Advent: Waiting for the Word

The psalmist does not climb out of the depths before he prays; he prays from inside them, and then he does something stranger still — he stays there and keeps watch. Like a watchman posted at the bottom of a deep well, he cannot see the horizon, yet he strains toward the morning he knows is coming. His cry and his waiting are the same held breath aimed at Yahweh's ears.

The logic runs: if Yahweh kept a record of sins, no one could stand; but there is forgiveness with him, therefore he is feared. The fear here is the reverence of a forgiven culprit who has seen the record torn up, not the terror of a debtor. I confess that I have often wanted the morning of relief more than I have wanted the Word who makes the morning; my watching has been for an outcome, not for him. The depths have taught me to cry, and the forgiveness found there is what teaches me to wait.

Here is the specific grace: the record of sins was not kept against us. It was kept against Christ on the cross, where the full account was paid, and the resurrection is the morning the watchman strains for — the proof that the night of the record is over. The watchman's morning has already come in Christ's resurrection, so hope in his word. You are waiting on a Word that has already kept watch.