“I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.”
~ Psalm 130:5
Hi James and Ellen,
Every guy, gal and kid who has and who will live on planet Earth will do things that are foolish and which they know that they should not have done. What is something that you have done which you know that you should not have done? Have you ever run out into the street without first looking to see if a car was coming? Have you ever thrown a ball in your house and broke something? Your grandpaa knows that he has done many foolish things. Your grandpaa knows that it is only because of God’s mercy that he is still alive. There is a three hundred acre lake called Lake Goldsmith close to where your grandpaa grew up as a kid. Your grandpaa’s dad was really good at catching fish. Your grandpaa is pretty good at catching fish, too. Because Lake Goldsmith is close to the house where your grandpaa grew up as a kid, your grandpaa would usually walk to the lake. Your grandpaa would even walk to the lake in the winter when it was really cold and there was snow on the ground. When it gets cold in the winter where your grandpaa grew up as a kid, lakes – like Lake Goldsmith, would freeze over with a thick layer of ice. The ice would get thick enough that vehicles would be able to drive on the ice that covered the lakes. Your grandpaa’s dad liked to fish through the ice in the winter. Your grandpaa’s dad would take your grandpaa along with him when he went ice fishing. Your grandpaa’s dad would use a pick to chip holes through the ice. Your grandpaa’s dad could fish through four holes. When your grandpaa’s dad drove on the ice, the ice would crack and make a lot of different gurgling, humming sounds. Sometimes a guy would drive his vehicle over some ice that had not frozen on a lake as much as in other places and his vehicle would fall through the ice. That never happened to your dad’s grandpa when he drove on the ice. That has never happened to your grandpaa either when your grandpaa has driven his car on an ice covered lake to the place where your grandpaa wants to go to fish. Your grandpaa knows that there have been times when he should not have been driving on the ice that was covering a lake. One day – when your grandpaa was a kid, your grandpaa decided to walk to Lake Goldsmith with one of his bros. Lake Goldsmith had just frozen over. Your grandpaa and his bro decided to walk out on the thin layer of ice. Your grandpaa took with him a stick when he walked out on the ice. Your grandpaa and his bro walked far enough out on the ice that if the ice broke, your grandpaa and his bro would have fallen into water that would have been over their heads. Your grandpaa – as he walked on the ice, was able to punch holes through the ice with the stick that he had taken with him. Your grandpaa decided one year to go fishing one more time on one of the Lake Oakwood lakes. The Lake Oakwood lakes are not very far from where your grandpaa grew up as a kid. Your grandpaa found out when he got to the Lake Oakwood lake where he was hoping to fish that the lake had begun to open up because of the weather getting warmer. Guys were no longer driving on the ice with their vehicles. Your grandpaa decided that he would ice fish real close to shore. When your grandpaa walked out on the ice, your grandpaa could feel the ice bending. Your grandpaa walked on the ice to where a hole had opened up in the ice. If the ice had broken where your grandpaa began to fish, your grandpaa would have fallen into water that would have been over his head. Water even began to come out of the hole close to where your grandpaa was standing because your grandpaa’s weight was causing the ice to sag.
Every guy, gal and kid who has lived and will live on planet Earth will constantly be facing danger. When your dad or ma is driving their car on a road, your dad or ma is meeting other vehicles. If one of these vehicles collided with the car that your dad or ma is driving . . . the psalm writers knew that their lives were constantly in danger. Psalm 130 is a Psalm written to God asking for His mercy. This psalm is called a penitential psalm. To be penitent means that a guy, gal or kid is sorry, regretful, repentant or really sad for doing something that he or she should not have been done. The guys who penned the psalms that are found in the Psalm Book knew that they did things that they should not have done. The guys who authored the psalms that are found in the Psalm Book knew that the only thing that they could do was to ask God for His mercy after they had done something foolish to fill them again with hope. Seven Psalms were written to be sung regularly by David and by the Israelite people group guys, gals and kids. The Israelite people group guys, gals and kids were God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids. When David and the Israelite people group guys, gals and kids sang one of the seven penitential psalms, they were asking God through the song to forgive them for the things that they should not have done. It is good to ask your dad and ma to forgive you when you have done something that you know that you should not have done. It is also important to always ask God to forgive you even though God already has before you have done something that you should not have done. By asking God to forgive you, you are letting God know that you know that He through the Holy Spirit is having your heart tell you to talk with Him about your foolish actions.
Verse 5 is a prayer that your grandpaa wants to live out in his life. “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.” Your grandpaa knows that in order for him to always live his life without doing crazy, foolish things, your grandpaa must put all his trust in God for God to stop him from doing any crazy, foolish things. Your grandpaa knows that God has been keeping him and your grandmaa safe. Your grandmaa and grandpaa are regularly praying that God will always keep you safe especially when you decide to do a very crazy, foolish thing.
Psalm 130 (137)