Ps. cxxx. 5, 6. I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning ; L say, more than they that watch for the morning.
MANY of God's people are at times reduced to great straits, either through the violence of perse- cution 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 some- times 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 will, I. 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 illus- trates the frame of his mind, will serve us as a clew, 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 a, and who, if they were not filled with a spirit of devotion, by which they might enjoy communion with their God, would long ear- nestly 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; waiting for him,
1. 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 hart after the water-brooks b :" no wonder that, when God's answers to his prayers were delayed, he cried, " How long, O Lord ! how longc?" Nor is such importunity disapproved of God: on the contrary, he would have us " cry day and night to him d, " and give him no rest, till he arise, and come to our relief e.~\
2. With patient hope —
[Though earnest in prayer, he was willing to tarry the Lord's leisure ; and would not attempt to use any unbecoming means for his own relief. Repeatedly had he it in his power to slay Saul : but he would neither perpetrate the act himself, nor suffer it to be perpetrated by others. He committed his cause to God, to whom alone vengeance belonged). So, in reference to the mercies he desired at God's hands, he was willing to wait. His earnestness appears in that he says re- peatedly, "My soul cloth 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
a Ps. cxxxiv. 1. b Ps.xlii. 1 — 3. c Ps. vi. 3. andxiii. 1, 2. four times. d Luke xviii. 7. e Isai. lxii. (\, 7.