Psalm 130: Being Enlarged through the Knowledge of Ourselves
Affliction in
Our Environment Drives Us to Pray
Psalm 130 begins, "Out of the depths I have called upon You, O Jehovah.
O Lord, hear my voice; let Your ears be attentive to the voice of
my supplications" (v. 1-2). This verse follows from the previous psalm.
Whenever we experience the Lord's plowing work through our environment,
we become a person of prayer. We are not this way by nature. We prefer
to be wild and unrestricted and usually don't feel the need to pray.
But when we go through a trial, or when something drastic happens,
then we become a prayerful person. We are driven to the Lord. We call
on the Lord "out of the depths." Because of our affliction we pray,
"O Lord, hear my voice; let Your ears be attentive to the voice of
my supplications."
Spending Time in the Lord's Presence Exposes Our Sinful Condition
The next verse is extremely precious: "If You, O Jehovah, marked iniquities,
who, O Lord, would stand?" (v. 3). The psalmist now has a realization
of who he is. After experiencing the Lord's plowing, and after touching
the Lord in prayer, the psalmist knows himself. He realizes that he
is filled with iniquity. Previously he was so buoyant and strong.
In the stage of enjoyment he became a "mighty man with arrows." He
was like a fruitful vine and an olive tree, effectively serving the
Lord and the saints. Yet now he has passed through a deeper process.
He went through some plowing from the Lord, and deep furrows were
cut in his back for him to grow in life. In the midst of this he cried
out to the Lord and made supplications. This brought him to the proper
realization of himself. Because of the Lord's cultivation, the psalmist
can say, "Lord, I am in Your hand. I see now who I really am. I know
what kind of person I am. If you marked iniquities, who would stand?"
The Knowledge of Ourselves Makes Us the Proper Person for the
Building Up of the Church
| "Lord,
I am in Your hand. I see now who I really am."
|
How can we be built up with others in the church life?
First we have to go through affliction from the Lord's governmental
hand. As He plows over our person we need to spend much time with
Him in prayer. It is in prayer, in the Lord's light, that we are brought
to realize who we are. Then we will cry out, "Lord, if You would mark
iniquities, who would stand? I'm only here by Your mercy!" This makes
us the proper person for the building up of the church. The more we
think that we are "right" the more the Lord will bring us to Psalm
130. To say "I am right!" is to be wrong to the uttermost. It means
we are completely the wrong person for the building of the church.
The More the Lord Forgives Us, The More We Will
Fear Him
The realization of who we are should not bring us under condemnation.
For this the reason the psalmist continues, "But with You there is
forgiveness, that You would be feared" (v. 4). The Lord's light should
cause us to trust in the Lord's forgiveness. We should not overly
dwell on our sinfulness, but on the Lord's salvation. This verse contains
the interesting fact that the more the Lord forgives us, the more
we fear Him. We should not think that enjoying the Lord's forgiveness
will lead us to be loose and careless in our behavior. Actually, the
more the Lord forgives us the more we are afraid to sin again. Our
experience of forgiveness makes us very sensitive to the Lord. We
develop a godly fear, because we do not want to offend Him.
We Must Wait on the Lord and Hope in His Word
|
"Not
only
do we wait, but we hope in the Lord's word."
|
Furthermore, because
we see who we are we learn to wait on the Lord. "I wait for Jehovah;
my soul waits, and in His word I hope" (v. 5). We used to be so confident
in our ability to serve the Lord. Now we realize, "I am a hopeless,
useless person. There is no way for me to build up the church, to
help the saints, or to please the Lord. All I can do is wait for His
mercy." Even though we know we are so terrible, we cannot go back
to the world or try to escape the church life. All we can do is wait
on the Lord. Not only do we wait, but we hope in the Lord's word.
We realize that His word can nourish us, sustain us and lead us. When
we are so aware of our poor condition because of the Lord's shining,
we should hope in His word. The Lord's word can re-establish us in
life.
We Must Give Ourselves To the Lord's Testimony and Trust in His Redemption
The psalm continues, "My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen
for the morning, yes watchmen for the morning" (v. 6). While we wait
on the Lord, we are also watching. "Hope in Jehovah, O Israel" (v.
7a). We have seen that Israel represents the Lord's testimony. Not
only should we wait, hope, and watch, but we must give ourselves to
the Lord's testimony. Before we experienced the Lord's dealing and
shining, we felt that we were honoring the Lord when we gave ourselves
to Him. Now our feeling is very different. As we give ourselves to
the Lord, we consider it a mercy and a privilege. We realize, "It
is an honor that the Lord will even accept my service. It is the Lord's
mercy that I am allowed to remain with all of these dear saints. Everyone
else is so marvelous, but I am so poor. Thank You, Lord, that I can
give myself to You for Your testimony." We no longer think that it
is an honor to the Lord that we serve Him; instead, we are honored
by the fact that He accepts our service.
"For with Jehovah there is lovingkindness, and with Him abundantly
there is redemption" (v. 7). Praise the Lord for His redemption! The
Lord is the one who redeems us from all our corruption and iniquity.
"And it is He who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities" (v.
8). Individually and corporately, the Lord redeems us from everything
that is not of Himself. The church will be free from all its iniquity
because the Lord is the church's Redeemer. Psalm 130 is a wonderful
psalm. After experiencing what is described in this psalm we truly
become enlarged. By our knowledge of ourselves and our trust in the
Lord's redemption we become enlarged for the sake of His testimony.
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