A Song of Ascents.
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
2 O Lord, hear my voice!Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.
7 O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.
8 And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
After the psalmist acknowledges that there is forgiveness with God, he says that he waits for God. What is he waiting for? I guess this has long been a concept I don't really understand. What does it mean to wait for God? I don't think it is referring to His coming, as in the advent of the Messiah, or the second coming of Christ. The context seems to suggest that it is expecting and looking forward to God's working in our lives and souls, and specifically forgiving our sins. But I have usually thought of forgiveness as an instantaneous thing, that we confess and are forgiven and can move on. Perhaps the Roman Catholic teaching of penance is more in accord with this.
I know this was an important passage for Luther, and he even wrote a hymn about it, but I do not have access to his commentaries or lectures on Psalms. I have also heard that John Owen wrote 320 pages on this Psalm, and he was anything but Catholic. I gave this question to my students today as a journal entry, but I was afraid to open it up to much discussion because I am still so confused about it myself and I am somewhat afraid to make myself and the students vulnerable. I need to open up more to the Spirit in my teaching. I also realized my own tendency to question church practices that I do not like, as today I was questioning the emphasis on quick decisions for Christ and simple presentations of the gospel. I ought to be quicker to question my own actions and practices.
After the psalmist acknowledges that there is forgiveness with God, he says that he waits for God. What is he waiting for? I guess this has long been a concept I don't really understand. What does it mean to wait for God? I don't think it is referring to His coming, as in the advent of the Messiah, or the second coming of Christ. The context seems to suggest that it is expecting and looking forward to God's working in our lives and souls, and specifically forgiving our sins. But I have usually thought of forgiveness as an instantaneous thing, that we confess and are forgiven and can move on. Perhaps the Roman Catholic teaching of penance is more in accord with this.
I know this was an important passage for Luther, and he even wrote a hymn about it, but I do not have access to his commentaries or lectures on Psalms. I have also heard that John Owen wrote 320 pages on this Psalm, and he was anything but Catholic. I gave this question to my students today as a journal entry, but I was afraid to open it up to much discussion because I am still so confused about it myself and I am somewhat afraid to make myself and the students vulnerable. I need to open up more to the Spirit in my teaching. I also realized my own tendency to question church practices that I do not like, as today I was questioning the emphasis on quick decisions for Christ and simple presentations of the gospel. I ought to be quicker to question my own actions and practices.
