Psalm 130: Hope

 

What is hope? Wikipedia says that it’s an optimistic state of mind. Merriam-Webster Dictionary says that hope is the feeling of wanting something to happen and thinking that it could happen. Collins English Dictionary defines hope as a feeling of desire and expectation that things will go well in the future.  All those definitions sound like wishful thinking and crossed fingers to me. It sounds like hope is nothing more than setting one’s heart on good luck. There must be more to hope than that, doesn’t there? Romans 15:13 refers to God as “the God of hope” and Romans 5:5 promises that “hope does not disappoint”. If hope is part of Gods’ character and unable to fall short then it must be far more than a good attitude, positive thoughts or an optimistic state of mind. Hope must be more than just how we think, it must also be how we live.

Psalm 130 begins with despair, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!” I don’t want to take you back there, but we’ve all reached our lowest point at some time. We’ve hit our bottom, had our hearts broken, been grief-stricken, everyone at some point reaches their depths. That’s where Psalm 130 begins. This is not a psalm about how things all worked out in the end, it’s not a retelling of history, it’s not a testimony on the other side, it’s written from the depths, in the dark, by the broken. It’s not a song about how hope keeps us from hurt, but how, in the deepest and darkest moments of hurt, we are kept by hope. 

The prayer, “Let your ears be attentive” is fairly rare. The language is only used five time in the Old Testament and only two other times in the form of a prayer, both by Nehemiah in the first few verses of the book that bears his name. Nehemiah was the cupbearer to Artaxerxes, the king of Persia. He was a Jew, probably born shortly after the first group of Jews were allowed to leave the 70 years of captivity in Babylon to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. By the time we get to Nehemiah’s story, it’s nearly 140 years since Judah was taken captive, Jerusalem and the temple destroyed. There had been two groups sent back, one to rebuild the temple and then the other to rebuild the city, but Nehemiah got a firsthand account that those who had returned to Jerusalem were living in “great trouble and shame”, that the walls of the city were broken down and the gates destroyed by fire. The city was vulnerable, and the people had lost their hope. 

Somehow this moved Nehemiah’s heart, he mourned, fasted and prayed for a city he had never seen. He cried out and asked God, “let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned.” Nehemiah understood that even more than the city needed walls or the people protection, they all needed mercy.

That’s also where the psalmist begins, “Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!” Not all of our deep places are caused by our sin, but mercy is the answer for all of our deep places. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the first half of Hebrews 4:15 quoted, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace . . .” (NKJV). The instruction and the picture were of boldness, almost marching into God’s presence, having confidence that we will be heard, but there is something vital missing when the verse is quoted in part. The next part says, “that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” We come boldly to ask for mercy, to seek grace, to confess of our need. Our boldness is not in asking for what we want, but for acknowledging what we need. 

We need mercy. We know that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”; that “all we like sheep have gone astray”; that “None is righteous, no, not one”. But do we know that we still need mercy? That’s what the psalmist was writing and what the pilgrims were singing. They were going boldly to Jerusalem, to the temple, to the throne of grace because they were fully aware that what they needed more than anything else would always be mercy. 

I know there are many things we need and thank God that we can bring every prayer, every petition to God in prayer. We have physical needs of food, water, shelter and clothing, but Jesus said not to worry about any of those things, but to remember that our Father takes care of all that. We need jobs and money, but the Scriptures make it clear that not only is God our Provider, but He orders our steps, meaning that He puts us where He wants us, when He wants us there to accomplish what He desires in us, through us and for us. We sometimes need healing, in Exodus 15:26 God said, “I am the LORD, your healer.” We need friendship, He’s the friend the sticks closer than a brother; our hearts are broken, He’s close to the broken-hearted; we need direction, the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth; we lack wisdom, James said to simply ask for it. Everything we need in life is already promised to be provided for us by God, our needs will be met according to His heart, His love and His plan, the one thing that we never stop needing is mercy. 

The psalmist gives us this realization, “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” When was the last time we realized that if God pointed out and demanded payment for my sin we would be doomed? I’m not even talking about all of our sin, the sins we repented of at salvation, the big ones or the ones that people know about, what about just the stuff that we have stubbornly held onto, that we keep resisting conviction over, that we have decided are just part of who we are and how we do things? What if God demanded payment right now for my impatience, my intolerance, my selfishness or my manipulation? I’d be doomed. Once again, I need mercy. 

If verse 3 was the bad news, then verse 4 is good news, “But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” We are not being called to give an account for our sin, we are being offered forgiveness for all sin through the blood of Jesus. Psalm 86:5 says that God is ready to forgive, meaning He’s put Himself in position to forgive, He’s not waiting for our repentance, He’s the one drawing us to repentance, offering us repentance, patiently doing everything necessary so that we could have a hope of repentance. If the bad news is that we are in constant need of mercy, the good news is Psalm 145:8 tells us that God is “full of compassion” and “great in mercy” (NKJV). The best news of all is found in Micah 7:18, it says of God, “You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.” (NIV) God doesn’t just forgive, He isn’t just merciful, He enjoys, He loves, He takes pleasure in being merciful. 

That truth is where hope comes from. The psalmist cried for mercy and trusted God for forgiveness and then wrote, “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope”. Some of us might hate to hear this, but hope looks like waiting. The Hebrew word that we translate as “wait” in verses 5 and 6 is “qava” it literally means “to bind together (perhaps by twisting)”. It’s in the waiting where God binds our heart to His. Imagine a basket being woven, carefully, God is taking the contents of our hearts, He’s taking our makeup, our character, our lives and He’s twisting, binding, weaving us together with Him. He’s not giving us the desire of our hearts, He’s transforming us into the desire of His heart. But there’s something else that happens in this process, we are not only being woven together with God, but the parts of us that are not like God and are not from God are being twisted out of us. This is yet again where we discover our great need for mercy. 

Those places that seem to be constantly revisited are the places that we still hold tightly. We all have them, right? My patience will be tested until I yield my impatience to God. My trust will be tested until I yield my anxiety, fear and control to God. My love will be tested until I yield my pride and selfishness to God. My faithfulness will be tested until I yield my emotional immaturity and personal agenda to God. I’m sorry, but I have to say it again, we need mercy. 

They key, simple in word, but difficult in action is found in the bold statement at the end of verse 5, “in his word I hope”. Hope looks like waiting. Hope doesn’t force, it doesn’t complain, it doesn’t take matters into its own hands or allow itself to be jealous of the blessings that others have while it waits. Hope celebrates in everything God does because it knows that everything God does is good, no matter who He does it for or when He does it. God’s word is His character and so hope is found in who God is. Hope does not say, “He will do it”, it says “He is good”. 

It was hopelessness that caused Abraham and Sarah to come up with their own plan to have the child God had promised. It was hopelessness that caused Saul to offer the unlawful sacrifice. Hopelessness that drove many of the Hebrew believers to return to the Law rather than continuing to follow Christ. Hope trusts, it believes, it’s been so intertwined with Jesus, it’s so convinced of His heart and it’s own need of mercy that it’s willing to wait. 

The question we end with is vital, what is hope waiting for? The psalmist exclaims, “O Israel, hope in the LORD!” But he doesn’t tell them to hope because things will turn out, because God has done it before and He’ll do it again. He says, “hope in the LORD! For with the LORD is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.” The reason we wait, the reason for our hope is because of who God is, no matter what God does. We hope because we are surrounded with love, we are embraced by mercy, we are held by grace. The reason we hope is because we have been, we are and we will always be redeemed. This is my favorite part, the word we translated as “redeem” is the Hebrew word “pada” it means “to sever”. My hope is that while God is binding me to Himself He is severing me from my sin. That’s redemption! He didn’t just forgive us, He didn’t just wash us, He cut sin off of us and then wove us into Himself. There is nothing we will ever wait for that is greater than the promise we must put our hope in. Don’t give up hope. Keep waiting. You are being redeemed.