One of the things I love about the Psalms is their honesty. This entire week has been focused on waiting, and waiting well, through the darkness in anticipation of His marvelous light. Psalm 130 begins in the deepest depths. The writer cries out from a place of desperation, guilt, weakness and abject need. I love that he makes zero attempts to hide the struggle or gloss it over with platitude. He begins where many of us find ourselves during the seasons of waiting … it rings true to deep parts of our souls.

However, like many of its sister passages, it doesn’t linger where it begins.
 
In just a few short verses this passage gradually shifts from the depths of despair to the character of God, remembering His forgiveness, faithful love, and abundant redemption.
 
I love the picture the Psalmist paints next; “I wait for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning.” In these ancient times, a watchman never wondered whether or not the dawn would come; he knew it would … he just didn’t know when that first gleam of light would breach the distant horizon. HIs waiting was shaped by confidence, by certainty, that dawn surely was on its way.
 
That’s the kind of worship the watchful waiting of Psalm 130 models for us.
 
Biblically faithful worship doesn’t demand we pretend it’s light outside. It looks honestly at the depths, then looks even more honestly … and hopefully … to God. It acknowledges sin, grief, disappointment, and longing while placing utter confidence in the Lord’s redeeming mercy.
Biblical illiteracy is a rampant cancer in the western church as we worship and propagate the doctrines and teachings of men over and above the Word of God. The Psalmist knew how important the Word of God was; “I wait for the Lord and put my hope in His word.”

So many Christians see the scriptures as a means to an end, a holy checkbox to mark for the appearance of daily maturity. Others see it as a rigid instruction manual without nuance or character. The scriptures have really one great purpose … to reveal the character and nature of God to a people who desperately need Him. The more we know of His Word, the more we will know of Him … and the more we can wait with expectant hope.

And that’s where we wrap this week; with hope, not promises of easy breakthrough or immediate resolution … but with hope.

The very same God who remembered Elizabeth and Zechariah, the very same God who comforts the weary, the very same God who shelters the damaged heart, the very same God who promised a future redemption remains completely faithful to His word today.
 
Morning. Is. Coming!

What weight are you carrying in the "depths" before the Lord right now? How can you practically live out watchman-like hope in this season of waiting?

Father, today I bring you my fears, my disappointments, and all my unanswered questions. Thank you that your faithful love endures forever and is far greater than the darkness I sometimes feel in my soul. Teach me to wait for You with holy confidence and expectant worship … trusting, as it says in the old hymn, that your redemption “draweth nigh”. Amen.