Today’s reading is Psalm 130.
When I Am My Biggest Problem
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
All by itself, this is a beautiful psalm. We certainly turn to it for comfort in the midst of our personal struggles. When we feel overwhelmed, drowning, this is the go-to psalm. But in the story of our ascending pilgrim, this psalm just doesn’t seem right. I mean, I know we’ve talked about being in the dry times. I know we’ve recognized the psalmist honestly assesses real life even in the city of God, dwelling on His holy hill as he continues to journey up to the pinnacle of His mountain. But do we expect this psalmist who has faced even his dry times in faith to find himself in the depths? Surely we will be kept from those when we are in His holy city, Christ’s church. In fact, haven’t we read how God already delivered the pilgrim from the depths?
Read the other place in Psalms the depths are mentioned:
Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me.
…
Deliver me from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
and from the deep waters.
Let not the flood sweep over me,
or the deep swallow me up,
or the pit close its mouth over me.
–Psalm 69:1-2; 14-15 (ESV)
Both occurrences of “deep waters” translate the same word as “depths” in Psalm 130:1. The picture is clear. Crying out from the depths means crying out in the midst of the torrent, the flood. Do you recall the great blessing of Psalm 124? Because the Lord was on our side, the flood didn’t sweep us away. The torrent didn’t go over us. Haven’t we been delivered from the depths already?
Recognizing this, we discover how gloriously true to life these pilgrim songs are. In Psalm 124, the psalmist was talking about the floods of the enemies’ attacks. The enemies out there. The persecutors. The mockers. The belittlers. The tempters. The violent. We look back and recall how the Lord delivered us from them all. But now we look around and discover the greatest enemy of all. Ourselves.
If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
Psalm 130:3 (ESV)
And isn’t this our big concern as we’ve gone through the past few psalms? We read of the blessed family who fear the Lord. We read of the farmer who keeps on sowing even with tears hoping for the rains and bumper harvest. We remember the blessed man who delights in God’s law and walks in His ways. And then we remember our lives. Our failures stand out like the mountains around Jerusalem. Our sins plague us like the days of drought. Then we fear. What if I’m not one of the blessed? What if I’m actually one of the sinners after all? What if I won’t bring the sheaves home in joy but am actually trying to collect a harvest from grass on the rooftop?
The floods surrounding us are not the attacks of persecutors and warmongers. The floods are the torrent of our own sins. And how much more do these floods plague us as we are now closer to God’s presence than we ever were before? We have two options. We can turn and run back down the mountain, trying to hide from God. Or we can turn to Him and plead for mercy. The pilgrim chooses the second option. You can too.
Praise the Lord!
Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 130.
PODCAST!!!
PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family
How does Psalm 130 prompt or improve your praise of God?
Read the Bible 