Psalm 130:3-4

Psalm 130:3-4

3 If iniquities you watch over, Yah,
My Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you is the forgiveness
So that you are feared.

BUT WITH YOU IS THE FORGIVENESS

A sixteen-year-old church youth came in to our counseling room one afternoon, struggling to say something. At long last, in a shaking voice, he blurted out, “Cher, I am afraid I am not saved!” before breaking down in desperate sobs.

That afternoon the youth confessed to a sin which he had secretly harboured since childhood, the burden of which was no longer bearable. A few weeks prior to our meeting, he had made a definite break and whole-heartedly resolved to never commit that sin again. He despaired over his heart’s propensity toward evil, and cried, “I deserve to be destroyed in hell.” There was nothing hyperbolic in those words. He meant them with all of his heart.

Yet, there is hope in Ps 130:3-4, “If iniquities you watch over, Yah, who could stand?” If God were to preserve our records of sins and count our missteps, we would be left completely without hope. Sadly, few sixteen-year-olds come to that true estimate of themselves. Rather, our self-serving culture conditions us to presume upon the kindness of God. Many of us confess our sins only in a customary or cursory way, not realizing that by virtue of those sins we deserve to be cut off from God completely and forever. Yet, in the abyss of honest self-estimation, we discover the forgiveness of God.

In fact in v.4, the psalmist personifies God’s forgiveness by using the article “the”—But with you is the forgiveness. Spurgeon in his commentary, Treasury of David, explains that this mean “the power of pardon is permanently resident with God.”

It took that sixteen-year-old many weeks of wrestling before he could personally accept God’s forgiveness. When he finally experienced God’s infinite mercy, he responded to God’s calling and is now one of our trusted ministry helpers who displays the radiance and gentleness of God to everyone around him.

Anna Luu
(M.Div., Yr 2)