Hear the word of the Lord:
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!
If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.
Only God can know the depths of our heart,
the burdens that crush us,
the fears that weaken us,
the mistakes that haunt us.
Only God can really hear this mess that is my message,
yet this holy listener knows my unholiness,
somehow knowing and forgiving and making
holy that which cannot be holy on its own.
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
than those who watch for the morning.
Does he make me wait because he is God
and I am not?
Does he make we wait so that I will understand
that he is not some sort of cosmic clean-up crew
just waiting for me to ring the bell?
Or does the waiting allow me time to contemplate
the ugliness, even horror, of what I have done?
Perhaps the waiting is for me to wake up to
the steadfast nature of his love, the ready power of
his saving arm, so different from my feeble efforts
and easily frustrated love for others.
O Israel, hope in the LORD!
For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
Surely, as difficult as it is for us to imagine,
our God loves us, forgives us, and delivers us
from our hammer-heads, our hard-hearts,
our razor tongues, our careless lips,
our wayward feet, our itching ears,
our insatiable stomachs, and our idle hands.
Through his Spirit, he transforms each one of these
troubled members into an instrument of praise.
Thank God that he is God, and that he loves us.
Blessings,
Ron
Psalm 130
