Psalm 130 is part of a collection of "songs of ascent" prayed as believers approached the temple for worship. Rabbis would gather to teach their followers at the Southern Steps of the temple while worshippers ascended thirty steps, praying as they climbed. The steps were designed in a specific way alternating between a narrow and wide step. As people approached, they had to keep looking down to navigate the uneven steps below and pause on the fifteen wider steps while praying songs of ascent. It was tricky to whizz up the temple steps and nip in the door without considering your approach and focusing on the one you had come to worship. I don't know if there's a modern-day equivalent but I can't imagine people praying the songs of ascent as they walk through the church car park. I think there's something special about taking time to focus on God as we come to worship together.
Psalm 130 offers hope when we have failed to be the person God created us to be. It gives us hope when we have made mistakes that caused pain to others or sent us down a path that God never intended for us. It's a Psalm of hope to lift the heads of those who feel burdened with shame. It's for those who wish they could take it back or undo the damage that's been caused. It's a psalm about the grace-filled God we worship.
Try and visualise ascending the steps of the temple as you read Psalm 130.
Psalm 130 Out of the Depths
A song of the stairway
1 Lord, I cry out to you out of the depths of my despair!
2 Hear my voice, O God!
Answer this prayer and hear my plea for mercy.
3 Lord, if you measured us and marked us with our sins,
who would ever have their prayers answered?
4 But your forgiving love is what makes you so wonderful.
No wonder you are loved and worshiped!
5 This is why I wait upon you, expecting your breakthrough,
for your Word brings me hope.
6 I long for you more than any watchman
would long for the morning light.
I will watch and wait for you, O God,
throughout the night.
7 O Israel, keep hoping, keep trusting,
and keep waiting on the Lord,
for he is tenderhearted, kind, and forgiving.
He has a thousand ways to set you free!
8 He himself will redeem you;
he will ransom you from the cruel slavery of your sins!
TPT
As we hone in on verse 5, our verse of hope for August, we're called to wait upon God. We read these words expecting our breakthrough and expecting to be free from the things that burden us.
If it feels like you're climbing out of a dark place and hope is lost, then you're not alone. People in exactly your situation created Psalms 120-134, the songs of ascent.
So...
Keep hoping.
Keep trusting.
Keep waiting.
Keep climbing as you sing the songs of the stairway.
Kay Moorby
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