Psalm 130 is one of the songs or poems that was recited by the Jews as they approached Jerusalem for Israel’s annual feasts. While there were seven annual feasts, most who lived far from town would make the journey only once a year for Passover. A majority of folks making the trip started from a low altitude, usually from Galilee and headed up to the place of God’s throne, perched on Mt. Zion in the Holy of Holies. 

As they made this upward journey they would repeat or sing 15 Psalms, 120-134. You can imagine passing by a group of traveling pilgrims on the road to Jerusalem having heard their recitations from afar. As you draw near to them, instinctively, you too join in and begin reciting or singing the words you have known since before you can remember. 

For each of those on the path, the literal upward climb reflected their inward state. We all start out in the depths. We all need to look up. To head home. Moreover, we long to hear a voice from home calling to us, “This is the way, walk in it!” And it is as if our forefathers, the Jews, knew that the journey itself would be rough. That along the way, if we were to keep truth on our lips and in our minds, then our pace might not falter, our hope might not fade.

I’ve never actually been good at scripture memorization. I wish I was. What I do like is dwelling on a passage. I’ll keep it pulled up on my bible app, and secretly (as in I don’t even tell myself) I’ll just start reading it several times a day. I’m pretty sure it’s just a mind game for me. If I out and out say – I’m going to memorize this – then when I fail, that gets to me. But if I just say – I’m going to dwell on this – it sounds spiritual and there’s less risk of failure!

Mind games aside, I try to say as much of the passage as I can to myself in an anxious moment. Or when I feel afraid, lost, discouraged, hurt – I’ll pull out that passage and attempt to internalize it. Last week I started doing this with Psalm 130. It starts where I often am, in the depths. And ends where I long to be – in the arms of unfailing love where redemption overflows. I’ve included it below. Give it a try. And remember, you’re joining with countless pilgrims on the road home. As you do so, you just might find yourself lifted up.

¹From the depths of despair, O Lord,
    I call for your help.
² Hear my cry, O Lord.
    Pay attention to my prayer.

³ Lord, if you kept a record of our sins,
    who, O Lord, could ever survive?
⁴ But you offer forgiveness,
    that we might learn to fear you.

⁵ I am counting on the Lord;
    yes, I am counting on him.
    I have put my hope in his word.
⁶ I long for the Lord
    more than sentries long for the dawn,
    yes, more than sentries long for the dawn.

⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord;
    for with the Lord there is unfailing love.
    His redemption overflows.
⁸ He himself will redeem Israel
    from every kind of sin.