Help is on the Way – Psalm 130

A text – 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 they who watch for the morning, more than they 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.

A reflection:

My church choir when I was in high school and college sang this psalm, the Paul Manz composition, at least three times a year, and so I know these words very well. If you happen to know the Manz composition, you will know the beauty and lamentative spirit of it, and won’t soon forget the hope in it despite the misery. To me it just embodies Lent. There is deep darkness that one cannot escape, but you know that there is also help on the way, because the Lord is coming.

That must have been what Mary and Martha were feeling when they sent word to Jesus that Lazarus was ill. It felt dangerous and dark, but they knew help was on the way. When Lazarus died, without the long-awaited help coming in time, how did the sisters feel? They loved Jesus and they believed in extraordinary miracles from him.  But death – that’s the end, right? No one can raise the dead except God on the Last Day.

But Jesus did come, he wept for their sorrow and his own, and then Jesus did what could be done by no one else. He raised Lazarus from the dead. Read Psalm 130 Verses 7 and 8: “O, Israel, hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.” From death, in fact.  It is the Lord who will redeem us also, from all our iniquities. Do not doubt this. What Jesus did for Lazarus, he will do for us all. Death is still present, but it is not a final separation. Help is coming to all of us. Peace to your house.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for promising to save us. Help us to remember when we are in the depths to cry out for you, for you will come to us delivering help and salvation. Amen.