Crying from the Deep

This first Sunday of Advent, consider what depths you or others close to you are experiencing. Many around the world are in dire situations. Use this prayer for yourself or in solidarity with others who are in a similar situation—where death seems more real than life and God seems remote. Even from here, cries can ascend to God, who in the exodus “made a road in the depths of the sea” (Isa. 51:10). When sin is recognized (Psa. 130 is one of only seven so-called “penitential psalms”: Psa. 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143), one can look to God for forgiveness.

In court a convicted person is usually worried more about the penalty than the actual crime, so it is important for us to remember the many programs of restorative justice and victim-offender reconciliation. The psalmist seeks forgiveness, not simply to relieve distress but more significantly “so that we can, with reverence, serve you” (4). The God-ward focus makes the psalm fitting as “a song of ascents,” probably used in the final stage of Israel’s pilgrimage to the Temple. Christians pray, “forgive us our debts,” in the context of praying “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven” (Matt. 6:9–13).

To pray this psalm is to be part of the community of God’s people (“Israel”; 7), who look expectantly to God for full redemption. The individual or community “can only be on the lookout for what God is doing… The dabar [“word,” 5] which the petitioner awaits, Jesus Christ brings (Matt. 9:2). More than that, Jesus is the (Word) in which the God of Israel fulfils his free grace” (Hans-Joachim Kraus, Theology of the Psalms, 60–150). We rejoice in the certainty of forgiveness, yet still with the psalmist, we wait expectantly for the coming “full redemption” (7), the time when “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Rev. 21:4).

As you use this psalm in hope, use your own words after “so that…” (4).