From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part 7 (final) of a series. Read part 6.

Where is the place that you need to be in the dark times? You need to be in the Word of God.

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.

However God chooses to end the night, however God chooses to lift us out of the depths, our steadfast hope is in Him. He will do it.

"O Israel, hope in the LORD," the psalmist says in Psalm 130 verse 7, "for with the LORD there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel" - the Israel of God - and that includes us - "from all his iniquities."

"Just to Make the Devil Mad"

At the beginning of this series we noted that Martin Luther said this psalm was one his four favorites in the Bible. At a time when he was under particularly severe attack because of his stand for the Gospel, and his life was in danger, Luther said to his companions, "Let's sing Psalm 130. Let's sing Psalm 130 - just to make the Devil mad."

I love that attitude. Just as Michael the archangel did not bring a reviling accusation against Satan but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" (Jude 9), we can quote or sing a passage such as Psalm 130 as the Lord's own rebuke against the enemy of our souls. We can rest secure in the knowledge that Satan will not have the victory, because Christ has won the victory once and for all at the Cross. That was Luther's great confidence in Christ, and it must be ours as well.

We can have that attitude of confidence even in the dark times, even in the depths. "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me" (Psalm 23:4).

The Place of Hope in the Dark Times

Dear friend, where is the place that you need to be in the dark times? You need to be in the Word of God. Our emotions may sway us. Our feelings will often fail us. But "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105). This is a vivid picture from the ancient world. Archaeologists tell us when people in those times had to travel by night they used foot-lamps. These little oil lamps, attached to their sandals, would light their way in the darkness, mostly just a few steps at a time. But they would always light the way.

And that is the picture: "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light to my path." A light in the darkness, one step at a time - but leading us on to glory.

Dear Christian, hold onto God's Word in the depths. Hold onto God's Word in the dark times. Never neglect it, even though you may be greatly tempted to do so. Put the Lamp of God on your sandals, as it were, and He will light your pathway as you wait upon Him in the dark times.

Is This Hope Foreign to You?

But perhaps someone is reading this series and you must say, in all honesty, that the things of which we have spoken are foreign to your experience. You know nothing of the confidence in God, or the forgiveness of your iniquities, of which the psalmist speaks.

Perhaps the Spirit of God has spoken through the words of this psalm to confront you with the fact that you are outside of Christ - and that when this life ends, your destiny will be to pass from the temporary darkness of this present world into the black darkness of eternity apart from God, in Hell.

Dear friend, if that is your condition, let me point you to the One who redeems His people from all their iniquities, the One in whom there is mercy, the One with whom there is abundant redemption.

Jesus Christ has accomplished that work. Jesus Christ lived the perfect life that you could not live. Jesus Christ bore the wrath of God that you deserve to bear because of your sin. But you need not bear it. You can be freed from the wrath to come.

The salvation of a soul from Hell is God's work from beginning to end. This is the Word of God. This is the word of faith that we preach - the words that you will find in Romans chapter 10, beginning at verse 9. In those verses the Holy Spirit declares that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. It is with the heart that a soul believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth a soul makes confession unto salvation.

The sure Word of God declares this: "Whoever believes on Jesus Christ will not be put to shame." There is no distinction between Jew and Gentile, or any other class or category. We are all in the same condition. We all need the same salvation. And that salvation is found in only one Savior. "The same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For 'whoever calls on the name of the LORD' - the covenant-keeping God whose promises never fail - "shall be saved.' "

If you desire to know more about the way of salvation, we would be glad to help you.

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