— Ver. 174.
In this verse you have a twofold assertion or protestation —
1. Of a vehement desire of the salvation promised, I have longed for thy salvation.
2. A great love and complacency in the word of God, and thy law is my delight.
This verse may he understood either of temporal salvation or eternal salvation ; the words may be accommodated to either sense. The context would seem to limit it to the former, and so an enforcing of the second request of this portion : ver. 170, ' Deliver me according to thy word.' Many interpreters, both Jewish and Christian, carry it for the other. Jewish ; Rabbi David Kimchi expoundeth it thus, ' thy salvation,' secido futuro ; and the last clause, ' thy law,' quia medium est ad salutem. Christian ; Chrysostom, Theodoret, Calvin. And because these senses are not contrary, but subordinate, I shall insist upon both.
1. Let me handle the words as they may be understood of temporal salvation ; and so the sense will be, ' I have long expected thy deliver- ance, and yet do desire and wait for it.' The preterperfect tense, as Vatablus noteth, includeth also the present : 'For a long time I have expected thy deliverance, and do expect help from thee.' And the other clause, ' Thy law is my delight ; ' though this help seemeth to be delayed, yet thy counsel is my consolation and perpetual delight. The words thus understood yield us two points : —
Doct, 1. That God's people do look to God for deliverance, and longingly expect the accomplishment of it.
Doct. 2. We should delight in the promise before the salvation cometh.
For the first point, that God's people do look to God for deliver- ance, and longingly expect it, the point shall be discussed in these con- siderations : —
1. What longing for God's salvation implieth.
2. The encouragements and reasons of it.
3. What singular thing there is in this longing expectation, since it is natural to all to seek deliverance out of trouble.
First, What it implieth ?
1. A sense of our impotency, or insufficiency to save ourselves, and help ourselves out of trouble, by any ways and means that we can find out and use: Ps. iii. 8, ' Salvation belongeth to the Lord ;' Jonah ii. 9, ' Salvation is of the Lord.' Salvation and deliverance of all kinds is God's prerogative royal, and God's proper work ; none can save and give peace when he commandeth trouble ; and when he will save his people, none can let. It is an evidence of men's neglecting a deity when they would help and save themselves in all conditions, without depending or employing a God ; Job xl. 9, 14, ' Hast thou an arm like God ? then I will confess unto thee, that thine own right hand
278 sermons upon psalm cxix. [Ser. CLXXXVII.
can save thee. Alas ! if we look elsewhere, how soon are we disap- pointed ! Man is a mutable creature, his affections change, or his power may be blasted ; an arm of flesh is soon dried up. Besides the distraction and uncertainty that we have while we depend upon man and look to man, we involve ourselves in greater miseries, and meet with a shameful disappointment at last. Sometimes man will not if he can, sometimes cannot if he would. If he will and can, yet he shall not help us without God; for what can the instrument do without the principal agent, the sword without the man that wieldeth it ? That is one lesson God hath been teaching his people in all ages, that salvation belongeth unto the Lord ; they must take their deliver- ance out of his hands. He sits at the upper end of causes, and saveth his people when he will, and how he will, and by what means he will; and till he take their cause in hand, how sadly do the most hopeful attempts and expectations miscarry ; for to give salvation is a divine property, given to no creature, and must not be usurped by them: looking to man is the readiest way to miscarry.
2. It implieth a dependence upon his fatherly care and powerful providence, and a persuasion that he will guide us unto heaven in a way that is most convenient for us. The great cause of God's anger against his people in the wilderness was because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation, Ps. lxxviii. 22. He had under- taken to bring them into Canaan, but they mistrusted his conduct, either that he had not power enough, or enough fatherly love and care to do it ; and therefore his wrath was kindled against Jacob, and his anger was hot against Israel ; and so do they greatly dishonour and provoke God by their distrust who do not believe that God will bring them out of every strait, in a way most conducing to his own glory and their welfare. Now God's children are so satisfied in his conduct, that in their worst condition they can cheerfully depend upon God, and look and long for salvation from him : Hab. iii. 18, ' 1 will joy in the Lord ; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation ;' Luke i. 47, 'My spirit doth rejoice in God my Saviour.' They are satisfied in his love and power : Ps. xiii. 5, ' But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.'