My Soul Waits for the Lord

As this is one of the seven penitential psalms, it’s possible that it was sung by the Pilgrims who travelled to Jerusalem for the Day of Atonement as it would fit very well with the theme of that festival.  Some scholars have linked it to the time after Nehemiah’s reforms when, after the time he was back in Babylon, he comes back to find serious cases of spiritual backsliding.  Whatever the case, what we have here is a psalm that has the tone of someone looking to the Lord for forgiveness.

Back in my youth I was an advocate of ‘Mad’ magazine as I enjoyed its satirical humour.  In one edition they sent up the very popular game ‘Trivial Pursuit’ and one particular question particularly appealed to me.  The question was: ‘In which Star Trek episode did chief engineer Scotty save the Enterprise from certain destruction.’ The answer: ‘all of them!’ Although, as a Star Trek fan, I know that’s an exaggeration, I can’t help seeing the funny side of it as it captures the spirit of what made the program so enjoyable.  In a similar way this psalm has that spirit about it.  Looking at the beginning we ask the question: “how bad can it be?”  The Psalmist seems in the depths of despair realising his sorry state before the Lord.  But, we’re pretty sure, such is nature of the psalms that the situation will be resolved, or will be well on the way to a resolution, by the end of the psalm!

As we’ve noted the psalm starts with a note of desperation but also realism.  ‘Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!’ (vs1-2).  This is something that is needed today.  I often listen to Sermons from various churches, but I’m noticing more and more that there doesn’t seem to be much encouragement for self examination.  Yet the first words of Jesus recorded in Mark’s Gospel are: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).  Now that’s a message that calls for self examination if I ever heard one!  There’s a healthy dose of realism in verse 3: ‘If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?’  The question is rhetorical, because the Psalmist knows that no one can justify themselves before a holy God!  The verse creates a picture of a courtroom setting, with witness after witness testifying against the poor Psalmist.  Yet the verse also gives us a glimmer of hope with its use of the word ‘LORD’ which is used in our translations for ‘Yahweh’ the God of the Covenant.  The Covenant was an illustration of the Lord’s love for his people.  This is something which we often miss as we often think of God’s law in terms of do’s and don’ts.  But that’s not why it was given.  Israel did not deserve or earn God’s love, yet he loved them and it was his initiative to enter into relationship with them.    ‘It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples’ (Deuteronomy 7:7).

This is typified in the next verse: ‘But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared’ (v4).  I find that verse remarkable.  The Psalmist is in awe of God.  Why?  Because he’s a forgiving God when, as the Psalmist has already pointed out, logic shows he has every right to judge!  But the nature of this verse shows how the Psalmist is overwhelmed by God’s holy and forgiving nature!  Verses 5-6 show the patience of the Psalmist.  The phrase: ‘my soul waits’ is used in both these verses and is a challenge we need to listen to when we pray.  The Psalmist fully trusts God.  His religion is not either of the heart or the mind but his whole being!  Yet that doesn’t mean that everything is resolved quickly, as the illustration of the watchman in verse 6 shows.  The role of a watchman was to warn the people of a city of impending attack and one can imagine that on a moonless night the watchman must have longed for the morning as just a glimmer of light would make his job easier.  But patience was required as the job still had to be carried out under the difficult circumstances of the night.  In a similar way the Psalmist realises patience is required when waiting upon the Lord in prayer.

The psalm concludes in a similar way with the Psalmist now calling on Israel to put their: ‘hope in the LORD’ (v7) because of his: ‘steadfast love’ and: ‘plentiful redemption.’  The Psalmist clearly sees that the Lord is the answer to both his prayer of repentance and the national need.  If the psalm was written in the days of Nehemiah when, at the end of the book, things had begun to slide spiritually, there was a need to acknowledge that and look to the Lord to: ‘redeemed Israel from all his iniquities’ (v8).  The Psalmist clearly understands there’s a sense in which in this life God’s people have never ‘arrived’.  In other words, the work of reformation and revival is always relevant to God’s people in any age or generation!  The call of this psalm is for the Lord’s people to diligently wait on him in an attitude of repentance and work for renewal in each and every generation.

Would you like to hear a sermon on this Psalm? My Soul Waits for the Lord.