Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;

^2 
2 

    Lord, hear my voice.

Let your ears be attentive    to my cry for mercy.

hear my voice.

~PSALM 130:1&2 NIV

That was the text for today's sermon ... well, the entire Psalm, but this is the part i wanted to think about today, and i endeavor to write a note tonight.

airplane being moved by a tug

Pastor talked a bit about people getting stuck in holes, actual holes, also, and probably even more commonly, allegoric holes ... places where we get stuck.

... was thinking about a place where I "got stuck" and how that progressed and eventually resolved.  

     Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;

           Lord, hear my voice.

Let your ears be attentive

    to my cry for mercy.

³ 

If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,

    Lord, who could stand?

⁴ 

But with you there is forgiveness,

    so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

⁵ 

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,

    and in his word I put my hope.

⁶ 

I wait for the Lord

    more than watchmen wait for the morning,

    more than watchmen wait for the morning.

⁷ 

Israel, put your hope in the Lord,

    for with the Lord is unfailing love

    and with him is full redemption.

⁸ 

He himself will redeem Israel

    from all their sins.

...and continues to work itself out (I hope ... this sort of hope: ). 

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.~loves

(from 1 Corinthians 13)  

Where I was stuck I felt ... unprotected and unable to trust ... and the very notion of trust seemed, ummm, naive ... something for dreamers ...  perseverance I thought I understood, but unwrapped from these other morethanwords perseverance was mostly about surviving*, and there were days when that didn't seem very important at all.  I think it's really impossible to "understand/embrace" love when those other words that help support it are beyond the reach of one's soul ... where love is just another pretty word.  

*surviving is a word about the physical I think because it's something a body does ... souls are eternal ... so, if these are words for the edification of one's soul, and I think they must be, this perseverance isn't about just "hanging on".

And then ... the soul in a very deep hole cries out to the Lord for mercy ... that's what I did. 

Pastor talked about a homeless man out in California who fell into a hole out in the woods somewhere and he couldn't get out ... a hiker and his dog happened by and the dog pulled his person over to the hole where two eyes looked up ... Pastor said the guy thought it was a bear or some other wild thing until  he heard the word water.  I should google it.  I totally get it ... just walking along, basically minding one's own business and next thing you know, and it's surreal, you're in a deep hole from which you can not escape on your own ...  you realize later after you've made it an even deeper hole. 

He spoke also about holes one prefers to stay it ... places where people want to be stuck.  I guess it would be even more difficult to get out of a hole you wanted to stay in. 

Chesed ... unfailing love.