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Our first guest devotion is written by Naomi Moon, a senior DCE student and lovely beyond lovely human. Take a moment to journey beside her and the psalmist of Psalm 130 to ponder the connection between fear and hope.
Psalm 130
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! 2 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! 3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. 5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6 My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. 7 O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. 8 And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
What is your deepest, darkest fear?
It's hard to think about, isn't it? It's uncomfortable. Psalm 130 is like the song that you hear for the first time and feel that every word applies to your life, exactly. For me, it's a song about fear, but also hope. Sometimes you feel like you hit rock bottom, where there is nothing else that could go wrong; I know I have felt that way before. I'm sure the Psalmist here feels that way, but he also calls to God because the guilt of sin is the place of ultimate despair. We cannot stand, as he says later, before the face of God. The weight of our sin brings us to our knees. We have absolutely no right to ask anything of God, not even the breadcrumbs underneath the table. Instead, he gives us a feast. Verse four talks about the feast of forgiveness, a generosity that might take you aback, scared there might be a catch. The fear that the Psalmist is talking about is the reverent admiration of God. The only one who has the power to condemn us is the one who holds out his hand for the fallen child, on their knees. Fear, love, and trust. That's like the motto of Martin Luther, right? That's exactly right. Luther tells us to fear, love, and trust God before all else because when you give those three things over to something, that is your God. So why is it so hard to trust God with everything we fear? I fear the future. I fear not being good enough. I sometimes even fear the monster in the closet. Why do I think God can't handle those? God is the only thing that deserves to be feared. Instead of condemning us, which God has every right to do, he welcomes us to the table. Jesus Christ, through his death and resurrection, invites us to give everything over to God and saves us through no power of our own. We have forgiveness because of everything God has done. So hope in the Lord! Verse seven seems to me to be the bridge of the song. The psalmist mulls in the angst of pain and doubt but eventually gets to the point. There is hope in the midst of suffering. With the Lord there is steadfast love. This word, "hesed" translated to be steadfast love, is one of Pastor Matthias's favorite Hebrew words. It can also be translated as faithfulness, mercy, and covenant love. That last translation is the one I want to focus on because God has made a covenant with his people. Most of the time, the first thing that someone thinks of when they hear the word "covenant" is a marriage. And that is what the Psalmist is talking about. God has given his covenant to us, to protect us and abide in us. God has given us the Holy Spirit as an engagement ring for when Christ returns [2 Cor. 5:5]. This is the hope we hold on to, for dear life. The only catch is, Christ has already said the vows. He loved us until death parted him from us, and even after. God is to be feared, loved, and trusted above all else. No matter how many times we turn away, the table is still set. Come feast at the table of the Lord.
1 Comment
Gail
2/17/2019 09:00:21 pm
My grandpa would use this psalm when gathering the family of one who’d died to pray right before the funeral service. We did the same at his funeral. My sould waits for the Lord, and in His Word I hope!
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