The Afternoon Of Aldersgate

Psalm 130

A song for the ascent to Jerusalem.

1From the depths of despair, O LORD,

I call for your help.

2Hear my cry, O Lord.

Pay attention to my prayer.

3LORD, if you kept a record of our sins,

who, O Lord, could ever survive?

4But you offer forgiveness,

that we might learn to fear you.

5I am counting on the LORD;

yes, I am counting on him.

I have put my hope in his word.

6I long for the Lord

more than sentries long for the dawn,

yes, more than sentries long for the dawn.

7O Israel, hope in the LORD;

for with the LORD there is unfailing love

and an overflowing supply of salvation.

8He himself will free Israel

from every kind of sin.

On May 24, 1738, John Wesley was depressed. He had been wrestling with spiritual questions. Was faith alone enough for salvation? If so, could a man be converted instantaneously?

That afternoon at London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral, he heard an anthem sung that opened his heart. Based on Psalm 130, it began, “Out of the deeps of long distress, the borders of despair . . .” He was greatly moved because the anthem from Psalm 130 told his personal story. That evening he attended a meeting in a little chapel on Aldersgate Street, heard a reading from the introduction to Luther’s commentary on Romans, and felt his heart “strangely warmed.” He had taken the leap from verse 1 to verse 5 of the psalm.

Many outstanding Christians have loved this psalm. One of them was John Owen, who wrote an extended commentary on it—with nearly three hundred pages on verse 4 alone! He loved that verse because once when he was “brought to the mouth of grace” and when his soul was “oppressed with horror and darkness,” that fourth verse brought him close to God.

God offers forgiveness, verse 4 says. Forgiveness is God’s free gift. Have you accepted it yet?

In tenderness he sought me, weary and sick with sin,

And on his shoulders brought me back to his fold again.

While angels in his presence sang

Until the courts of heaven rang.

W. SPENCER WALTON

Bible Networking

A companion verse to this mighty psalm on forgiveness is Romans 5:20.

Notable Quotable

“Waiting is vigilance plus expectation; it is wide awake to God.”

EUGENE PETERSON