Trust From the Morning Watch

A Commentary on Psalm 130

1. Out of the depths I cry to Thee, O Lord!

As Jonah cried to God in the belly of the whale, as Hezekiah in his sickness, as the Prodigal in the pig sty, as the Publican in the temple, and as righteous Job on the ash heap.

For this mortal life is our deep. —St. Augustine¹

2. Lord, hear my voice! Let Thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!

This recalls the cry of blind Bartimaeus: impudent and undignified to those around him, but to Heaven, precious and effective. “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Such prayer receives what it seeks from the Lord.

3. If Thou, O Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?

Who could stand, if God was Judge, and not also Saviour?

For were He to reward us according to our works, we should cease to be. For “if Thou, Lord, shalt mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” —St. Ignatius to Magnesians

When David prays, by the Holy Spirit, “If thou should mark iniquities…”, we are taught that God does not mark iniquities. First, God does not mark iniquities when He pours out His grace, forgiving sins, even the most heinous sins, for the sake of Christ’s sacrifice. Second, He does not mark iniquities when He shows paternal compassion with our weakness. By His grace freely given, we walk by the Spirit, growing in virtue, though we stumble in daily sins along the way. “Mark iniquities” gives the sense of tallying up little sins against us, waiting for us to shipwreck. But that is not how our God is:

Such rigor imputed to Thee is unworthy of Thy paternal heart. —François Fénelon²

Sacred Scripture tells us:

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. —1 John 1:8

Do not enter into judgment with your servant; before you no one can be just. —Psalm 143:2

For we all stumble in many ways. —James 3:2

And St. Augustine, contra Pelagius:

He said not, I may not abide it: but, "who may abide it?" For he saw that nigh the whole of human life on every side was ever bayed at by its sins, that all consciences were accused by their thoughts, that a clean heart trusting in its own righteousness could not be found. —St. Augustine³

4. But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared.

But there is forgiveness with Thee. What glorious words. There is forgiveness with God. Let none despair, but begin your prayer now: With Thee, there is forgiveness. The Vulgate renders the word that we render forgiveness as propitiatio: propitiation, sacrifice. Christ is the propitiation for our sins.

The second half of this verse is the one favored by the Masoretic Text. That Thou mayest be feared… I have always loved this reading. There is forgiveness with God, so that we may fear and love Him. This truth has lifted me from many falls. Do you desire to walk in the fear of God? Then there is forgiveness for you.

The Septuagint and the Vulgate (and the Patristic authors who comment on this Psalm) render the second half of this quite differently, as: “and by reason of thy law.” If we are to take the Septuagint reading, then there are other prophetic layers to the words.

What is the law, by reason of which there is forgiveness? St. Paul tells us that the old law was unable to bring about this end. So there is another law forseen. It is the same thing that the Prophet Jeremiah foresaw, “not like the covenant I made with your fathers…for I will remember your iniquity no more.”

This ‘law’ is the New Covenant: the law of Christ, the law of Love in the Holy Spirit, that brings forgiveness. St. Augustine comments thus on those words:

For a "law, holy, just, and good," was given to the Jews; but its effect was to make them guilty. A law was not given that could give life, but which might show his sins to the sinner. For the sinner had forgotten himself, and saw not himself; the law was given him, that he might see himself. The law made him guilty, the Lawgiver freed him: for the Lawgiver is the Supreme Power… There is therefore a law of the mercy of God, a law of the propitiation of God. The [old law] was a law of fear, the other is a law of love. The law of love giveth forgiveness to sins, blotteth out the past, warneth concerning the future; forsaketh not its companion by the way, becometh a companion to him whom it leadeth on the way. —St. Augustine

5. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I hope;

6. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.

“Whoever waits for the Lord” is a phrase used throughout the Old Testament in a way simmilar to “whoever believes” is used in the New.

David, waiting and looking forward to a Messiah to come, ultimately received the redemption that His Descendant would accomplish in the future. For the Patriarchs, this was the waiting of trust in future promises. For Simeon and Anna, this was the waiting for the revealing of the Lord’s salvation.

For us, this “waiting” is the faith by which we live the Christian life. Now we see in a glass dimly, and we await the day when we will see face to face. The catechumen waits for Baptism⁴, the penitent for Reconciliation⁵, the confused for more wisdom, the weak for greater strength, and all the just await the Resurrection: the “redemption of our bodies”, the shedding off of concupiscence, and the final deliverance of all sin and sorrow.

Let us wait on the Lord, “more than watchmen for the morning.” Let us trust in Him from the morning watch until night, abiding in Him and in His forgiveness, and we will certainly attain that final deliverance.

7. O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with Him is plenteous redemption.

8. And He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

The English translation of this final verse conceals an important connection with the New Testament.

In the Septuagint, this verse reads, λυτρώσεται τὸν Ισραηλ ἐκ πασῶν τῶν ἀνομιῶν αὐτοῦ⁶: “He will deliver Israel from all his lawlessness”.

In St. Paul’s letter to Titus, we read that Jesus Christ gave Himself for us to “redeem us from all lawlessness”: λυτρώσηται ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ πάσης ἀνομίας⁷.

The verb forms and noun declensions differ slightly, but it is clear that St. Paul is alluding to the promise of Psalm 130:8.

Jesus Christ, “our great God and Savior” gave Himself to bring about the redemption described, promised, and apprehended in this Psalm.

He is the Father’s gift of plentiful redemption, Who died as the propitiation for our sins, and Who rose for us in the Easter morning watch.

Jesus, I trust in You!

The Lord rose again from the morning watch… He went before [us] without sin, that He may blot out the sins of those that follow Him. Trust not in yourselves, but trust from the morning watch. —St. Augustine

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The Empty Tomb, Mikhail Nesterov

1. St. Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 130, and throughout, unless indicated.

2. Quoted in C. G. Quadrupani’s Light and Peace: Intructions for Devout Souls.

3. The Hammer of the Pelagians also said: So, I say, with the exception of the Virgin, if we could have gathered together all those holy men and women, when they were living here, and had asked them whether they were without sin, what do we suppose would have been their answer? —St. Augustine, On Nature and Grace

4. For catechumens who die before their baptism, their explicit desire to receive it, together with repentance for their sins, and charity, assures them the salvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament. —CCC, 1259

5. We cannot place limits to God’s mercy nor fix times for Him with whom true conversion suffers no delay of forgiveness, as says God’s Spirit by the prophet, “when thou hast turned and lamented, then shalt thou be saved (Isaiah 30:15);” and elsewhere, “Declare thou thy iniquities beforehand, that thou may’st be justified (Isaiah 43:26);” and again, “For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption.” —St. Leo the Great to Bishop Theodore of Forum Julii, Letter 108

6. Psalm 129:8, LXX

7. Titus 2:14, SBLGNT