Psalm 130

A Song of degrees.
Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD.
Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.
And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

The first thing that stood out to me about this psalm is verse three, "If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" It occurred to me that no one can stand, at least not without the righteousness of Christ upon them. It is Christ's sacrifice that enables us to stand before God, that enables us to be able to come to the throne. Without His righteousness nobody can stand.

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. (Romans 3:10-12)

Now as I came to the second half of the psalm (verses 5-8) it struck me that part of what is probably being talked about here is the psalmist is waiting for Christ's coming, after all our redemption was purchased at the cross. Without His sacrifice there is no mercy, no redemption. Without the cross we all are must bear our own sins, and the psalmist seems to understand this which is one of the reasons he awaits the Lord. For the Lord "shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities."

So the psalmist knows that Christ is coming, he knows his Redeemer will rescue him from his sin, he trusts that the Father will provide even though he hasn't seen.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

Beyond that I think there is more going on. Yes, the psalmist is waiting for the Lord to bring redemption, he is waiting for the cross. But I believe this waiting, this hopeful expectation goes beyond the cross. We have found our salvation in Christ at the cross, and we are still waiting. We wait for that final sweep when God will return and over throw the evil kingdoms of this world. And so we wait. "My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning."