Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplications!If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
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 his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.O Israel, hope in the LORD!
For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
It is he who will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.
Prayer is a nice idea, that we can talk to God and that God responds. And there’s the idea that we pray in response to hearing from God, in other words there’s our listening in the process. Oftentimes as in this psalm, experience is important in this too. We pray, indeed cry out to God, although sometimes we can barely utter a whisper, out of the depths, in other words at a low point in our life. That is encouraging. All of that is good as far as the idea goes, but it won’t matter if we don’t put it into practice.
This psalm covers a lot in a short space. Our sense of undeserving because of our sins, the reality that prayer involves waiting and is an expression of hope. We are talking to God about something only God can bring about, not us. We’re at the very least asking God for God’s help. And yes, out of the depths, out of the lowest, hardest places in which it can seem as if our prayers are pointless and at the very least an empty, maybe some would consider ritualistic exercise. We need to avoid the idea that it’s simply something we do as if God might bless us for doing it. It is a personal as well as communal activity of faith. We pray, we wait, we hope. With the promise that God will indeed redeem and make all things good and right in the community of faith and ultimately in the world through Christ.
Jesus community 