Psalm 130 (NIV)
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;
2 Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
5 I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.
6 I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.
7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.
8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.
Do you ever feel like you are as low as you can get? Like you are in a pit with no way out? I’ve heard some people say they would get right with God once they get some things straightened out in their life. I think we sometimes feel like we have to clean ourselves up before we can come to God. But the truth is that we can do nothing in our own strength to prepare ourselves to come before God.
David knew that he had to call on God from the “depths,” from the place where he found that he had fallen. It’s not like we have to climb out of the pit to a certain point before we ask God to forgive us. God already sees us where we are. He already knows the condition we are in. Even when we are feeling like we have messed up too much, if we will turn to God, He will lift us up.
In verse 3, David recognized that if God didn’t forgive sin, no one would ever be able to come to Him. Even the person we may think is the most moral person we have ever met cannot stand before God without sin. However, David went on to add verse 4. God does forgive. He cleanses us from every sin, no matter how bad we think we have messed up.
Then once we are forgiven, we should be like David said in verse 5. Our “whole being” should be longing, desiring to be as close to God as possible. After all, apart from God we are worthless. But with God, with the blood of Christ covering all of our sins, we are as righteous before God as Christ. So if we can go from worthless to royalty by receiving the wonderful gift of salvation, how can we not want to give all of ourselves to Him? God’s love is unfailing and His forgiveness is complete. All we have to do is say, “Out of the depths I cry to You, Lord.”