Psalm 130 Devotional

Forgiveness Before the Dawn

“But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be feared.”Psalm 130:4 (BSB)

This psalm begins in the depths, with a voice crying to the LORD and asking him to listen (130:1-2). The depths here are not only trouble but guilt. If God kept a record of every sin, no one could stand before him (130:3). No one's record is clean enough to survive that kind of accounting.

The next verse changes everything. God forgives, and the purpose is that he would be feared (130:4). One might expect forgiveness to make people careless. Instead, being forgiven produces reverence and wonder, because mercy shows how great God is. So the psalmist waits for the LORD and hopes in his word, more than night watchmen long for morning, and he says it twice (130:5-6). Then he calls Israel to hope in the LORD, who has loving devotion and abundant redemption and will redeem his people from all their sins (130:7-8). Paul says that in Christ, through his blood, believers are redeemed and forgiven (Ephesians 1:7). Forgiveness is not the end of reverence. It is where reverence begins.

To think about: How does knowing that God does not keep a record of your sins move you toward awe rather than carelessness?