seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Psalm 130 A song of ascents.
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;
2 Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
2 Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
5 I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
6 I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
and in his word I put my hope.
6 I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
8 He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.
for with the Lord is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
8 He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.
This is from Bible.org.
Psalm 130 is a part of a group of psalms (120-134) called, Psalms of Ascents. The pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem sang these songs as they went up to the city for the great Jewish festivals. As such, these songs not only were for worship as they walked, but also they prepared their hearts for the corporate worship they would engage in at the Temple. As Christians, our “festival” of corporate worship is the Lord’s Supper. As we approach it, we should be aware of our great need for forgiveness so that we partake with thankful, reverent hearts to our gracious God who sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sins that we deserved. This Psalm of Ascents takes us from the depths of guilt and despair to the heights of joyous hope in the Lord. It says,
No matter how deep you are in guilt and despair, you can cry out to God for forgiveness, knowing that He delights in abundant redemption.
The people who wrote these poems or songs... didn't have Heaven. They had a set of rules to live by.... the 10 Commandments and the laws laying out everything from how to wash, what to eat, how to prepare it, to where to poop, and how to get along with your neighbor was covered by rules.
This is also from Bible.org..... and I couldn't say it better myself.
You remember the Permanent Record. In school, you were constantly being told that if you screwed up, the news would be sent to the principal and placed in your Permanent Record.
Nothing more needed to be said. No one had ever seen a Permanent Record. That didn’t matter. We knew it was there.…
I have a terrible feeling that mine was the last generation to know what a Permanent Record was—and that it has disappeared as a concept in society.
There was a time when people really stopped before they did something they knew was deceitful, immoral, or unethical. They didn’t stop because they were such holy folks. They stopped because they had a nagging fear that if they did the foul deed, it would end up on their Permanent Record.
At some point in the last few decades, I’m afraid, people wised up to something that amazed them: there is no Permanent Record. They discovered that regardless of how badly you fouled up your life or the lives of others, there was nothing about it on your record. You would always be forgiven, no matter what.
So pretty soon men and women—instead of fearing the Permanent Record—started laughing at it. The things that they used to be ashamed of, that once made them cringe when they thought about them, now became “interesting” aspects of their personalities.
If the details were weird enough, the kinds of things that would have really jazzed up the Permanent Record, people sometimes wrote books confessing them, and the books became best-sellers. They found out that other people—far from scorning them—would line up in bookstores to get their autographs. Talk-show hosts would say, “Thank you for being so honest with us. I’m sure our audience understands how much guts it takes for you to tell us these things.”…
As Americans began to realize that there probably never had been a Permanent Record, they deduced that any kind of behavior was permissible. All you had to do was say, “That was a real crazy period in my life.” All would be okay.
And that is where we are today. We have accepted the notion that no one is keeping track. No one is even allowed to keep track. I doubt you could scare a school kid nowadays by telling him that the principal was going to inscribe something on his Permanent Record; the kid would probably file a suit under the Freedom of Information Act and expect to obtain his Permanent Record by recess. Either that, or call it up on his or her computer and delete it.
As for us adults, it has been so long since we believed in the Permanent Record that the very mention of it now brings a nostalgic smile to our faces. We feel naïve for ever having believed there was such a thing.
But who really knows? On some distant day when we check out of this earthly world and approach the gates of our new eternal home, our smiles may freeze. We just might be greeted by a heavenly presence sitting there, casually leafing through a dusty, battered volume of our Permanent Record, as we come jauntily into view.
The people who wrote these poems believed there was a permanent record and God was the one who was making sure everything stayed balanced. They believed that as long as they followed the rules.... given by God... then God would give them protection..... Today.... not so much. It has been nagging me.... they didn't have the Bible, Christ or the New Testament including the Book of Revelation penned by John, a close friend of Jesus of Nazareth. John is careful to let the people know.... there is a permanent record.... and God does keep it.
I wonder.... what would the author of this poem say about Facebook or Google..... what would the naysayer say about the ability to pull up something someone said years ago to use against them in any court anywhere in seconds? No permanent record indeed.....
