God is deeper than the deepest depth in man. He is holier than our deepest sin is deep. There is no depth as deep to us as when God reveals His holiness in dealing with our sin . . . think more of the depth of God than the depth of your cry. The worst thing that can happen to man is to have no God to cry to out of the depth.
P. T. Forsyth said that over a hundred years ago and it is just as gloriously true (and needed) today as it was when he wrote it.
Psalm 130 deals with more than just someone who is overwhelmed and under-resourced. It’s closer to what is referred to today as an “existential dread.” That’s a sophisticated phrase for what happens when people who don’t believe in (or lose sight) of anything bigger than themselves come face-to-face with their cosmic smallness. Maybe it’s an illness or accident that causes them to confront their mortality. Perhaps their life goes into a freefall economically or relationally. Whatever their anchor was (health, job, relationship, etc.), it fails to hold, and they go into a life-unraveling drift.
The depths are a great place to meet God.
It’s not that He isn’t everywhere (Psalm 139), it’s just that many times we’re not interested in seeing Him. In the depths though, all our fail-safes and life hacks prove impotent and our pain can bring a penitence that enables us to pull up the blinds and “find God” (and ourselves). Once that happens, well, we start seeing Him everywhere (“Lord” is used 8 times in these 8 verses). The circumstances that brought us to the Lord may or may not improve, but we will find in Him a place to firmly stand.
Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. (Psalm 130:7)
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 