November 4: Psalm 130

Randall Grossman
"O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption."-Psalm 130:7
   
What is "plentiful redemption"?  This is a rich and full expression, and one used nowhere else in Scripture. As the climax of a penitential prayer, the phrase sums up the teaching of the entire psalm. 
  
Verses 1- 2  bring to mind the desperation of the awakened sinner. "Out of the depths" is the cry of a person drowning in sin and guilt.  Like the terror experienced by the Chilean miners recently trapped beneath the earth, so is the fear of the sinner in the hands of an angry God. Screams for help, "pleas for mercy" (verse 2), ascend to God. Plentiful redemption includes the answer to this cry. 
     
The next two verses speak of the vast extent of our sin. If God should punish every sin of thought, word, and deed; every sin of omission and commission; every sin against God and against man; every sin from childhood to old age- O Lord, who could stand? The mere thought of my accumulated guilt is crushing. But there is forgiveness with God. God's forgiveness does not bring presumption, but greater fear. Having sinned and been forgiven, I never want to sin again. This too is part of plentiful redemption. 
    
Waiting on the LORD for his "steadfast love" (verse 7) is another aspect of plentiful redemption. God's covenant love and faithfulness are promises in which we can "hope" (verse 5). This lifts us out of the pit of our despair as we realize that God's character rather than our need is the ultimate basis of our standing with God. 
  
Plentiful redemption is complete when we realize that God in fact will forgive all the sins of all his people through the full redemption of his Son. The psalmist only saw this by faith, but we now know the glorious truth of Christ's death upon the cross to actually pay the price for our salvation. Every sin has been punished, all God's wrath has been turned aside from those who are in Christ Jesus. 

Thank you, Lord, for your "plentiful redemption"!