(1) Adonai, I call to you from the depths;
2 hear my cry, Adonai!
Let your ears pay attention
to the sound of my pleading.
3 Yah, if you kept a record of sins,
who, Adonai, could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
so that you will be feared.
5 I wait longingly for Adonai;
I put my hope in his word.
6 Everything in me waits for Adonai
more than guards on watch wait for morning,
more than guards on watch wait for morning.
7 Isra’el, put your hope in Adonai!
For grace is found with Adonai,
and with him is unlimited redemption.
8 He will redeem Isra’el
from all their wrongdoings.
Have you ever experienced "the depths?" In life's journeys, we often feel desperately lost in places and circumstances we never imagined or which are not of our own choosing. Alternatively, perhaps we make poor decisions or take sinful actions that result in painful, broken relationships and a sense of desolation. Oppressed by our burden of regrets, we may feel hopeless.
The psalmist, too, had fallen into this pit of despair. However, the psalmist remembered that God seeks to reconcile. He cried out to God and awaited a forgiven, redeemed relationship with God. The psalmist experienced hope. Then he appealed to his co-travelers and reminded them of God's loving forgiveness and redemptive reconciliation. He shared the message of hope.
Are you in despair's depths? God seeks to reconcile with you. God hears your cries. God forgives you. Once freed from your depths, could you share the hope-filled message of God's love with a despairing co-traveler?
Gracious God, we exalt you for the unmerited love and reconciliation you impart. We implore you to answer our cries; forgive our failure to trust you and our actions that cause our despair. Show us with whom we can share a message of hope. Amen.
Mary Simonson Clark
Redeemer Partner Engagement, Minneapolis, Minn.
Adjunct Instructor, Social Work, Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Minn.
Master of Arts in Theology/Master of Social Work , 2007
Psalm 130:1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
2 Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!
3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.
8 It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.[New Revised Standard Version]
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