Background

These opening remarks are taken pretty much verbatim from Barnes' Notes. Highlighting, and formatting are my own, however. As to the remainder of the study, I'm largely following Matthew Henry's outline, with a bit of overlay from Adam Clarke.

This is the language of an individual, mourning over his sins, and pleading for mercy, expressing deep conviction of sin, and humble trust in God as the only hope for a convinced, condemned, and penitent sinner.

The 'Pauline' Psalms

When Luther, in the year 1530, was in the fortress of Coburg, on four occasions during the night there seemed to pass before his eyes burning torches, and this was followed by a severe headache. One night he saw three blazing torches come in at the window of his room, and he swooned away. His servant, coming to his assistance, poured oil of almonds into his ear, and rubbed his feet with hot napkins. As soon as he recovered he bade him read to him a portion of the Epistle to the Galatians, and during the reading fell asleep. The danger was over, and when he awoke he cried out joyfully, "Come, to spite the devil, let us sing the psalm, De profundis, in four parts."

Being asked on one occasion which were the best psalms, he replied, "The Pauline psalms," and being pressed to say which they were, he answered: "Ps. 32; Ps 51; 130; 143. For they teach us that the forgiveness of sins is vouchsafed to them that believe without the law and without works; therefore they are Pauline psalms; and when David sings, 'With thee is forgiveness, that thou mayest be feared,' so Paul likewise saith, 'God hath concluded all under sin, that he may have mercy on all.' Therefore none can boast of his own righteousness, but the words, 'That thou mayest be feared,' thrust away all self-merit, teach us to take off our hat before God and confess, "gratis est, non meritum, remissio non satisfactio"-it is all forgiveness, and no merit." -Delitzsch in "Perowne."

A Harmonious Order

The principle here laid down is a simple one. There is no true piety, there is no sacred fear of God, there is no genuine worship, there is no loving obedience until the pardon has been granted. We must ever begin with the remission of sins. The idea of the divine justice, viewed apart from the divine mercy, inspires the criminal with terror, and fills him with still deeper hatred against God. It is only when the sinner views God in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, that he is attracted toward Him, melts in submission, and acquires a sacred fear of offending him. How, indeed, can it be otherwise?

• You must first convince me that God loves me before I can love him.
• You must first convince me that he is willing to pardon me before I can solicit his forgiveness.
• You must first convince me that he has removed from me this awful load of guilt, and will never place it on again, before I can serve him with a free and cheerful heart.
• You must first convince me that he has adopted me into his family before I can give him the affection and the obedience of a son ...
• First forgiveness, then fear:
• first pardon, then piety:
• first justification, then sanctification:
• first the heart, then the life:
• first make the tree good, and then you will get good fruit.

This is the divine plan, and nothing can be conceived more rational. But sin has introduced such disorder into the mental faculties that people do not perceive the gospel to be the manifold wisdom of God; and they turn away from it with a kind of instinctive abhorrence. Hence, all perversions of the gospel reverse the divine order, and insist upon placing the effect before the cause ... It is just because people will not accept the simple, unencumbered, philosophical plan of God, that so many and such fatal mistakes are committed in religion. "We love him, because he first loved us." "The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him who died for them, and rose again." -"Pilgrim Psalms." (Barnes' Notes)

Recognition / Provision / Worship / Servanthood / Help / Security / Joy / Work / Happiness / Perseverance / Hope / Humility / Obedience / Community / Blessing

Confession and Confidence

Desire

1 Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O LORD.
2 Lord, hear my voice!
Let Thine ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.

Hope begins to show in the very fact that we choose to cry out to God. If we had no hope of His hearing and responding, we would not waste our breath with such cries. But we do hope, and we know that hope to be well founded. Scripture and experience have combined to show us the truth of our hope, the strength of our hope, the foundation of our hope.

Heb 6:17-19
17 In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, 18 in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us. 19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil.

Out of what depths do we cry? How deeply have we sunk? Our choices, our actions, may have brought upon us consequences beyond our imagining. We may be deep in distress, but we are not beyond His hearing. We may have brought these things upon ourselves, or we may not have. It matters not. However we have arrived in this situation, it is our privilege, our duty, and our best interest to cry out to God, knowing that we will be heard! What better way can there be to prevent our condition from worsening, from sliding deeper into the pits of our despair?

Ps 28:2
2 Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to Thee for help,
When I lift up my hands toward Thy holy sanctuary.

The prayer here is for more than a simple hearing. He seeks from God an attentiveness, a 'strained attention' to the words of his prayer. And his prayer is not the silent prayer of the man at peace, but the 'loud and urgent petition of one in dire need of help. It behooves us well to remember that this is our condition whenever we come before our God. Life teaches us to be confident in ourselves. God teaches us to be very wary of that confidence, for it is false, and most deadly.

• Ever we are in desperate need of His help.
• Ever we are in danger from ourselves, and from those around us.
• Ever we are on the verge of falling, depending solely on His protecting arms to keep us safe.
  

And in such condition, how good to know that our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' righteousness!

Repentance

3 If Thou, LORD, shouldst mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?

A Holy and Most Vehement God

Lord - (Jah [3068]): The LORD, most vehement. The proper name of the one true God.

Lord - (Adonay [136]): The Lord, from (`adown [113]): one who rules, a sovereign, a controller. God is the Lord of lords, He is 'your husband, Yahweh' [husband is also in the `adown category.].

"If God should show Himself as Jaah, no creature would be able to stand before Him… He who is Adonaj, can therefore carry out His judicial will or purpose." (Keil & Delitzsch)

Na 1:6

Mal 3:2-3
2 "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. 3 "And He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD offerings inrighteousness.

Were this the whole story, we would be crushed under the weight of our condemnation. Were this the whole story, all hope would be at an end. The first step we ever took in these Songs of Ascent was the recognition of our true condition (Ps 120). When we see who we truly are, we come to recognize that our lives hang upon what seems a very slender thread. Knowing God the LORD, the Sovereign ruler of all creation, has seen our sins, our only possible hope is in His divine compassion.

Thankfully, this is not the whole story. Ps 32:2 gives us the keys to our security in Him. In our spirit, there must be no deceit. What shall we make of this? I believe it is meant to warn us from having false opinions regarding our nature, our merit, our standing before a righteous God, were it solely up to us. We must acknowledge our sins before God. We must acknowledge our sins before our own consciences. God already knows, there's really nothing to hide. And, if we will stop trying to hide, if we will bring our sins out into the open, and seek His forgiveness, He is faithful to forgive us.

1Jn 1:9-10
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

Pleading "not guilty" is not an option. He knows better, and so do we. Our only plea is to plea the atoning work of the Redeemer. When we see who He truly is, we recognize that the thread that seemed so slender, is strong beyond breaking!

Look at the consequences of denying the truth to ourselves: We make God out to be a liar, when we are willing to claim our innocence! How angered are you when somebody hits you with a false accusation, when somebody claims your honest words are offered as deception? How much moreso a holy and righteous God? Will He not avenge His own good name?