If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
Whether the prophet speaks for himself alone or for the whole Church, his point is clear: overwhelmed by adversity, he cries out with passionate urgency to God. He acknowledges his chastisement as just, yet he encourages all genuine believers to hold fast to hope, for God is ready always to deliver His people from death.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 130:1-8
If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand. If Jah, the all seeing, should in strict justice call every man to account for every want of conformity to righteousness, where would any one of us be? Truly, he does record all our transgressions; but as yet he does not act upon the record, but lays it aside till another day.
In these verses we are taught, I. Whatever condition we are in, though ever so deplorable, to continue calling upon God, Psa 130:1. The best men may sometimes be in the depths, in great trouble and affliction, and utterly at a loss what to do, in the depths of distress and almost in the depths of despair, the spirit low and dark, sinking and drooping, cast down and disquieted.
Commenting on Psalm 130:1-4