3. Holy desires vented in prayer ; there we express and act our longings. Words are but the body of prayer, but desires are the life and soul of it. The children of God are described once and again to be such as love his salvation, Ps. xl. 16. Now there are but two acts of love — desire and delight ; the one concerneth the object as future, the other as present, either to faith or to sense. They rejoice in it as present to faith in the promise, as well as when they enjoy it. But the desire we are now upon, this is vented in prayer, there they express their vehement longings for his salvation : Ps. xxxv. 3, ' Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.' God's saying is doing. He speaketh by his providence ; and this is that the saints long for, they plead with him, Ps. cxix. 94, ' I am thine, save me, for I have sought thy precepts.'
4. It expresseth waiting God's leisure and submission for the kind, time, and means of deliverance : Lam. iii. 26, ' It is good to hope and quietly wait for the salvation of God.' They continue looking and
VER. 174.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 279
waiting: Isa. xxx. 18, ' Blessed are all they that wait for him.' We must wait in the midst of manifold disappointments. When means miscarry, it is in his power to rescue his people from the greatest dangers ; and hath a prerogative to save and deliver those whom reason and probability have condemned and given over for lost ; as the Israelites, Exod. xiv. 13, ' Stand still, and see the salvation of God.' They were enclosed, the mountains on each side, the Egyp- tians behind, the sea before ; yet what cannot the salvation of God do? There is a holy obstinacy in faith, trusting him in all dangers. Nay, when God himself appeareth as an enemy, cutting off our hope, and hewing and hacking at us, yet we must wait upon him. All strokes come from the hand of God, and no wound given by himself is above his own cure. Jacob when he fainted was forced to interrupt his speech, and utter this ejaculation, Gen. xlix. 18, ' I have waited for thy salvation, 0 God.' In short, God hath ways of deliverance more than his people know of, and can save his own when they count their case desperate : Ps. lxviii. 20, ' He that is our God, is the God of salvation, and the issues from death belong unto him ; ' the escapes from death and imminent destruction.
Secondly, The reasons and encouragements of looking and longing for God's salvation.
1. God hath bound himself by covenant as our God ; it is his covenant style to be the God of our salvation, Ps. lxviii. 19, 20. In the one verse he is called ' the God of our salvation ; ' in the other, it is said, ' He that is our God is the God of salvation.' If he be the God of salvation, he will be the God of our salvation ; for whatever God is in himself, that in the covenant he will be to his people ; you shall see the blessing of his people is inferred out of his title : Ps. iii. 8, ' Salvation belongeth to the Lord ; thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.' If God can save, and the salvation be a blessing to his people, he will save them, and deliver them. It is true this title doth mainly concern our eternal salvation, but the conduct of his providence by the way is aimed at in the covenant, as well as our entrance into heaven at the end of the journey. Promises relating to temporal things are put into the believer's charter ; but the dispensing thereof is left in the hands of their wise and tender Father. ' Now temporal deliverance being a part of our charter, if it be not always performed, it is not for want of power or truth, but out of wisdom and love. God doth what is most convenient for us ; it is in a wise hand : if it be good for me, I shall have it. Now this is a mighty encouragement to look and long for God's salvation. He shall have the stating of it, for time, means, and kind of deliverance, but we must look for it.
2. We must look to God for deliverance, because he is every way able, and fitted and furnished to make good his covenant undertaking. He hath power enough, wisdom enough, and love enough.
[1.] Power enough : 1 Sam. xiv. 6, ' There is no restraint in the Lord, to save by many, or by few.' The same supported Asa, 2 Chron. xiv. 11. The same supported the three children, Dan. iii. 17, ' Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us out of the fiery furnace.' Now a desire is mightily quickened by this confidence. God hath promised to do what is good, and it is in the power of his hands to do this for us.
280 sermons upon psalm cxix. [Ser. CLXXXVII.
[2.] He hath wisdom enough to bring it about in such a way as may be most for his glory: 2 Peter ii. 9, ' The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation.' It is an art he is versed in, how to distinguish between his people and their enemies ; to bring it about so as may be most for his glory. What is the usual work of providence, but to give salvation according to his covenant, in such a way as the beauty of his providence may be seen, the patience and faith of his people may be tried, and yet his enemies reckoned with.