Psalm 130:5-6
“I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning!”
Many of God’s people are at times reduced to great straits, either through the violence of persecution, or the force of temptation; and, under such circumstances, what refuge have they, but in God? It is in vain for them to look to the creature; and it sometimes appears to them to no purpose to wait even upon God, because the desired relief is so long delayed.
David, under delays of this kind, was sometimes discouraged; but, whatever were the depths into which he had fallen on the present occasion, it is manifest that he cast himself upon the mercy of his God, and determined to “hold fast by God,” and to maintain his confidence in him even to the end.
I. I will unfold to you the experience of David.
He declares it to us in few words, “he waited upon God.” And the comparison by which he illustrates the frame of his mind, will serve us as a clue, whereby to find the full import of his words.
He may possibly refer to watchmen in general, who, during a long and tedious night, wait for the morning, when they shall be released from their fatigues, and retire to their rest.
But I rather think that he refers to the Priests and Levites, whom he had appointed to watch nightly in the Tabernacle, Psalm 134:1, and who, if they were not filled with a spirit of devotion, by which they might enjoy communion with their God, would long earnestly for the morning, when they might terminate their irksome task. But more than they, did David long for the return of God to his soul:
1. David waited upon the Lord with earnest desire.
No temporal distress will bear any comparison with that which is spiritual. The troubles of an awakened or tempted soul are very heavy; and the depths into which it is plunged, by an apprehension of God’s wrath, are very terrible. No wonder that David “panted after the Lord, as the deer after the water-brooks, Psalm 42:1-3.” No wonder that David, when God’s answers to his prayers were delayed, he cried, “How long, O Lord! how long Psalm 6:3; Psalm 13:1-2, four times.”
Nor is such importunity disapproved of God; on the contrary, he would have us “cry day and night to him, Luke 18:7,” and give him no rest, until he arises, and comes to our relief, Isaiah 62:6-7.
2. David waited upon the Lord with patient hope.
Though earnest in prayer, he was willing to tarry the Lord’s leisure; and would not attempt to use any unfitting means for his own relief. Repeatedly had he it in his power to slay Saul; but he would neither perpetrate the act himself, nor allow it to be perpetrated by others. He committed his cause to God, to whom alone vengeance belongs. So, in reference to the mercies he desired at God’s hands, he was willing to wait. His earnestness appears in that he says repeatedly, “My soul does wait.” It was not a mere wish that he entertained for relief, but a most eager desire; yet was he as far from impatience as from indifference.
He rested on the Word of God, “In his Word,” says he, “do I hope.” It was quite sufficient for him that God had promised to support his tempted people; and, whatever apparent contrarieties there might be between God’s providence and his Word, David had no doubt but that they would all be cleared up in due season, and that not a jot or tittle of God’s Word would pass away, until all were fulfilled.
3. David waited upon the Lord with assured expectation.
A watchman knows that the morning will at last appear; and therefore, instead of abandoning his post, he waits until the destined hour for his relief arrives. Thus David assured himself that God would come to him at last, and reveal himself to him out of the abundance of his grace and love. The verses following my text show this to have been the real experience of his soul, and afford me occasion to:
II. Commend the experience of David for your imitation.
Not in the context only, but in other places, does David call upon us to imitate his example, and to avail ourselves of his experience for the comfort and direction of our own souls. “I would have fainted,” says he, “unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say on the Lord! Psalm 27:13-14.” Thus would I now entreat you to mark the posture of David’s soul in this season of trial.
1. Consider how suited is David’s example to every one of you.
You may not have committed David’s sins, or be subjected to David’s trials; but where is there one of you that is not a sinner before God? Who among you does not stand in need of mercy? Who must not find his consolation altogether in the contemplation of God; saying with David, “If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared! verses 3 and 4.”
Then it is plain that the same waiting spirit befits you also. Yes, in a spirit of penitence should you be crying to God, “Lord, hear my voice; let your ear be attentive to the voice of my supplications, verse 2.”
And however long God may defer his answer to your prayers, you should wait with meekness and patience. “If the eyes of a servant are to the hand of his master, and the eyes of a maiden to the hand of her mistress, then should not your eyes be unto the Lord your God until he have mercy upon you? Psalm 123:2.” Surely you may well be as observant of God as you expect your fellow-creature to be of you. And think how long God has waited upon you; calling, but you would not hear; entreating, but you would not regard him. Shall you then be impatient, if he comes not at the first moment that you call; and that too when you are urged by nothing but a fear of his wrath, which you have so richly merited?
Know, every one of you, that it befits you to wait his appointed time; and to be satisfied if the morning never arrives until the very moment of your departure from this world of woe.
2. Consider what honor David’s example gives to God.
A meek, patient, and submissive spirit honors every perfection of God!
It expresses a confidence in God’s wisdom, as alone discerning the fittest time to appear in your behalf.
It shows a persuasion of God’s goodness, that does not willingly afflict you, but orders everything for your greatest good, even to humble you the more deeply, and thereby to prepare you for a richer improvement of his mercy whenever it shall be given unto you.
It honors also God’s power, as able to impart relief, whenever his wisdom and goodness shall judge it expedient to confer the blessing.
Above all, it glorifies God’s truth and faithfulness, in that it makes the written Word a ground of hope, yes, and of an assured hope, that whatever God has promised, he will perform.
I ask then, Is it not desirable that you should be found in a posture by which God is so honored, and with which he cannot but be pleased? Let every one of you, therefore, be able to make that appeal to God, “I have waited for your salvation, O Lord! Genesis 49:18.”
3. Consider what benefit David’s example ensures to the waiting soul.
Justly is it said, “The Lord is good unto those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord! Lamentations 3:25-26.”
But let us hear the Psalmist’s own experience, “I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings; and he has put a new song into my mouth, even praise unto our God! Psalm 40:1-3.”
And who is there, even though he should not have been delivered to the same extent, that must not yet say, “It is good for me to draw near to God! Psalm 73:28.”
I entreat you, then, to adopt the resolution of the Psalmist, “I will wait on your name; for it is good before your saints! Psalm 52:9.” If at any time your mind is disquieted by reason of delay, check and chide your soul even as David did, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God! Psalm 42:11.”
You must never forget that appeal which God himself makes to the whole universe, “I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek me in vain, Isaiah 45:19.” Even in this world you may be sure that God will accept and bless you; for he has said, “Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint! Isaiah 40:31.”
And in the world to come, can anyone doubt the acceptance of a penitent, contrite, and believing soul? You might as well doubt the existence of God himself; for he has said, that “we shall reap if we faint not, Galatians 6:9;” and to all his believing Israel he has engaged, that “they shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation, and shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end! Isaiah 45:17.”
Charles Simeon