From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part 2 of a series. Read part 1.

What kinds of "depths" are you experiencing?

Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD;
Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His Word I do hope.
My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning - yes, more than those who watch for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption.
And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Our Perspective vs. God's

In the opening verse of Psalm 130, there is a great sense of distress. There is also a great sense of urgency: "Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD; Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications."

We would say, in our vernacular, that the psalmist is at the end of his rope. He is crying out to God. He is crying "out of the depths." In Hebrew this is a phrase that was used to indicate being in the depths of the sea. It was also used as a metaphor of being in the darkest part of the night.

It is also interesting that this phrase in Hebrew thinking would imply the idea of perspective. In other words, this is where I see myself - in the depths, in the dark, seemingly with no hope of emerging into the light. That is our finite perspective.

God's perspective on your situation, whatever it may be, is entirely different. We read in James 1:16-17,

Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

The Father of lights, who sits in the heights of Heaven, reaches down to us in our dark depths, and He gives every good gift and every perfect gift to His saints. He is, as the psalmist addresses Him first, the LORD (all capitals in the King James and New King James Bibles) - Jehovah, the covenant-keeping God who will never fail to keep His promises to those He has redeemed, no matter what depths they may experience in this life.

He Hears Our Cry "Out of the Depths"

In life there are many different kinds of "depths." There are depths of physical need. There are depths of material need. Depths of spiritual need. Depths of need for guidance. Depths of grief and heartache. Depths of despair. Depths of danger - physical or spiritual. There can be depths of uncertainty.

What kinds of "depths" are you experiencing? Do you wonder if the Lord hears you as you cry "out of the depths"? Dear Christian, you have the assurance that the One who is on the throne, the Lord who is the Source of all help, does see and hear - and He will deliver:

The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.
The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34:15-19)

This is the unchanging, unchangeable truth about our never-changing covenant God, "Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).

Next: Sinners Crying Out to God

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