Hope in God – Psalm 130

A text – Psalm 130

130:1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.
130:2 Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!
130:3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?
130:4 But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.
130:5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
130:6 my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.
130:7 O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.
130:8 It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.

A reflection:

In my 20s I was in a very small, very precise 12-person choir. Of the many beautiful songs we sang, a version of Psalm 130 by Paul Manz was my favorite. I see the words on a Bible page and immediately hear the arrangement. It seems to be a lament, coming from deep sadness. Yet, maybe because to the beauty of the Manz melody, it always seems to me to be full of hope. We cry to the Lord from the depths with our supplications. But we know the Lord can hear us and that there is hope. We wait for that rescue, we hope for that love to be shown. We know that the Lord is capable of everlasting love and redemption. Sometimes a sung psalm conveys that better than words on a page.

I live near I94, a freeway that is well travelled by lake cabin people, by over-the-road truckers, and by commuters from small towns to bigger cities. We joke that, if you’re going to have car trouble, that’s the road you want to be on, because there is perpetual hope of rescue. Motorists of all kinds pass by all the time. Even if you’ve had a really bad accident, you know help will arrive.

You and I have our troubles. Some of them are routine. Some are even small. Some of them seem much larger and harder to solve. Some are actually insurmountable. But what a beautiful thing to have a Lord who listens and can bring hope and love. And to have composers and musicians to help lift us out of our depths. We have hope of rescue, whatever our trouble. Our God is love.

For a performance of this Manz piece decades later from the same congregation but a much larger choir, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=KnqNMryFFWk.            Sorry for the ads.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for being our God, the One who hears us. Thank you for being there to give us hope of rescue and forgiveness. Help us to remember that, no matter our sadness, you are bigger and deeper than we can comprehend.   Amen.