The Waiting
Psalm 129-131 ·November 16, 2025· Joel Passmore
Part of: Psalms, Pilgrim Playlist
Pastor Joel Passmore continues his sermon series titled, "Pilgrim Playlist". The Lord alone provides a way to justice, forgiveness, and peace.
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Good morning again, people of God. It's great to be with you. It's a delight to be with you, worshiping God together. And God is good. His steadfast love never fails. His mercies are new every morning. It's great to be here together. We are on the back half now of our sermon series on the Psalms of Ascent. Psalm 120-134. A sermon series called Pilgrim Playlist. These psalms are a soundtrack for a road trip by foot or camel or various things, whatever the family could afford.
Probably mostly walking. As God's people were walking up three times a year to Jerusalem. Some of them walking for days, some of them walking maybe for just half a day. Traveling to Jerusalem three times a year for the three great feasts that God called His people to come to the temple and worship Him at. I know we look at them and they look like poems to us, but they were songs. We don't know the tune that they were sung to, but they are songs that they would sing.
And these songs express their faith and their hope, their struggles, their need. And as we learn to sing along with them in our own way, we're strengthened in our journey. Now, I don't know about you, I don't mind traveling by myself, but I would much rather do it with other people. To me, a shared experience is a better experience. And you have all kinds of strange and fun experiences on a road trip. And it's better to share it with somebody else.
All of my favorite road trip memories involve the people that I was with. And I can picture who I was with and the things we laughed about or the crazy thing that happened or the person we left behind when we left the rest stop or something like that. On our journey of faith, I think we think of God as our destination sometimes. And indeed He is. He's where we're headed, like we're going home for Thanksgiving. Sometimes we think of God as AAA. He's the one we call when we break down, when the car won't start, something like that.
He's the help that we call out to when we need Him. But those two things, they're only part of the truth. This is the big idea for us today. God is also on the journey with us. And that's the thing that we forget about most often, I think. God's presence with us. He is our traveling companion. He is with us every step of our journey. This is really profound that the Lord of heaven and earth is near. He is with His people. I think that's why we forget it.
Because it's just so hard for us to believe that the transcendent God can be eminently present with us every moment of our day. Now, I know what some of you might be thinking. Oh, great. God's with us all the time. This is like that time when I got on the school bus for a field trip and I looked and noticed the principal was sitting on the bus. And you're like, oh, now we're not going to have any fun. The principal's on the bus with us. I'm afraid sometimes that's how we see it.
God being with us. That He's like in Santa Claus is coming to town. He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake. I've already been assaulted by Christmas music in stores. It drives me crazy. It's not time yet, in my humble opinion. That's how we think about it sometimes. If God's with us, then it must be that. He's ready to kind of catch us doing something wrong. Well, listen, I don't want to give it away all right up front here in the introduction, but that's not how the writers of the Psalms felt about God being present with them.
And so if that's how you feel, it's time to eject that thought from your mind and embrace how the psalmist felt about God being with them. Because you don't get any trace of that in the Psalms. So we're going to come to these three Psalms today. And they're going to show us that because God is with us, we can live differently and better. We can bring Him what's going on with our life all the time. And He changes it. It changes our perspective on it.
He brings light to bear on what we're going through. That's the impact that it makes when God is with us. So turn with me to Psalm 129 through 131. We're going to study three Psalms today. God's Word is always true. Faithful, reliable. He comes to us in it and through it. Goes forth with power because He's promised that it will. So let's come eagerly and hear what He has to say to us today. It's in your bulletin. It's on the screen behind me. Of course, it's in your Bible.
Your Bible app or the physical Bible that some of you may still be holding. Physical Bibles are good. I endorse them. Hear now the Word of the Lord. Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth. Let Israel now say, Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth. Yet they have not prevailed against me. The plowers plowed upon my back. They made long their furrows. The Lord is righteous. He has cut the cords of the wicked. May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward.
Let them be like the grass on the housetops which withers before it grows up. With which the reaper does not fill his hand nor the binder of sheaves his arms. Nor do those who pass by say the blessing of the Lord be upon you. We bless you in the name of the Lord.
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy. If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. I wait for the Lord. My soul waits. And in His Word I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchman for the morning. More than watchman for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord. For with the Lord there is steadfast love and with Him is plentiful redemption.
And He will redeem Israel from all His iniquities. O Lord, my heart is not lifted up. My eyes are not raised too high. I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother. Like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Pray with me.
Lord God, You have promised that when Your Word goes forth, it goes forth in power to convict and to change and to heal to shine light in dark places and to call us out of those places further and further towards You, Lord. By Your powerful Word, will You change us? Will You do all of these things for our good and for Your glory, Lord? We need You.
And You are so great and so kind to move towards needy people like us. So do it today. In Jesus' name we pray. Life with God. The Lord alone provides a way to justice, forgiveness, and peace. Now that's what ties up all of these psalms today. It's about living life with God. One thing that makes the psalms so valuable is how real and personal they are. I really love the psalms.
I frequently will direct people there when they're in trouble or when they just don't know what to read in Scripture. Some of the psalms address God directly. Right? Some of them speak to the people about God. But they all are just so honest. So genuine. They're just real people. They're real ordinary people, friends, just like us.
Inspired by the Spirit, to write Holy Scripture, but still, they were ordinary people living a life of faith. They're saying, here's my life, God. here's what I am feeling and what I'm thinking and what I'm experiencing. I'm bringing it to you.
Help me understand what's happening to me. How I'm thinking and feeling in your life. Show me what to do. Remind me of what's true. This is who I am right now, Lord. This is where I am. I'm bringing it to you. That's what happens in these three psalms. These psalms do that. They give us an example of this. They give us the example of life with God. So let's go through these three psalms. Psalm 129. It's about the struggle in a world of affliction and hardship.
A world of injustice. The psalmist says, greatly have they afflicted me from my youth. He's the victim of something. We don't know what. Some injustice. Coming from some identified group. Who are they? And what have they done?
Before he goes any further, in the psalm, he pauses and he turns to the people that are with him. And he says, hey, say this with me. Say it with me, friends. He's speaking about a collective experience of suffering. Not something that just he has gone through, but all the people have gone through this. Their backs have been plowed like the fields. The furrows have been deeply embedded. We still don't know what exactly it is. Is he referring back to their time of slavery?
Is it persecution by an invading army? Is it hardship while they were in exile? Maybe the hardship they faced after exile. We just don't know. But whatever it is, I want to be clear here, this is not a psalm of lament. This is a psalm of confidence. A psalm of triumph. It's a psalm of victory.
He says, they have not prevailed against me. He's more concerned about saying that than describing all the details of what he's been through. Of what they've been through. God has cut the cords of the wicked. Now, given what we know about Israel's history, we know that this can't mean that the affliction is gone forever. Because there was never a time when Israel experienced affliction completely gone forever. He's not saying the war is over and that peace on earth has come.
What he's saying is that their experience of injustice and wickedness is different now. And why? Because God is with them. They're experiencing their life differently because God is with them.
Each of these three psalms reveals a key piece of knowledge. Something God has told His people. Psalm 129, it's this. God will not let wickedness stand. God will not let wickedness stand. Evil will not get the final word because God is stronger. I hope that's good news to you. Evil will not get the final word because God is stronger. The cords of the wicked have been cut. God's justice is sure.
Now, it's this kind of clarity that propels and directs the rest of the psalm. Starting at verse 5, May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward. Now, occasionally in the psalms, you're going to read something like this. These kind of statements are hard and strange for us. They seem out of step with the command to love our enemies, like Jesus said. Now, the easy answer is, oh, this is just outdated Old Testament stuff. Like a lot of easy answers, it's also the wrong answer.
It's the wrong answer. The psalmist is not writing about someone who took his parking spot or didn't hold the door for them when they were walking into the store.
He's talking about people who are opposed to God their whole life. God's enemies. He's saying, if such people remain this way and never repent, then judgment awaits. And the Old Testament is not the only place that speaks of judgment against those who defy God. In fact, Jesus stands alone, stands apart as the person, the single person who spoke most about the coming judgment. It's Jesus.
Now, that answer, though, still doesn't sit well with us. We're uncomfortable with the idea of God's judgment. It feels mean or it feels harsh or it feels out of proportion to us. But the problem is not with the Scriptures. The problem is with us. Our relativistic culture has no moral clarity.
Everything is just shades of gray. But the psalmist doesn't have this problem, you see, because he is living with God. He's living in light of God and who He is. The psalmist doesn't have this shades of gray problem. He recognizes evil for what it is. And he knows that God is zealous for justice and will judge wickedness.
Ultimately, those who hate God will be put to shame. They will receive no honor. They will be like the grass on the housetops. This may sound strange, but think of the grass that maybe grows in your gutters if you don't clean them for a while. It's temporary. It's got no root. A hot day comes and it's gone. To oppose God and stand in that place your whole life, to die that way, there's no longevity standing in opposition to God. Such people are disregarded by the reaper, by the binder of the sheaves.
They will receive no blessing from pastors by. No blessing from the Lord. Remember last week when we talked about how wonderful it is to be blessed by the Lord? How gracious it is to stand against God is to forsake a blessing that could be yours.
The psalmist knows that God is with him and so he brings his affliction and his desire for justice to God knowing that God will act. Do you see that? This is life with God under affliction.
The moral ambiguity vanishes when you stand before a holy God when you read his word and you see what the things that he says are right and wrong the black and white disappears. I mean the shades of gray disappear now it's suddenly the contrast is high.
That's life with God. And it's good news for those who are in affliction. Do you see how it's good news for him? We just don't know really what affliction is in this country and I'm not trying to minimize anything that you've personally been through. But our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world are facing tremendous affliction persecution hostility death I guarantee you their moral their moral clarity is very high but listen this psalm raises a question since God is the perfect judge how can we have assurance how can the psalmist have assurance won't he also be judged won't he also stand before a righteous judge well this brings us to the next psalm 129 was about the evil out there 130 is about the evil in here and our own guilt this writer is also crying out not from suffering but from conviction he's in the depths of conviction he knows that God is perfect God is three dimensionally holy he's holy and he's holy and he's holy you can't contain his holiness the psalmist knows that he is not and he says I'm no better than anyone else God I have disobeyed you I have resisted your ways I only see some of the wickedness in me God but it's already too much in your presence oh Lord who could stand and of course he's right and yet there he is speaking to God how is the psalmist doing this because he knows something something that God has revealed God has the forgiveness that we need God has the forgiveness that we need with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared
for the sake of his great name God is gracious to the humble as surely as the sun will rise God will save those who repent because he knows that this gracious God is with him he knows what to do about his sin he isn't hiding covering it up pushing it into a corner ignoring it he isn't avoiding God like Adam and Eve tried to do at first he isn't denying or minimizing it look at all the other people God they're way worse than me he isn't blame shifting God it's my parents fault they raised me badly it's my friends fault they misled me he's not rationalizing to God look God I've had a really hard week if you knew the kind of week I had you would understand God why I did this why I said that he's not doing any of that because God is with him he's crying out let your ears just be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy no excuses no justification all he's bringing to God is his need and you know what God accepts him this is groundbreaking this is a whole new way to handle our sin our failure and it only comes because God is with us it's really good news to know what to do with your sin this leads us into the final song Psalm 121 it's the shortest of the three it's almost like an epilogue these three psalms almost certainly were not written by the same person but to me they kind of go together this song is like an epilogue it's unusual it's a reflection it's a reflection about our inward posture David who wrote this psalm is talking about his demeanor his outlook David's in a good place
and he's glad about it my heart is not lifted up he's not proud he's not full of himself my eyes are not raised too high he's not presumptuous or ambitious he's not ready to move on to the next thing I do not occupy myself with things too great or too marvelous for me he's not probing demanding answers or information from God he is just content to trust God what a great how can David have this kind of posture the same David who one of his sons conspired against him wanted to kill him to take his throne right that's trouble in his household I don't know what part of David's life he wrote this but David had a real up and down life to put it mildly how can David have this kind of posture well you know the answer by now because he knows that God is with him he's living his life consciously in the presence of God he knows that God is with him and that God is always trustworthy I'm sure David still has his questions like we all do but gone is the demanding posture gone is the angsty confrontation why God why a challenging posture toward God is only going to get you so far just read Job David has decided to believe that you don't have to know his timing or his purposes to know that he's God you don't have to know his timing or his purposes to know that he's God and so he has peace his soul is like a weaned child within him like a child that rests assured that his father will provide and protect and call and David is calling us to join him in this posture and this forms a nice conclusion
doesn't it to the other two psalms the first one talked about a desire for justice among wickedness the second one a desire for mercy amid amidst personal guilt and here in 131 there's nothing but a sense of peace and rest contentment so that's the three psalms these psalms give us an example of life with God now let's apply that to ourselves the practice of life with God this is going to be a little extended application section to close today I want to give you three ways that you can live differently because God's with you three ways to practice remember God's always with you whether or not you know it it's just a matter of living with cognition knowing and believing that God's with us and giving thanks for that right here's the first one here's the first way to live differently because God's with us cry to him cry to him first of all for justice God's word calls us to moral clarity do not be indifferent about evil see things the way God sees them our moral compass must point in the same direction as God's no more moral equivocating well it's not as bad as this or that we must not excuse or ignore evil cry out to him for justice cry out to him when you're afflicted cry out to him on behalf of others who are suffering injustice ask him to defend the cause of the widow the orphan the poor cry out with confidence instead of despair don't cry out in despair remember this is not a psalm of lament it's a psalm of confidence cry out to God for justice with confidence one of my favorite songs
of all time is by Sam Cook a change is going to come it's a protest song longing for justice in the world but it's not a hopeless song he talks honestly about hardship in his life but he always says but I know a change is going to come I know a change is going to come and Christian that's how you can pray and cry too there will be justice on the earth and as you cry out for justice you can still love the people mistreating you this is one way that they're warned that God sees and God knows is by your love don't plot your revenge leave it to him pray for your enemies and cry out to God for justice but cry out to him also not just for justice but for mercy remember you're no better than anyone else don't let the evil things happening around the world lead you into a sense of self righteousness I would never do that you would given the right circumstances you would but for the grace of God you too would be a hardened hater of him and it's still the grace of God keeping you Carly Simon wrote a song you're so vain you probably think this song is about you she's never confirmed who that song is about one of the people that she dated or guys that she knew I'm glad we don't know because it really could be about any of us instead of being vain be like Paul who at the end of his life we heard this earlier it was read earlier at the end of his life he's writing to Timothy after doing so much for Christ so much for the kingdom of God you would think that he would be sitting on his laurels
man I've been so faithful but he I'm the biggest object of mercy there ever has been it doesn't matter everything else that he's done he's still looking at himself and saying God's grace is amazing and I need it still today in prison probably awaiting my death cry out to God you will always receive it here's the second thing cry to him but also wait for him wait for him earnestly more than the watchman for the morning on the top of the city wall at night the guards were looking for two things approaching enemies which they hoped not to see and daybreak which they yearned for eagerly scanning the horizon for that first peak of light because they knew that daylight meant the end of danger and they knew that daylight would come dawn is so regular so consistent that we take it for granted sun sun sun here it comes there is something more reliable and even better than the sun rising tomorrow and that is the coming of the salvation of the Lord it's more reliable than the sun coming up and it's better than that it chases away more evil and darkness and harm and danger than the sun coming up with the Lord is steadfast love don't give up on waiting for him to heal you waiting for him to change you waiting for him to sanctify you he's promised won't he do it he will stay fervent in waiting knowing that he will not fail wait for him earnestly but friends also wait for him peacefully we can get anxious the waiting is the hardest part I don't want to wait in vain for your love we say but the
psalmist says I have weaned and calmed and quieted my soul he speaks of his soul like it's a dog that's been to obedient school it wasn't always quiet and calm it was an unruly puppy jumping up on people peeing all over the rug that was my soul it's quite an image I know but the psalmist has trained and disciplined his soul have you done that with your soul I have calmed and quieted my soul get to work calming and quieting your soul maybe your circumstances are God's way to teach you but let it be taught come alongside that process maybe this is exactly the time that God is trying to teach you join with me as as I as I calm and quiet your soul when your soul is peaceful and waiting it testifies that you believe with him as plentiful redemption redemption here's the last one hope hope in him hope in him for your presence they have not prevailed against me says the psalmist and neither will any adversary prevail over you nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord he's cut the cords of the wicked you're not in bondage you're not a slave to sin you have a new spirit in you the spirit of the risen constantly working to renew you in his image we are afflicted in every way but not crushed perplexed but not driven to despair persecuted but not forsaken struck down but not destroyed this is God's promise for you today be certain about God's grace to carry you through the trials that you in hope in him for your present and hope in him for your future psalm 130
says he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities that's the real enemy that's the real danger that's the real affliction is our sins having his help in any other way in our finances or our career or our family it would all be foolish without his help on this redemption comes through God with us being born as a man so that he could take our iniquities and die for them paying the penalty of death in our place we struggle now under the weight of sin but not forever friends not forever when he returns we will be completely and totally free God is with us he's proved it with his son when you wonder you confused look to the cross and what God did for you that's how we know that with him is forgiveness and steadfast love and plentiful redemption that's how we know that he will redeem us that's how we know that he is with us now and always