Dinos Horattides
Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;
Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.  Psalm 130:1-2
 
Psalm 130 is among the Psalms subtitled ‘A song of ascents’, songs that pilgrims to Jerusalem, including Jesus and his followers, would sing on their way to the city. It is a song of repentance, sung by someone who fully trusts in a just and merciful God and who believes that God’s redemptive love saves. 

When we need help, we tend to go to someone we trust, where we are confident our call for help will be answered. The bigger our need the louder our pleading. Let us join with the psalmist as he calls on the one we can trust, and at the top of our voices call for sympathy and pity.

The granting of forgiveness creates a special bond between the forgiver and the forgiven. With God’s forgiveness the bond is not of servitude but of service, God’s forgiveness is given freely and unequivocally, it doesn’t bind us but instead sets us free. We in turn and by our free will worship God.

I am beginning to expect in the morning an item on the news telling us we are entering the beginning of the end of this catastrophe, that infection numbers are reducing, less people needing intensive care, that no deaths are reported. My impatience is yet to be rewarded. Let us keep in our minds that as dawn is inevitable and the sun will rise, so it is with God, He will answer.

We have a God who never fails to fulfil our hopes, who answers our prayers. As we enter Holy Week, this year, we know a little of the Passion of Jesus, his isolation, his fear. Many will experience the constricted breathing that hanging on the cross induces. Let’s remember that beyond the suffering we get to celebrate His and our Resurrection. In the next few days, we will be reminded of God’s unfailing love for us. We will rise again with Jesus as God’s forgiven children.
 
Prayer
Lord Jesus we worship you, your love for humankind brought you among us to die on the Cross so that we are freed from sin and death, so that we may gain eternal life.    Lord reward our impatience, let your radiance rise on this world and on each one of us.  We believe that your love will redeem us. Hear our cry as we call to you ‘have mercy on us’. 

Prayer Request:  Please pray for the family and friends of George Dunkley who died on Saturday, and for all who mourn at this time.
 
Note to our readers:  Today’s Thought is part of a longer reflection on Psalm 130 which you can find here