(A Song of degrees.) Out of the depths do I call upon thee, Jehovah.
Psalm 130 opens with a man sunk so low that all he can do is call upward. What are these "depths"? Does a person in them have any right to expect God to listen?
The psalm before this one looked outward at what Israel suffered from others. This one turns the gaze inward.
Psalm 129 reviewed the outward afflictions of Israel in the presence of the righteousness of the Lord. Psalm 130 describes the inward distress of soul because of sins seen in the light of the mercy of the Lord.
That shift makes this a worse trouble than persecution, because the pain now comes from within.
In this psalm it is not enemies that cause the cry of distress, but it is worse, for it is out of the depths the psalmist cries to God (v. 1). The depths have to do with his own sin, for God makes us more deeply feel this than opposition from without. For it is well said that our worst enemy is ourselves.
Read the first verses together and you hear a particular kind of voice — someone who has stopped defending himself.
David's afflictions increased until he was brought into the depths — not merely of trouble but of repentance. If the first three verses of Psalm 130 be attentively read, it will be seen that here we have the language of a repentant man, who knew he could not stand in the presence of the Lord as the marker of iniquities.
The opening words sound like the end of hope. Commentators read them the opposite way — as the doorway.
But it is the one thing needed if we are to enjoy God's favour. What had brought Israel into the depths? It was their sins, their iniquities. There can never be hope for anyone until they, like Israel, come to feel and own their guilt. So the depths are a blessed place, when they are the result of the Spirit of God's work… The deeper a soul goes down before God under the sense of its sin, the more certain it is to enter a great and glorious deliverance. So let no one ever try to cut short this work in a soul that feels its sin. We can never feel too deeply how sinful sin is.
Being low is not the turning point. What matters is where the cry goes.
Though Israel was in the depths, he turned to the Lord. This is the blessed fruit of grace. It was the same with the tax collector. He felt his utter unworthiness so deeply that he would not even lift his eyes to heaven, yet he beat his breast and cried, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." … This is the sure pathway to blessing. As soon as the sinner's eye turns to the Lord, faith has sprung up in the soul, however weak it is, and the light of the coming day has already begun to drive away the darkness that had wrapped around it.
Some despair only fears punishment. This cry is different, and the difference goes deep.
But this is not just distress under the law. Confidence in Jehovah marks it, though deep distress and humiliation go with it. This is what happens when the sense of sin and the sense of mercy meet in the soul. Distress under law alone is more selfish in its terror, though it is good at destroying confidence in self and throwing the soul on mercy. Conviction joined with a sense of mercy feels more that it has wronged the God of goodness. It is a deeper work after all.
The psalm does not stop at pardon. Its closing note goes past the symptoms to the cause.
Psalm 130 starts with the words "Out of the depths." That is where we have all come from, and what depths they were! … In a much earlier Psalm there had been the cry, "Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles" (Ps. 25:22). But troubles are only symptoms and results, while iniquities are the cause. We have not started on the upward way unless we have seen the depths we were sunk in and cried to the Lord out of them. That is how we taste His forgiveness for the guilt of our iniquities, and know His redeeming power rescuing us from under their weight and oppression.
How far does that pardon reach? The answer is set by the atonement, not by the size of the sin.
There is no limit at all to divine forgiveness. There is no limit to how far the atonement reaches. There is no limit to the power and effect of the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, which cleanses from all sin.
- Depths. The trouble is not what others have done to you. It is your own sin, and that cuts deeper than any attack from outside.
- Down. Being low is not the disaster it feels like. It is the ground where blessing starts, and no one should rush a soul through it.
- Direction. A loud cry saves no one. A cry aimed at the Lord does. The moment the eye turns to Him, faith has begun.
- Deeper. Sorrow that only dreads punishment is shallow. Sorrow that grieves at having wronged a good God goes deeper.
- Deliverance. God does not just lift you out of the trouble. He deals with the sin that put you there, and that forgiveness has no limit.
Lord, hear my voice; let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.
The psalm opens with a cry from the depths, and this verse is what the cry asks for: that God would hear. Commentators ask what sank the psalmist so low, and why a guilty person may still look for God's ear.
Writers connect the opening cry to David's own history, and read the "depths" as something deeper than hard circumstances.
The spiritual journey that David took began in the depths of repentance. No doubt the depth of his afflictions helped him there. If we have never been in the depths of repentance, we have never yet started on the journey at all.
If sin is what sank the psalmist, then feeling the weight of it is not a detour from blessing but the road to it — and one commentator warns against rushing anyone through it.
Nothing could be sadder than the condition shown in the opening words of this psalm. Yet it is the necessary requirement for enjoying God's favour. For what had brought Israel into the depths? It was their sins, their iniquities. There can never be hope for anyone until, like Israel, they are brought to feel and own their guilt. To be in the depths, therefore, is a blessed place when it is the result of a work of the Spirit of God... The deeper a soul gets down before God under the sense of its sin, the more certain it is to enter into a remarkable and glorious deliverance. So let no one ever try to cut short the deep inner work in a convicted soul. There cannot be too deep a sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin.
Everything turns on the direction of the plea. The same writer sets it beside the tax collector in Jesus' parable, who would not lift his eyes to heaven.
But if Israel were in the depths, he turned to the Lord. This is the blessed fruit of grace. It was the same with the tax collector. He would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, so deeply did he feel his own unworthiness. Yet he beat his breast and cried, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" So Israel, in our Psalm, cried, "O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!" This is the sure pathway to blessing. As soon as the sinner's eye turns to the Lord, faith has sprung up in the soul, however feebly. The light of the coming day has already begun to drive back the darkness that covered it.
The cry carries distress, but not fear alone. One writer separates two kinds of distress and says this psalm holds the deeper one.
Psalm 130 takes up the sins of Israel as between the people and God. This is not merely legal distress. Confidence in Jehovah marks it, though it comes with deep distress and humiliation. That is what the sense of sin and the sense of mercy produce together in the soul. Mere legal distress is more selfish in its terror. It is still admirable, for it destroys confidence in self and throws the soul on mercy. But conviction joined with a sense of mercy is more the sense of having wronged the God of goodness. It is a deeper work after all.
The plea asks for God's ear. One writer notices which name of God this psalm appeals to, and what that name means for a guilty people.
Note — This psalm is marked out by its appeal to "Adonai." The reason is clear. He is indeed the Deliverer of His people, but He is also judge of the wicked on earth. Yet His people are chargeable with iniquities. How then? There is forgiveness. This is a deeply solemn question for them.
One writer applies this cry to any believer who has failed. He then draws a line between pardon and daily walk.
We can still look to God in our weakness, our failure, and even when we have erred and sinned. Blessed be His Name, His ear is always open to our cry. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness"... There is no limit at all to divine forgiveness. There is no limit to the extent of the atonement. There is no limit to the value and effect of the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, which cleanses from all sin.
A soul crying to God from the depths and getting forgiveness is one thing. A soul looking to Him in the path of practical righteousness is quite another. We must keep these two things distinct.
- Depths — the cry starts where sin has sunk the soul. Commentators read this as repentance, not just hard times.
- Direction — the moment the sinner's eye turns to the Lord, faith has already begun to work.
- Duration — no one should hurry a soul out of this place. The lower it goes, the greater the deliverance ahead.
- Address — the psalmist appeals to the One who delivers His people and also judges the wicked. That is what makes forgiveness so solemn a question.
- Answer — His ear is always open to the believer who fails. But finding pardon and walking in practical righteousness are two different things.
If thou, Jah, shouldest mark iniquities, Lord, who shall stand?
Psalm 130 opens with a cry from the depths. By the third verse it is clear that the deepest trouble is sin itself. The singer is not asking God to lift his circumstances. He asks what would happen if God kept a record of wrongs.
David's own troubles lie behind these words — and something deeper than troubles.
David's troubles grew until they brought him into the depths — not just the depths of trouble, but of repentance. Read the first three verses of Psalm 130 with care and you will see the language of a repentant man. He knew he could not stand in the presence of the Lord as the marker of iniquities. This Psalm holds the confession of personal sin and unworthiness... and it ends with the confident expectation of redemption from all iniquities.
The verse turns on the word "mark" — and on what would follow if God did it.
In the presence of the Lord the repentant soul learns three great truths. First, no sinner can stand before God on the ground of his own merit. To mark iniquities means to notice them, or to keep them in memory so as to punish them. If the Lord does that, there is no hope for man — none can stand (Job 10:14; Job 14:16). Second, we have no standing before God through our own merits — but there is forgiveness through His mercy.
The Psalms use the word "stand" again and again. One writer gathers those verses and ties them to God's throne.
"The wicked will not stand in the judgment" (1:5). "The boastful shall not stand before your eyes" (5:5). "Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused?" (76:7). "If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?" (130:3). These passages clearly connect the thought of standing with the throne of God. That throne must act in judgment against the sinner — unless, as the last psalm quoted shows, God can forgive the guilty one... Before that throne, then, the sinner in his sins cannot stand. It is not taught here that his standing has been a bad one, or that he must change it. On the contrary, it is plainly stated that as a sinner he has no standing before a God of judgment.
The verse can stir a hope that God will leave sin unmarked. One writer follows that hope to its end.
Here we find a soul in deep distress, crying out of the depths, and dreading that God should mark iniquity... There is a clear struggle here, and perhaps an effort to hide sin. The soul is afraid to make the worst known. It fears to lose the hope that came from sin not being marked. Such a hope is vain; such an effort is futile. God must know the very worst; there must be a full confession and a total, unreserved surrender. It is useless to conceal any part of the truth. Yet the soul shrinks back from telling everything. It dreads punishment. It holds false thoughts of God, and its misery deepens!
Admitting the verse's answer is not defeat. It settles two positions at once.
First, then, there is the confession of the holiness of God, and of what sin deserves. Not one on the face of the whole earth could stand before God's all-searching eye on the ground of his own merits. It is a great thing when the soul sees this. Then it will not try to justify itself. It will admit, frankly and fully, that it is subject to the righteous judgment of God. This gives God His place, and puts the soul, at the same time, into its only proper place before God.
The same verse answers a common complaint about God's apparent silence toward evil.
People ask why God does not judge at once the men whose uncontrolled, devil-inspired ambitions break up the peace of the nations. But if God were to judge all the bad men in the world, how many would escape? "If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?" (Ps. 130:3). God is not indifferent to the unrighteousness of men... but this is not the day of judgment but of mercy.
- Depths — The cry rises out of repentance, not out of trouble alone.
- Marked — To "mark" is to notice sins and keep them in memory to punish them; if God did that, no one could stand on his own merit.
- Standing — The word belongs to God's throne. The sinner's standing there is not poor, it is non-existent.
- Silence — Hiding any part of the truth is useless. God must know the very worst, and the soul that hides only deepens its own misery.
- Mercy — Owning the answer gives God His place and puts you in yours. And judgment waits, because today is the day of mercy.
But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
Verse 3 leaves a person with no footing at all: if God kept a record of sins, no one could stand. Verse 4 answers that dread. It does not lower God's standard. It points to something in God Himself. Then it draws a conclusion most readers would not expect: forgiveness produces fear, not ease.
The psalm puts pardon in one place only: with God. The people praying here look nowhere else.
The chief interest of this Psalm is the deep sense that those praying express. They are helpless sinners before God. They hold on to Him, trusting His covenant name of mercy. At the same time they feel deeply that they are unfit for His presence. Forgiveness belongs to God, and they feel that forgiveness is their need. Their own iniquity has put them in the depths. Now a hand other than theirs must reach out and save them from the fruit of their own way.
A repentant soul learns three truths in order. The third says what forgiveness is for.
In the presence of the Lord the repentant soul learns three great truths. First, no sinner can stand before God on the ground of his own merit. If the Lord marks iniquities — watching them, or keeping them in memory to punish — there is no hope for man. None can stand. Second, if we cannot stand before God by our own merits, there is still forgiveness through His mercy. Third, if God forgives it is that He may be feared, and not that men may think lightly of their sin or of God's mercy.
The wording feels wrong at first glance. One writer admits it, then shows the word is exact.
The fear of the Lord is the next thing the Psalm dwells on. Where the knowledge of His grace is real, it will surely lead there. "But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared." We might have expected it to say "loved" instead. But we may be sure there is no mistake. Grace leads to intimacy with God. The knowledge of God gained by one brought near to Him drives slavish fear out; it does not produce it.
Two kinds of fear go by the same name.
There is the fear of torment; and there is the fear of forgiveness. How terrible the one! How sweet the other! Reader, mark the divine order: "But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared."
Forgiveness creates a horror of sinning again against such kindness.
Note those words: "that you may be feared." God's forgiving grace always meets the broken-hearted confession of the one who has gone wrong. In the forgiven person that grace produces a deep sense of God's goodness, and with it a deep sense of how serious sin is. So he fears to grieve such a loving, patient, gracious One again. Such fear is not the fear that has torment. It is a godly, wholesome fear of sin.
One objection comes up often: full pardon must make people careless. The shape of the psalm rules it out.
Some have supposed that full and free forgiveness must produce carelessness and licence. And so it might, if God forgave us apart from repentance, and apart from a righteous basis for forgiveness laid in the work of redemption. But there is no forgiveness apart from these two things. The Psalm makes it plain: it begins with repentance and ends with redemption.
The sorrow in this psalm is not mere terror of consequences. Mercy is already in view, and that changes it.
It is not, however, now merely legal distress. Confidence in the Lord marks it, though it comes with deep distress and humbling. This comes from the sense of sin and the sense of mercy joining in the soul. Mere legal distress is more selfish in its terror. Still, it is excellent for destroying confidence in self and throwing the soul on mercy. Conviction joined with the sense of mercy is more the sense of having wronged the God of goodness. It is a deeper work after all. Verse 4 is the honest acknowledgment of where the need came from, with grace meeting that need.
- Depths — the cry starts at the bottom, where no one can stand on his own merit.
- With You — pardon is not something the sinner finds in himself. It belongs to God, and another hand must lift him out.
- Feared — the psalm says "feared" where we might expect "loved". Grace does not remove reverence; it clears the slavish fear out of it.
- Not torment — this fear means dreading to grieve a loving, patient God again. It is never the fear of punishment.
- Redemption — the psalm begins with repentance and ends with redemption. That is why free forgiveness can never mean a careless life.