Pensees: Arvo Pärt and my Devotions

Arvo Pärt and my Devotions

For what it’s worth, it’s Arvo Pärt’s birthday today. The genius is 71, I think. I couldn’t help but think of his De profundis this morning as I opened my copy of John Owen’s paraphrase of Psalm 130, a penitential psalm. If you want a private devotional liturgy for your own secret use, I suggest reading John Owen’s paraphrase of Psalm 130 while listening to Arvo Pärt’s De produndis. De profundis is Arvo Pärt’s rendition of Psalm 130. If you surf the web for the music, don’t be confused by the fact that it is called Psalm 129. In the Greek Septuagint this penitential psalm is 129. It’s the same as 130.

I was reading in this subject because of a current series of messages I am preaching. But I found myself confessing. As I prepare to preach the third message on the doctrine of repentance as it is exposed in Hebrews 12:15-17 (You can hear them here), I can’t help but contemplating the fact that some who may not understand the doctrine of justification by faith may actually have a better understanding of repentance (or, at the very least, sorrow for sin) than we do.

Martin Luther understood the need for repentance before he grasped the doctrine of justification. The first of his 95 theses that he pounded into the world’s consciousness was a clarion call for true repentance.

When I allow myself to be moved by Arvo Pärt’s “De profundis,” I can’t help but wonder if my reticence to abandon my feelings to the power of the music is because I am afraid of anything that comes de profundis (out of the deep) of man’s soul and therefore moves the depth of my soul because deep calls unto deep. Or if my reticence is because my spirit reacts to the dissonnence that clangs in my affections when I consider the distinct possibility that the composer does not know the Good News. He only knows (at least musically) the reality, the bad new. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt for those of us who know the Good News to feel as deeply the Bad News as do some who may know it so well because that is all they know.

But, nonetheless, where there is no repentance there is no salvation. And happy is the man who feels it deeply. Enough from me. If you care to read further, I have tagged on Owen’s paraphrase below.

John Owen’s Paraphrase

Verses 1, 2.—O Lord, through my manifold sins and provocations, I have brought myself into great distresses. Mine iniquities are always before me, and I am ready to be overwhelmed with them, as with a flood of waters; for they have brought me into depths, wherein I am ready to be swallowed up. But yet, although my distress be great and perplexing, I do not, I dare not, utterly despond and cast away all hopes of relief or recovery. Nor do I seek unto any other remedy, way, or means of relief; but I apply myself to thee, Jehovah, to thee alone. And in this my application unto thee, the greatness and urgency of my troubles makes my soul urgent, earnest, and pressing in my supplications. Whilst I have no rest, I can give thee no rest. Oh, therefore, attend and hearken unto the voice of my crying and supplications!

Verse 3.—It is true, O Lord, thou God great and terrible, that if thou shouldst deal with me in this condition, with any man living, with the best of thy saints, according to the strict and exact tenor of the law, which first represents itself to my guilty conscience and troubled soul; if thou shouldst take notice of, observe, and keep in remembrance, mine, or their, or the iniquity of any one, to the end that thou mightst deal with them, and recompense unto them according to the sentence thereof, there would be, neither for me nor them, any the least expectation of deliverance. All flesh must fail before thee, and the spirits which thou hast made, and that to eternity; for who could stand before thee when thou shouldst so execute thy displeasure?

Verse 4.—But, O Lord, this is not absolutely and universally the state of things between thy Majesty and poor sinners; thou art in thy nature infinitely good and gracious, ready and free in the purposes of thy will to receive them. And there is such a blessed way made for the exercise of the holy inclinations and purposes of thy heart towards them, in the mediation and blood of thy dear Son, that they have assured foundations of concluding and believing that there is pardon and forgiveness with thee for them, and which, in the way of thine appointments, they may be partakers of. This way, therefore, will I, with all that fear thee, persist in. I will not give over, leave thee, or turn from thee, through my fears, discouragements, and despondencies; but will abide constantly in the observation of the worship which thou hast prescribed, and the performance of the obedience which thou dost require, having great encouragements so to do.

Verse 5.—And herein, upon the account of the forgiveness that is with thee, O Lord, do I wait with all patience, quietness, and perseverance. In this work is my whole soul engaged, even in an earnest expectation of thy approach unto me in a way of grace and mercy. And for my encouragement therein hast thou given out unto me a blessed word of grace, a faithful word of promise, whereon my hope is fixed.

Verse 6.—Yea, in the performance and discharge of this duty, my soul is intent upon thee, and in its whole frame turned towards thee, and that with such diligence and watchfulness in looking out after every way and means of thy appearance, of the manifestation of thyself, and coming unto me, that I excel therein those who, with longing desire, heedfulness, and earnest expectation, do wait and watch for the appearance of the morning; and that either that they may rest from their night watches, or have light for the duties of thy worship in the temple, which they are most delighted in.

Verses 7, 8.—Herein have I found that rest, peace, and satisfaction unto my own soul, that I cannot but invite and encourage others in the like condition to take the same course with me. Let, then, all the Israel of God, all that fear him, learn this of me, and from my experience. Be not hasty in your distresses, despond not, despair not, turn not aside unto other remedies; but hope in the
Lord: for I can now, in an especial manner, give testimony unto this, that there is mercy with him suited unto your relief. Yea, whatever your distress be, the redemption that is with him is so bounteous, plenteous, and unsearchable, that the undoubted issue of your performance of this duty will be, that you shall be delivered from the guilt of all your sins and the perplexities of all your troubles.

GENERAL SCOPE OF THE WHOLE PSALM.

THE design of the Holy Ghost in this psalm is to express, in the experience of the psalmist and the working of his faith, the state and condition of a soul greatly in itself perplexed, relieved on the account of grace, and acting itself towards God and his saints suitably to the discovery of that grace unto him;—a great design, and full of great instruction.

And this general prospect gives us the parts and scope of the whole psalm; for we have,—

I. The state and condition of the soul therein represented, with his deportment in and under that state and condition, in verses l, 2:—

“Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice; let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.”

II. His inquiry after relief And therein are two things that present themselves unto him; the one whereof, which first offers the consideration of itself to him in his distress, he deprecates, verse 3:—

“If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?”

The other he closeth withal, and finds relief in it and supportment by it, verse 4:—

“But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest he feared.”

Upon this, his discovery and fixing on relief, there is the acting of his faith and the deportment of his whole person:—

1. Towards God, verses 5, 6:—

“I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.”

2. Towards the saints, verses 7, 8:—

“Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.”

330 AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM CXXX [Ver. 1, 2,

All which parts, and the various concernments of them, must be opened severally.

And this also gives an account of what is my design from and upon the words of this psalm,—namely, to declare the perplexed entanglements which may befall a gracious soul, such a one as this psalmist was, with the nature and proper workings of faith in such a condition; principally aiming at what it is that gives a soul relief and supportment in, and afterward deliverance from, such a perplexed estate.

The Lord in mercy dispose of these meditations in such a way and manner as that both he that writes and they that read may be made partakers of the benefit, relief, and consolation intended for his saints in this psalm by the Holy Ghost!