May 27, Pray while waiting

Psalm 130

A song of ascents.

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.

Categorized as an “ascent” psalm, these words expressed for the Jewish travelers a divine anticipation of going up (ascending) to Jerusalem for the annual festivals.  And, with this song of anticipation came the heart’s posture of a single focus upon Jehovah.  Looking up toward the Holy mount of worship described not only the historical narrative of Jewish worshippers, but also our posture of looking upward to God, with our mind set upon Him.  This was expressed in the first four verses of Psalm 130, which serve as the appropriate context for the Psalmist’s call to wait upon the Lord.  Waiting involves ones’ upward focus in worship and prayer.  Biblical waiting without this perspective becomes nothing more than complacency.  So, let’s review the context of Psalm 130 to discover that Biblical waiting always expresses a posture of prayer.  

Waiting as a posture of prayer.  

Verse one and two indicates the “cry of the heart" before God.  This same spirit of the supplicant becomes identified in Psalm 5 – “give ear to my words Oh Lord, harken unto the voice of my cry.”  The Psalmist prayed from places of deep despair, and as Spurgeon wrote of these verses, “it matters little where we are when we can pray.”  So, how was the Psalmist postured to wait?  Prayer.  And, this was not the routine peddling of requests, but literal cries from the heart overwhelmed by life.  And for the Psalmist, these cries were from within the context of a life confidently waiting upon the Lord.  Therefore, as you and I wait upon the Lord, we do so with prayer.  

Verse three and four mark the specific petition: seeking mercy and forgiveness for sins.  The Psalmist demonstrated one who was under the sense of sin, and he cried out not only in supplication, but in real and felt confession as a sinner.   

Therefore, the psalmist expressed His “waiting upon the Lord” – this aspect of the soul leaning forward toward God in anticipation of what He will accomplish.  And, in this context, the psalmist prayed fervently (in cries to God), and contritely (in sorrow over sin and because of the greatness of God).  

Are you waiting?  Has your waiting become laborious, frustrating, and debilitating to your faith?  If so, pray. Cry out to God passionately, knowing He hears.  Pray contritely, knowing that He forgives, restores, and makes all things new.   And bow before His holiness so that in your waiting your strength is renewed.  

Blessings.

READ

Read Psalm 130 again, and meditate upon verses 1-5.