Out of the Depths I Cry

Text: Psalm 130

Reflection and Question: This prayer begins as a highly personal and private communication directed to God. We don’t use the word “supplication” much these days, but it captures all the psalmist’s yearning for what is good and right, and then the need for forgiveness is added. Then this prayer to God shifts with the comment that the speaker waits for God like the night watch. And by the end, the poet is speaking to Israel, pleading with the people to join in his or her hope and trust in God’s forgiving love. What are the supplications and iniquities in your depths that you place before God?

Prayer: If you should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, so that You may be revered. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in God’s Word I hope. Amen.

This meditation is based on the Daily Lectionary Year 1 from the Book of Common Worship for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (1993).