First John 1:9 commands us as Christians to regularly confess our sins to God as part of our progressive sanctification: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Here is a simple, clear statement of our need for repentance. We should… Continue Reading
Psalm 130 is one of seven psalms that church tradition has labeled the “penitential psalms” (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143), another way of saying “songs of repentance.” This penitential psalm includes all of the necessary elements of heartfelt confession to the Lord. The psalm has four stanzas, each progressively expressing true repentance. In… Continue Reading
Last week in our discussion of Psalm 130 for today, we saw that this is one of seven of the penitential psalms, psalms that express repentance from sin and a call to God for mercy. Yet this is not simply an expression of individual repentance; this psalm is meant to be used in the context… Continue Reading
We have been looking at the message of Psalm 130 and have noticed that it is a penitential psalm and a song of corporate worship. The final stanza (verses 7-8) in particular reveal its congregational focus, proclaiming that God will redeem all of his people from their iniquities. You see, this penitential psalm is not… Continue Reading
It our discussion of Psalm 130, we have seen that it is a song of repentance, it is a song of corporate worship, and it is a gospel song. But notice the common word in each of these descriptions—this is a song! And because this is a poem that is meant to be sung, we… Continue Reading
Last week I pointed out that since Psalm 130 is a song, we cannot treat it like a Pauline epistle. We need to explore the poetic elements of the psalm to let it do for us what the original author(s) intended for it to communicate. First, songs often make use of artistic metaphors to create… Continue Reading
We have seen that in verse 1 and 2 of Psalm 130, the author is creating a poetic experience of desperation that he wants us to enter as we consider our sin. He is not just telling us that we should feel desperate about our sin, he shows us artistically through the use of metaphor.… Continue Reading
In our study of Psalm 130, we have seen that the psalmist uses various poetic devices like metaphor and repetition to create a picture of what true repentance should feel like–desperate need for forgiveness from sin. This is the primary function of stanza 1 (vss. 1-2) and 3 (vss.5-6) of this song of repentance. But… Continue Reading
Psalm 130 expresses hope amidst desperation through what it says, but it also expresses confidence in God’s faithfulness through what it does poetically as well. The psalmist expresses a progression from repentant desperation to this hope and confidence in God’s mercy beautifully in the specific words that he chooses in this song. A good song writer doesn’t… Continue Reading
Psalm 130, a corporate song of repentance, has shown us the power of art to both tell us what true repentance should be like and also show us artistically through use of metaphors, and repetition, careful word choice, and names for God. And this is why we sing. We sing not only to say right things, although… Continue Reading
Up to this point in our study of Psalm 130, we have talked only about the poetic part of a song, but Psalm 130 wasn’t read; Psalm 130 was sung. So I’d like to address the music side of things. Clearly the music—the melody, the harmony, and the rhythm—doesn’t make a clear statement like words… Continue Reading
We are coming to the end of our study of Psalm 130. Last week we saw that when you’re living in a state of unconfessed sin, or you are taking the grace and forgiveness of God for granted, a song of repentance may be just what you need to shake you out of your lethargy.… Continue Reading
For most of church history, singing songs of repentance was part of regular, weekly corporate worship, a practice with precedent in Psalms like Psalm 130. During the Reformation in particular, men like Martin Luther wrote songs of repentance, one of which is a paraphrase of Psalm 130. “Aus Tiefer Not”—“Out of the Depths”—was Luther’s German… Continue Reading