1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
2 O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?4 But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.– Psalm 13:1-4
When we are at our lowest, what is the best–the only–right response? To cry out to God. We cry out because we believe God hears the prayers and cries of those who are distraught. What Psalm 130 shows us is that this doesn’t just apply to circumstantial depth, trouble that happens to us. It applies to trouble that happens in us or that we have created with our own sins. The psalmist is calling out to God from a place of guilt or shame. He knows he can’t stand before God.
But crying out to the Lord, the very one we cannot stand before, is the way toward hope and forgiveness. Verse 4 declares that forgiveness is found in God. Even more amazingly, God’s forgiveness leads us to fear him–that is to honor and be in awe of him–so we go from the depths to a transformed life through the amazing forgiveness of God.
God’s forgiveness is offered through Christ, so this Psalm offers a clear declaration of the hope of the gospel. As sinners we find ourselves in the depths, unable to save ourselves. When God accounts for our sins, we are unable to stand and justify ourselves. But if we cry out to him for forgiveness he hears us, he offers mercy, and forgiveness and hope abound through the work of Christ.
I originally wrote this post for my church, Immanuel Nashville, in our Daily Pulse email. If you want encouragement from God’s word delivered Monday thru Friday to your inbox, I encourage you to subscribe.
