Psalm 130

Psalm 130 is considered a song of repentance, and is grouped with 10 other Psalms all called Psalm of the ascents. Jewish people who were travelling to Jerusalem would sing these songs on the uphill road to the city. I do see the redemption in this Psalm, but something much greater stuck out to me, that being, waiting for God.

It's verses 5 and 6 that really stuck with me. The phrase, "My whole being waits and in his word I put my hope" makes me visualize a person wholly focused on God, waiting, being still. Nothing is distracting the author in this moment, all he can do is wait. This raises the question, what is he actually waiting for? The answer is simple. He is waiting for God. He is waiting to hear from God. The amazing part about the author's waiting, is that he is waiting "more than watchmen wait for the morning." The word watchmen could also be interpreted as sentinel who stood watch on the city wall at night protecting the city and citizens from intruders. It was extremely stressful, and when dawn came, the watchmen could take a huge sigh of relief knowing that they were out of the darkness. The Psalmist is waiting more vigilantly than the watchmen, waiting for God, hyper focused on one thing, that being God's answer to his cry. In this moment, he needs to be still. Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still and know that I am God." Just as the watchmen wait for morning, and put their hope in the light of day, the Psalmist is focused on God, and while he is in a dark moment of life, he knows that God is on the horizon and will respond to his cry.

What do you put your hope in? Do you wait to hear from God, or do you go into action? It's easy to put our hope in something of this world, but that's hope in something temporary. Sometimes, as difficult as it is to do, I need to wait. I need to be still and be confident that God will answer my cry. Especially in times of suffering when I feel like I can solve the problem on my own or I feel like I can figure a way out. Waiting for God can not only be tough, it can take time, the watchmen could never speed up the sunrise, but they knew it would always come. We may not speed up God's answer to our cry, but keep focused on Him like the watchmen on the horizon and be assured that His answer will always occur just like the sunrise.