Psalms 130:1 “Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD. 2 Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.”
In this context, “the depths” refers to the extremely low and miserable state the Lord’s people sometimes find themselves in. The Psalmist is telling us that in these “depths”, hopelessness looms as a dark, ominous cloudy day that drones on day by day. In this condition, our mind tells us that there is no reason to hope, for there is no way out of these “depths”; therefore, anguish and misery is all this life holds for me. In these depths, even our prayers seem frail and unheard. Loneliness is a constant pain in the heart. Joy is like a façade hiding my misery. Sometimes we fall into these miserable “depths” simply because we live in a sinful world that delights in filling our lives with “tribulations” (John 16:33). Sometimes we bring these miserable “depths” upon ourselves because of the sin in our own lives (James 1:13-15). Whatever the cause, our minds deceive us, telling us that there is no reason to hope for a better day, it tells us that we are just perpetually stuck in this misery and there is no way out. But, the Psalmist also wrote the truth, “This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.” (Psalms 34:6)! In such extended miserable times, we must keep right on crying unto “the LORD”, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2); for, in a time and manner pleasing to Him, He will hear our prayer and send His just and powerful answer. While we remain in such misery, we need to ask ourselves, is my life about me, or is it about the Lord? If it’s about me, we can expect to continue in misery. If it’s about the Lord, by “faith” we have every reason to hope (expect) a better day; for, He “will not leave” us “comfortless” (John 14:18)! These miserable conditions have a way of peeling away the vain parts of our human nature, leaving us with pure joy; for, “The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” (Isaiah 29:19). No matter what our condition is, the challenge to us is to take our mind off ourselves and spend our time “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith”!