seen as they neared the holy city and saw other like-minded pilgrims coming from all directions to pay their homage to God.

In still another sense it is appropriate to call this a psalm of degrees, or ascents, for it climbs steadily from the abyss of penitence to the summits of hope. It falls into two divisions of four verses each. The first breathes the prayer of a soul penetrated by the consciousness of sin, the latter expresses the peaceful expectance of one who has tasted God’s forgiving mercy. Both parts are divided into two groups of two verses, making four stages in the psalmist’s progress from the depths to the sunny heights.

Out of the Depths—Psalm 130:1,2

Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.

“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 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 threads of experience. In every life, under the present reign of sin and evil, the somber 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”—Reprints, p. 1759

The opening words of this psalm are particularly fitting if the anticipated feast was the Day of Atonement with its associated Feast of Tabernacles (booths). This was a national day of repentance as well as a commemoration of the nation’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage in the Exodus.

The depth of the Israelites’ slavery experience was paralleled by their knowledge that they remained in a different slavery, enslavement to sin and death. As they cried out for relief from oppression in Egypt, now their souls cried out for release from the Law that condemned them for their own sins and imperfections. As Pastor Russell observed in the article previously cited, “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.” Another commentator wrote, “The beginning of true personal religion is the sense of personal sin.”

Some early manuscripts read, “From the bottom of my heart, that is, with all lowliness and humility …” The one in the lowest pit better sees the stars above. It is an ever-present temptation, when sorely buffeted by trials, to feel abandoned. In contrast, it is in the depths of woe that the psalmist calls for help from his God.

Consider the case of Job, who says in his despair: “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: on the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him” (Job 23:8, 9). Job had looked everywhere for God but one; he needed to look up. All too often we likewise err.

The burden of the pilgrim’s call is that the Lord hears his prayer. It is better for our prayer to be heard than answered. If the Lord will but hear, let us leave it to his superior wisdom as to how he will answer.

Forgiveness Assured—Psalm 130:3,4

If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

The apostle Paul writes, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Thus no one can face the bar of strict justice on his own. How fortunate we are that the Lord tempers his justice with mercy. The Christian has the assurance that, “If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not” (2 Corinthians 8:12).

The Hebrew word shamar (Strong’s #8104) includes not only the thought of taking notice of, but also “keeping in memory” as in Genesis 37:11 where Jacob observes, or remembers, Joseph’s dreams. This is the thought in this verse of the psalm. Jehovah does note our weaknesses and shortcomings, but does not hold them in memory to be used against us in our ultimate judgment. Truly, the LORD “knoweth our frame; he remembereth we are dust” (Psalm 103:14).

This does not mean that we bear no responsibility for our sins, or that they are forgiven without discipline. Call to mind the final assessment of the life of David: “Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite” (1 Kings 15:5). David paid dearly for that sin including the life of his firstborn by Bathsheba. Yet God preserved him in the kingship and vouchsafed it to his posterity by an everlasting covenant (Isaiah 55:3).

It is this forgiving nature of God that draws us so closely to him. Though we praise him for his holiness and his power, it is his mercy that produces our reverence and love for him. As Pastor Russell well notes, “If God were not forgiving and merciful, we might indeed be in terror before him; but we could not love him, neither would we have the same incentives to righteousness, because if he were not willing to forgive, where would be the advantage or wisdom of repentance” (Reprints, p. 3599).

Waiting on the Lord—Psalm 130:5,6

I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.

The third aspect of this psalm is in the patient waiting for the manifestation of our heavenly Father’s forgiveness: “Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us” (Psalm. 123:2).

Patience is an acquired virtue. We are not born with it, nor does it come upon us suddenly. It must be established step-by-step over a period of time. It is built on trust that comes from seeing promises fulfilled and contentment that unfulfilled ones will be met in due time.

God loves his children too well to cause them any needless sorrow or suffering. Though the answers to our prayers seem to tarry long, they will surely come. Here is how the apostle Paul expresses it: “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20).

It has been said that “The future is as bright as the promises of God.” It is in the assurances of God’s word that we can confidently wait and trust. Eight times in Psalm 119 the writer invokes the merciful loving kindness of God on the basis of his promises: “I intreated thy favour with my whole heart: be merciful unto me according to thy word” (Psalm 119:58; see also verses 9, 25, 41, 76, 154, 169, and 170).

According to Adam Clarke, “The word kavah, which we translate ‘to wait,’ properly signifies the extension of a cord from one point to another. This is a fine metaphor: God is one point, the human heart is the other; and the extended cord between both is the earnest believing desire of the soul.”

David uses an apt metaphor for this patient waiting: “as they that watch for the morning.” The Expositors Bible has caught the force of this figure: “As they who have out watched the long night look eagerly to the flush that creeps up in the east, telling that their vigil is past, and heralding the stir and life of a new day with its wakening birds and fresh morning airs, so this singer’s eyes had turned to God and to Him only. … Consciousness of sin was as a dark night; forgiveness flushed the Eastern heaven with prophetic twilight. So the psalmist waits for the light, and his soul is one aspiration towards God.”

Ask anyone who has been in pain on their sickbed or suffers from insomnia and they will tell you how slowly the hours seem to pass before the dawn’s fresh glow first brightens their windows. Yet this was probably not the image in the psalmist’s mind. David may have thought of the countless nights he had spent on the lonely hills tending sheep while fighting off sleepiness as he tried to stay awake to protect the flock.

The Chaldee presents still a different thought. It reads: “More than they who observe the morning watches, that they may offer the morning oblation.” Still another idea is conveyed in the Septuagint: “My soul has hoped in the Lord; from the morning watch till night.” Yet others have translated it: “My soul waiteth for the Lord from the morning watches to the morning watches” (i.e., “I wait both day and night”).

Israel’s Long Wait—Psalm 130:7,8

Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

The hope and promise of forgiveness is now broadened from the penitent sinner to the entire nation. After all, the Day of Atonement was a national day of redemption. Its sacrifices were to cleanse the tabernacle, and later the temple and its altar for another year of personal offerings.

The message is now evangelistic. The pardon offered to one is available to all, both individually and collectively. This hope is not a deserved one, but a sign of mercy. The word translated “mercy” (hachesed) has the definite article ha as a prefix, emphasizing it as that merciful forgiveness of verse four.

It is a mercy that not only promises forgiveness but plenteous redemption. When God spoke to Moses in the holy mount, it was just such an overwhelming forgiveness that he promised: “And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth” (Exodus 34:6).

The prophet Isaiah reiterates this generous assurance: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:7).

The word translated iniquities (avon, Strong’s #5771) in the final verse of this reassuring psalm is not to be grouped with the more common word for sin (chattah, Strong’s #2398). The latter means “to miss the mark” and speaks of unintentional and inherited sin; the former literally means “lawlessness” and is particularly fitting to describe Israel’s failure to keep God’s law.

The message of this psalm is easier to comprehend than to apply. For those in the depths of despair and woe, the psalmist’s assurance is that if one will but wait patiently and prayerfully upon the Lord, there is not only forgiveness for our repented sins, but a return of tranquility including the “peace of God, which passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).