Weekend Sermon--Psalm 130

     I'm back for another Weekend Sermon.  This is my favorite part of the week because I get to share the Word of the Lord.
     For the past few weeks, I've been asking those of you who read the blog to pray for my financial situation.  I thank you for your prayers, and I ask that you would continue to pray for me.  In answer to prayer, the Lord is providing, and I believe that there are better days in the near future.
     There's something else I'd ask everyone to pray about.  I just found out that a corgi who's owner posts hundreds of videos about him on the Internet is very sick.  Watching these videos has brought a lot of joy into my life, and I ask that you would pray that this little fellow might get well.  I remember when Toby had liver cancer, all of the doctors gave him a few short weeks to live even after the operation.  But, I asked Jesus to heal Toby, and Toby lived for 13 months to the astonishment of the veterinarians.
     In last week's message, we talked about Jesus' teachings on lust and divorce.  We all need to guard our minds and hearts, and focus on pure thoughts.  Also, all believers should understand the way God feels about divorce and work to strengthen their marriage commitment.
     For this week's message, I am going to take a one week break from our series on the Sermon on the Mount and talk about Psalm 130.
     Psalm 130 played an important role in my life during my final semester in college.  While I was in college, I sang in the college choir.  During the last semester, one of the pieces we worked on was a musical setting of Psalm 130 by the composer John Rutter.  Everyone in the choir found it to be a difficult piece, so the choir director made us practice an extra long time.  Our performance of the piece turned out great.
     Psalm 130 begins, "Out of the depths, I have called to thee O Lord.  Lord, hear my voice!  Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication."
     In these verses, the Psalmist is in desperate need for an answer to prayer.  He needs to hear from the Lord, and in his anguish, he pleads with the Lord to listen to him.
     I know that I have been in this place many times.  I've had a great need, and the only place to turn to when the need is great is to the Heavenly Father who loves us.  Whatever our need or whatever our burden, the Lord is always listening, and He is always near.
     The object of the Psalmist's plea in Psalm 130 appears to be for forgiveness.  He says, "If Thou, Lord should mark iniquities, O Lord who could stand."  Another translation puts it this way, "If Thou, Lord were extreme to mark what is done amiss.  O Lord, who may abide it."
     Contrary to what many teach, God is not looking at us from Heaven just waiting for us to do the slightest wrong and then punish us.  If that were the case, everyone would be doomed.
     When I was a young man in church and the school operated by my church, we were taught about a very judgmental and angry God.  I remember being taught that if we failed some week to give God his 10 percent, He would get it from us some way and it wouldn't be pleasant.  God was presented as always angry with us instead of as the loving Father presented by the Lord Jesus Christ.
     As the Psalmist says, there is forgiveness with the Lord.  If we come to Him, He will not cast us away  The Lord cleanses us from all unrighteousness and doesn't hold our sins against us.  He is full of mercy and compassion.
     The Psalmist concludes Psalm 130 by speaking about waiting for the Lord.  To me, this has two implications.  Sometimes, we have to wait on the Lord before we receive an answer to our prayers.  This is a hard thing to do.  It requires trust in God and a great deal of patience.
     Sometimes, we're tempted to give up and think that our prayers will never be answered.  However, Jesus taught us to always believe and not give up in prayer.  I prayed for months that the Lord would heal me of vitiligo.  All the while, it kept getting worse.  I kept praying, and the Lord has completely healed me.
     We as believers are waiting on the Lord in another way as well.  We are waiting for the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus.  When Jesus returns to this earth one day.  He will rule and reign in righteousness.  The world will finally know peace and an end to the sin that plagues our planet.  Every knee will bow and everyone will confess that Jesus is Lord.  I long for that day, and I pray that Jesus will come soon, even today.
     Next week, Lord willing, we will resume our study of Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.  I'd also like to remind everyone again that on Wednesdays I'm posting chapters of my book about Toby.  May God bless you.  Amen.