1 Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord.
2 Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
3 If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
6 My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
7 Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.
8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
Though we may be cast away in isolation or imprisonment for an extended period of time, we still hold tenaciously to the promises we have received from the Word of God.
We feel as though we are in a very dark and very deep dungeon, far away from any immediate aid. Nonetheless, we are confident that God hears our prayers. All the verses, all the promises we have learned from God’s Word, come rushing into our minds, and we are strengthened by them.
Verses 1-2
The writer of this psalm may be in a dungeon, or perhaps he is in the belly of a large fish at the bottom of the sea. He may be sitting under multiple layers of emotional torment, demonic assaults, or depressing thoughts. He may be approaching physical death, or feeling that he is sinking about as low as the grave. For the Christian, the grave is the lowest he will ever go. As we shall discover, the psalmist’s concerns are more spiritual than physical.
The desperate cry to God that we find in this psalm is the only cry that makes sense when faced with the prospect of death. To whom can we appeal other than the Giver of Life? A friend may help you pull a sliver from your foot. He may give you a lift to the grocery store. But who will deliver you from death and the grave? When we realize the threat of spiritual and physical death, we can only cry out to God. Our appeals are in dead earnest. There is no half-hearted rote in this. Our appeals are direct, sincere, and faith-filled. We are speaking to God, and we beg His ear: “Lord, hear my voice!”
Verses 3-4
From the outset of this prayer, we find strong faith and a robust encouragement. Right away, the psalmist goes to the greatest news of all—the promise of the forgiveness of God. If God were to hold our sins against us, we would be done for. What a terrible predicament for us! Not one person could defend himself in the courtroom of God. No lawyer could ever make the case. There would be no acquittals. Natural man wants to believe that sin is not a big deal, that God is willing to ignore a little sinful indiscretion here and there. But of course, this is nothing but wishful thinking.
The good news comes in verse four, with that magnificent little conjunction: “But” (see also Eph. 2:4). Thankfully, we are not left to the retributions of God’s wrath and justice. This is a huge relief! He forgives us of our sins. He does not hold our sins against us because of the sacrificial work of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, on the cross (2 Cor. 5:19). The Son of God was made to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). Although the Old Testament saints did not understand the basis for God’s mercy before Jesus came, they accepted the promise of forgiveness. They knew and believed that God would forgive their sins.
What is to be made of the highly unusual statement at the end of verse four? What does forgiveness have to do with the fear of God? Here is the connection. Those who have by faith realized God’s forgiveness are the least likely to deny their offense. How can you be forgiven if you have never offended? The magnitude of the pardon signifies the magnitude of the offense. If you offend a dog, it is hardly a concern. It is far more egregious to offend the president of the country, but even more so the Creator of the Universe. So once we have realized the magnitude of our offense, and the blessing of that sin forgiven, we cannot help but fear God and rejoice with trembling (Ps. 2:11). If you have ever survived a near-miss traffic accident you know something of this sentiment. Perhaps your car stalled on the train tracks, and you were able to push the vehicle off the tracks seconds before the train made the intersection. Or maybe you rolled to safety away from a speeding semi-truck. For a few moments, your whole body trembles for having barely escaped a dreadful predicament. Great relief sweeps over your being. This is a faint comparison to our near avoidance of God’s eternal judgment.
Verses 5-8
While it is a great relief to receive the forgiveness of sins, the believer is still crying out from the depths. His present condition does not feel very much like heaven. Think about the Christian sitting in a filthy prison cell in North Korea. Under these circumstances, all he has in his mind is a few Bible verses, a few promises from God. He has the promise of sins forgiven and the promise of resurrection. These may not seem like present realities, as he suffers under the evil consequences of a sinful world (pain, torture, and death). Now, he can do two things—he can wait on the Lord and he can hope in His Word. Over and over again, he reminds himself of the promises of God. He speaks the promises of God to others. He prays the promises of God. He hangs all of his hopes upon these promises, and this gives him comfort. Then, he believes that there is plenteous redemption with God. He tells the other prisoners, “God is going to get us out of here.” As the years go by, some of the prisoners doubt more and more, but not the believer. He refuses to give up on the hope that God will redeem him, and God will save His people from sin and all the effects of it, including death.
Most problems cannot be solved immediately. By God’s wise providence, we still must deal with the problems of disease and death. We still struggle through the various trials, doubts, depressions, and persecutions day by day. Yet in this state, we can hope in God’s salvation—that He will eventually pull us out of it. We can learn joy in sorrow, because there is a rock-bottom hope that takes us through it. This marks the heart attitude of the Christian.
Christian worship is hopeful worship. We speak aloud the promises of God. We encourage each other to believe them. Like Christians assembling in a prison camp every day, we are corporately waiting for God’s salvation. Together we hope in God. Together we wait for Him to send His special forces to rescue us from our predicament. It is the most hopeful saints that will be leading worship in the prison camp!
1. Where is the psalmist as he prays this prayer? What is his situation?
2. What is the greatest news of all, shared in this psalm?
3. How does God’s forgiveness inspire fear?
4. What are the two things we can do while suffering in this present world?
5. According to the last verse, from what will God save all of His people?
1. How do we react when things go badly for us?
2. Are we hopeful in the midst of serious trial and temptation? Who are the most hopeful people in our church?