Advent

Psalm 130

A song of ascents

Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;

2 Lord, hear my voice.

Let your ears be attentive

    to my cry for mercy.

3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,

    Lord, who could stand?

4 But with you there is forgiveness,

    so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

5 I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,

    and in his word I put my hope.

6 I wait for the Lord

    more than watchmen wait for the morning,

    more than watchmen wait for the morning.

7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord,

    for with the Lord is unfailing love

    and with him is full redemption.

8 He himself will redeem Israel

    from all their sins.

The hope of Advent draws my mind to the yearning cry of a familiar Christmas carol, “O come, O come, Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel. That mourns in lonely exile here/ Until the Son of God appear.” Because of their sin, God was compelled to scatter His people, Israel, among the nations, where they keenly felt their separation from His presence and His goodness (Deuteronomy 28:64). Alone in exile, Israel mourned the loss of their nearness to the Lord their God, scarcely daring to hope that He could yet redeem them.

The writer of Psalm 130, seems to be facing a similar separation. Like the Israelites in exile, this psalmist cries to God from the depths of despair caused by the separation of sin. Yet the psalmist finds hope because the Lord extends forgiveness. Like watchmen in the depths of night tensely anticipating the dawn’s relief, the psalmist’s hope clings to the steadfast love of the Lord, who promised to redeem both the psalmist and Israel, buying them back from the depths of their sin. 

Our own sin plunges us into the depths of darkness, and it shatters the world into splinters so that the innocent suffer. But the Lord our God did not leave us in this despair. With powerful, steadfast love, He stepped down into the fear and helplessness of an infant lying in a manger. This promised child, Emmanuel, God with us, stepped into the midst of the pain fractured world to bear its sin, its suffering, and its exile.

So, like Israel, let us hope in the Lord. Let us bow our lives before our Redeemer,

asking Him to correct our disobedience and shape us into a people of love, a people who tremble in expectant hope, confident that Emmanuel walks beside us in the depths, inexplicably transforming darkness into a glorious dawn.