Reflections
Pastor Rollan Fisher
Focus: We must learn to sing our ongoing song of ascent to God.
A Cry
For Forgiveness
Watching and Waiting
A Song of Ascents
Psalm 130:1-8 ESV
“Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.”
Songs of ascents are particularly referring to a group that are found in Psalms 120-134 which were sung by worshipers on their way up to Jerusalem for annual festivals including Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles.
They were songs of reflection on the goodness and faithfulness of God that inspired hope and joy at the prospect of reuniting with God and experiencing his full redemption.
In between now and Pentecost (which this year we will celebrate June 9th), it is a good reflection as we meditate on the implications of the hope we have in Jesus.
Eight verses communicate eight truths about the pilgrimage on which we find ourselves as we walk towards maturity in Christ.
A Cry
We all have a cry that comes out of our hearts which clamors for God.
Verse one:
Psalm 130:1 ESV
“Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!”
Along the journey there will be highs and there will be lows - do not be surprised by this nor lose your grounding because of it.
Instead, learn to cry out to the Lord in the midst of these times - develop a life of prayer.
Verse two:
Psalm 130:2 ESV
“O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!”
There is an expectation that we not only cry out to God, but that he hears us - not because of our goodness, but because of his mercy.
God’s mercy is him withholding from us what we actually deserve.
Verse 3:
Why does God show us mercy?
Have you gone too far?
Are you the exception?
Psalm 130:3 ESV
“If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?”
No one has been perfect and no one is perfect on the journey.
Don’t give up as you are being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ.
The fact that you are here is a sign that God is still drawing and working on you.
Romans 2:4 ESV
“Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”
For Forgiveness
At its heart, the cry is for redemption and forgiveness.
Verse 4:
Psalm 130:4 ESV
“But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.”
We fear God because not only because he created us, not only because he breathed life into us, but because he can also destroy our lives in judgment
That judgement would be just because he is righteous and fair.
Yet in the midst of a just judgment, God offers a pathway to forgiveness.
Your life does not have to be marked by condemnation.
There is forgiveness and freedom in Christ and therefore he is honored, revered and feared.
Romans 8:1-4 ESV
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Watching and Waiting
Learning what it means to watch and wait are key to our life in God.
Verse 5:
Psalm 130:5 ESV
“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;”
These things are true not because I feel it, but because God said it.
I wait for the Lord by putting my hope and trust in not what my heart tries to tell me (it can lie to me), but the gracious words God has said.
Verse 6:
Psalm 130:6 ESV
“my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.”
The watching and waiting of the watchmen was one of both responsibility and duty.
The duty was a charge given to watch for the blessings and dangers of oncoming caravans and hordes.
The execution of their responsibilities had personal, familial and impact for their people.
It is no different as we learn to wait on the Lord today, having an eternal impact for the Kingdom.
I serve God dutifully whether feeling up or down because I’ve been given a charge and God is on his way.
Waiting for the Lord does not mean that we sit and do nothing.
Waiting means attending to him as one would as part of a wait staff at a restaurant, as we look to and help speed his return by being involved in his great commission (Matthew 28:18-20).
Luke 12:35-48 ESV
“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." Peter said, "Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?" And the Lord said, "Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed in coming,' and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.”
Verse 7:
Psalm 130:7 ESV
“O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.”
We need to have our minds renewed to God’s disposition towards us.
Plentiful means plentiful.
Redemption means that he is able to buy us back from both the power and penalty of our sin.
It does not mean there is no consequence.
However it does mean that because of God’s steadfast love, we can be set on a different course.
Verse 8:
Psalm 130:8 ESV
“And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.”
We need to camp here.
This is what helps us to persevere.
God is willing and able to buy us back from all of our wrongdoing.
As the song goes:
There's no sin too great
There's no pain too deep
The cross declares it is done
There's no shame too real
That His love won't heal
Forever the victory is won
(Let's sing it out)
He has broken the chains
He has conquered the grave
His grace changes everything
And by the power of His blood
We are daughters and sons
His grace changes everything
His grace changes everything
- Grace Changes Everything by Victory Worship ‧ 2014
Where do we see a summary of this reflected clearly in the New Testament?:
Titus 3:4-7 ESV
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
This is all because Jesus lived the perfect life that we should have lived, on the cross died the sacrificial death that we should have died, in our place, and three days later rose from the dead to offer forgiveness of sins and eternal life to those who would repent of their sins and entrust themselves to Christ.
Let’s come to God and sing our song of ascents to him today!