Psalm 130 A song of ascents. By David:
Adonai, I call to you from the depths; hear my cry, Adonai! Let your ears pay attention
to the sound of my pleading.
YAH, if you kept a record of sins, who, Adonai, could stand? But with you there is forgiveness,
so that you will be feared.
I wait longingly for Adonai; I put my hope in his word. Everything in me waits for Adonai more than guards on watch wait for morning, more than guards on watch wait for morning.
Isra’el, put your hope in Adonai! For grace is found with Adonai, and with Adonai is unlimited redemption. He will redeem Isra’el from all their wrongdoings.
*****************************************************************************
On Thursday morning this week, I went to have breakfast with my niece who was visiting Corner Brook. She has been going through a divorce, and part of her, in anxiety - thought that because I had performed her marriage ten years ago I would be angry that this happened. My response was “You are family - married into this family you are now one of us. I love you no matter what happens, and I am not keeping score.”
As I looked at David’s Psalm, I could not help but think of my niece, worried that her aunt would make judgment and put a black mark against her name, and hold it against her.
The biblical King David was known for his skills as both a warrior and a writer of psalms. In his 40 years as ruler, between approximately 1010 and 970 B.C.E., he united the people of Israel, led them to victory in battle, conquered land and paved the way for his son, Solomon, to build the Holy Temple.
David was the eighth and youngest son of Jesse from the tribe of Judah, and a direct descendent of Ruth the Moabite. He began his life as a shepherd in Bethlehem, and was anointed by the prophet Samuel without the knowledge of the king, Saul. David returned to his sheep, and did not meet Saul until he was summoned to play the *kinnor* or lyre for Saul. He made such an impression he was called into Saul’s service as a musician.
We know parts of the story - David as an inexperienced boy armed with only a slingshot and a few stones, confronted the nine-foot, bronze armored Philistine giant, Goliath of Gath, and killed him. David as commander of Saul’s troops and a close friendship with Saul’s son, Jonathan.
Saul’s jealousy of David; Jonathan hiding David and convincing Saul not to kill him. The deaths of Saul and Jonathan on Mt. Gilboa in a fight with the Philistines. David becoming king of Judah at the age of 30; building a palace in what is now the City of David in Jerusalem. His final victory forcing the Philistines out of Israel. Bringing the Holy Ark to Jerusalem.
David had an almost perfect reign as king, but many problems in his personal life - culminating in his affair with Bathsheba, the death of her husband Uriah when David sent him to the front lines so he would be killed; the death of the child they conceived, and the birth of a second son, Solomon.
David had started life as a poet and musician, and it is believed that he wrote some of the Psalms, and edited the book. Today’s Psalm is one of those ascribed to David, and it is called a Psalm of Ascents.
This Psalm, perhaps more than any other, is marked by its mountains: depth; prayer; conviction; light; hope; waiting; watching; longing; confidence; assurance; universal happiness and joy. Just as the barometer marks the rising of the weather, so does this Psalm, sentence by sentence, record the progress of the soul. David gives a mini-version of his spiritual journey through life, as he looks back. (3)
Internally the Psalm is broken down in four pericopes (sets of verses) - and each becomes a “set” or an “ascent”. David begins his Psalm “Lord, I call to you from the depths - “, the cry of a human in spiritual pain, who looks at his life and the things he has done. He says clearly he is right down there in the depths of remorse and depression. “Hear my cry.”
The depths usually silence all they engulf, but they could not silence David; on the contrary, it was in the abyss itself that he cried out. Prayer lived and struggled even in the darkest place. It does not matter where we are to pray, and prayer is never more real and acceptable than when it rises out of the worst places. The depth of our distress moves the depths of our being. Though David suffered the painful realisation of his actions and wrongdoings, and so was in the depth, his faith pleaded in the teeth of conscious unworthiness; he knew that God’s promises did not depend upon human character.
Verses three and four are two strong statements of recognition. First he says, “God, if you kept a record of our sins, none of us could stand.” and then he says “But you don’t keep a record. Forgiveness is the very basis of who you are, so that everyone will stand in awe of you.” David says that if God kept a record of all our misdoings, none of us could stand. If JAH, the all seeing, should call every person to account for every lack of sense and right behaviour, where would any one of us be? If humanity were to be judged upon no system but that of works, who among us could answer, and hope to stand clear.
Verse 4. The power of pardon is permanently resident with God: forgiveness is always there and instantly given. Gratitude for forgiveness and another chance produces far more awe and reverence than all the fear inspired by threat of punishment. It is grace which leads the way to a holy regard of God. This verse forms some of the basis for our Reformed theology. God’s prevenient grace, that grace given regardless of what we do or who we are, the grace given before we know we need it, the forgiveness given before we recognise that we need it. David says that God *is* forgiveness.
Verses five and six speak of David’s waiting for God. Even the waiting itself has benefit: it tries faith, and exercises patience. God’s people have waited in the depths of despair, and are able to wait in any condition. The waiting regardless of the condition is called “hope”.....the basis of all we believe..the soul waits even more than those who stand watch around a city, or women waiting to give birth, or sitting by a sickbed.
In 7 David says “Let Israel hope in God”. Yahweh is Israel's God; therefore, let Israel hope in him. God has great things in store for the people, they ought to have large expectations. God’s very nature is compassion; we have also the light of grace, and therefore we see more compassion. The attribute of compassion, and the faith of redemption, are two most sufficient reasons for hope. Is it not better to be in the depths with David, hoping in God's mercy, than up on the mountain tops, boasting in our own fancied righteousness?
To me this is a Psalm of recognition, of partnership. We live in partnership with each other and with God, or with the universe, or creation, or whatever we wish to call it. If we sever the partnership for our own gains, whether personal or political, our lives suffer. God calls us to reflect on ourselves and our lives - but the grace and compassion is always given.
David is perhaps a prime example from biblical texts of how power can corrupt so thoroughly. We watch David through his life story - as a simple shepherd playing a kinnor, to a leader of armies, to a king - and we watch as he is drawn in by one small transgression here, another there, and each time the transgressions get bigger, and the justifications get more elaborate.
We can see how these things happen in our own lives; but we can also see what we are called to do. *If* we claim to be followers of Jesus, *if* we claim that as our example, then we can only respond the way Jesus would, the way we hope God would respond to us: “You are family. I love you, despite what has happened. How could you think I would not still love you?” May it be so.
Sources:
1. Psalm 130 from “Ketuvim”, the Writings. Section 3 in the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures)
2. http://www.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps130.htm
Note: Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-92) was England's best-known preacher for most of the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1854, just four years after his conversion, Spurgeon, then only 20, became pastor of London's famed New Park Street Church (formerly pastored by the famous Baptist theologian John Gill). The congregation quickly outgrew their building, moved to Exeter Hall, then to Surrey Music Hall. In these venues Spurgeon frequently preached to audiences numbering more than 10,000—all in the days before electronic amplification. In 1861 the congregation moved permanently to the newly constructed Metropolitan Tabernacle.
3. James Vaughan, in "Steps to Heaven," 1878.
No comments:
Post a Comment