The first j^roper fruit of faith's discovery of forgiveness in God, unto a sin-distressed soid, is waiting in patience and expectation.
This the i)salmist openly and directly applies himself unto, and expresseth to have been as his duty, so his practice. And he doth it so emphatically, as was manifested in the opening of the words, that I know not that any duty is anywhere in the Scripture so recom- mended and lively represented unto us.
You must, therefore, for the right understanding of it, call to mind
Ver.5,6.] wherein waiting ON GOD consists. 611
what hath been spoken concerning the state of the soul inquired into, — its depths, entanglements, and sense of sin, with its application unto God about those things ; as also remember what hath been de- livered about the nature of forgi\'eness, with the revelation that is made of it unto the faith of believers, and that this may be done where the soul hath no refreshing sense of its own interest therein. It knows not that its own sins are forgiven, although it believes that there is forgiveness with God. Now, the principal duty that is in- cumbent on such a soul is that laid down in the proposition, — namely, patient waiting and expectation.
Two things must be done in reference hereunto: — First, The nature of the duty itself is to be declared ; and, secondly, The neces- sity and usefulness of its practice is to be evinced and demonstrated.
For the nature of it, something hath been intimated giving light into it, in the opening of the words here used by the psalmist to ex- press it by. But we may observe, that these duties, as required of us, do not consist in any particular acting of the soul, but in the whole spiritual frame and deportment of it, in reference unto the end aimed at in and by them. And this Avaiting, as here and elsewhere commended unto us, and which is comprehensive of the especial duties of the soul, in the case insisted on and described, comprehends these three things: — 1. Quietness, in opposition to haste and tumul- tuating of spirit. 2. Diligence, in opposition to spiritual sloth, de- spondency, and neglect of means. 3. Expectation, in opposition to despair, distrust, and other proper immediate actings of unbelief.
1. Quietness. Hence this waiting itself is sometimes expressed by silence. To wait is to be silent: Lam. iii. 26, " It is good both to hope Cioni.^ and to be silent for the salvation of the LoED;" that is, to " wait quietly," as we have rendered the word. And the same Avord we render sometimes " to rest:" as Ps. xxxvii. 7, " Rest on the Lord, '^i'^v DIT^ be silent unto him," where it is joined with hoping or waiting, as that which belongs unto the nature of it; and so in sundry other places. And this God, in an especial manner, calleth souls unto in straits and distresses. " In quietness and confidence," saith he, " shall be yom- strength," Isa. xxx. 15. And the effect of the righteousness of God by Christ is said to be " quietness and as- surance for ever," Isa. xxxii. 17; — first quietness, and then assur- ance. Now, this silence and quietness which accompanieth waiting, yea, which is an essential pai-t of it, is opposed, first, to haste; and haste is the soul's undue lifting up itself, proceeding from a weariness of its condition, to press after an end of its troubles not according to the conduct of the Spirit of God. Thus, when God calleth his people to waiting, he expresseth the contrary acting unto this duty by the lift- ing up of the soul : Hab. ii. 3, 4, " Though the vision tarry, wait for
612 AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM cxxx. [Ver.5,6.
it. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him : but the just shall live by his faith." God hath given unto the soul a vision of peace, through the discovery of that forgiveness which is with him ; but he will have us wait for an actual particij)ation of it unto rest and comfort. He that will not do so, but lifts up his soul, — that is, in making haste beyond the rule and method of the Spirit of God in this matter, — his heart is not upright in him, nor will he know what it is to live by faith. This ruins and disappoints many a soul in its attempts for forgiveness. The prophet, speaking of this matter, tells us that " he that believeth shall not," nor will not, " make haste," Isa. xxviii. 1 G ; — which words the apostle twice making use of, Kora. ix. 33, X. 11, in both places renders them, "Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed," or confounded; and that because this haste turns men off from believing, and so disappoints their hopes, and leaves them unto shame and confusion. Men with a sense of the guilt of sin, having some discovery made to them of the rest, ease, and peace which they may obtain to their souls by forgiveness, are ready to catch greedily at it, and to make false, unsound, undue applications of it unto themselves. They cannot bear the yoke that the Lord hath put upon them, but grow imj)atient under it, and cry with Rachel, "Give me children, or else I die." Any way they would obtain it. Now, as the first duty of such a soul is to apply itself unto waiting, so the first entrance into waiting consists in this silence and quietness of heart and spirit. This is the soul's endeavour to keep itself humble, satisfied with the sovereign pleasure of God in its condition, and refusing all ways and means of rest and peace but what it is guided and directed unto by the word and Spirit. Secondly, As it is opposed unto haste, so it is unto tumultuating thoughts and vexatious disquietments. The soul is silent. Ps. xxxix. 9, " I was dumb, I opened not my mouth ; because thou didst i't," He redoubles the expression, whereby he sets out his endeavour to quiet and still his soul in the will of God. In the condition dis- coursed of, the soul is apt to have many tumultuating thoughts, or a multitude of iDerplexing thoughts, of no use or advantage unto it. How they are to be watched against and rejected Avas before de- clared in our general rules This quietness in waiting will prevent them. And this is the first thing in the duty jDrescribed.