Earnest Waiting on God, the Fruit of Forgiveness: Nature of This Duty
We now proceed to the second part of this Psalm, which contains the deportment of a sin-perplexed soul, when by faith it has discovered where its rest lies, and from whom its relief is to be expected, even the forgiveness which is with God. And as before mentioned, there are two things in general that the soul in that condition applies itself to; of which the first respects itself, and the other the whole Israel of God.
That which respects itself is the description of the frame of heart and spirit into which the Psalmist was brought upon faith’s discovery of forgiveness in God, with the duty to which he applied himself, the grounds of it, and the manner of its performance:
/ wait for the Lordy my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiieth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say more than they that watch for the morning, verses 5, 6.
The words rendered strictly, or word for word, lie thus: “I have earnestly expected Jehovah; my soul hath expected, and in his word I have tarried (or waited*) My soul to the Lord, more than (or before) the watchmen in the morning; the watchmen in the morning; (or unto the morning.”)
“/ have waited, or expected;^^ the word in the original signifies to expect, to hope, to wait. It denotes to be intent on any one with great desire; to behold or regard him, and to depend upon him; and it also expresses the earnest inclination and intention of the will and mind. Paul seems to have expressed this word to the full, Rom. 8: 19, by apokaradokia, an intent or earnest expectation, expressing itself by putting forth the head, and looking round with earnestness and diligence. And this is also signified expressly by this word, Psalm 49: 20, in the Hebrew,” And I looked for some to take pity.” I looked round about, this way and that way, diligently and solicitously, to see if any would pity me, or lament with me. Thus, I have waited, is as much as, ‘* I have diligently, with intenseness of soul, mind, wih and alTections, looked unto God, in earnest expectation of that from him which I stand in need of, and which must come forth from the forgiveness that is with him.”
I have, saith he, waited for, or expected Jehovah; he uses the same name of God in his expectation, that he first fixes on in his application to him.
It is not this or that means, nor this or that assistance, but it is Jehovah himself that he expects and waits for. It is Jehovah himself that must satisfy the soul: his favor and loving kindness, and what flows from them. If he come not himself, if he give not himself, nothing else will relieve.
‘’ My soul doth waity or expect j it is no outward duty I am engaged in, no lip-labor, no bodily ‘work, no formal, cold, careless performance of a duty: no, “my soul doth wait;” it is soul-work, heart-work 3 I wail, I wait with my whole soul.
In his word do I hope,^^ or wait. There is no difficulty in these words; the word used (in the Hebrew) signifies “to hope, expect, endure and sustain, with care, solicitousness and endeavors.” Hence the Septuagint have rendered the word, ^U have sustained and waited with patience;” and this oa the word: he sustained his soul with the word of promise, that it should not utterly faint. Seeing he had made a discovery of grace and forgiveness, though yet at a great distance; he had a sight of land, though he was yet in a storm at sea; and therefore so encourages himself, or his soul, that he does not despond.
But yet all this reaches not the intenseness of the soul of the Psalmist in this his expectation of Jehovah. The earnest engagement of his soul in this duty rises above what he can express. Therefore he proceeds, “My soul waiteth for the Lord,” that is, expects him, looks for him, waits for his coming to me in love, and with forgiveness, “more than the watchers for the mornings the watchers for the morning.’’’’ The words may refer generally to those who keep the watch of the night, as they look, and long for, and expect the morning, when being dismissed from their guard, they may take the sleep they need and desire; or, they may refer to watching in the temple as the Chaldee paraphrast renders the words: “more than they that look for the morning-watch, which they carefully observe, that they may offer the morning sacrifice.” In this sense, as the watchers in the temple look diligently for the appearance of the morning, that they may with joy offer the morning sacrifice in the appointed season; so, and with more diligence, does my soul wait for Jehovah.
We have then the expression of the duty on which he was intent, earnest waiting for Jehovah; the foundation of his waiting and expectation; that is, the word of God, the word of promise; he diligently hoped in the word; and the frame of his spirit in this duty, and the manner of his performance of it, as expressed in the words themselves that he uses in the emphatical reduplication, yea, triplication of his expression, “I wait for God, my soul waiteth for God, my soul for the Lord;” and in the comparison instituted between his discharge of his duty, and other performances of a corporeal watch, with the greatest care and diligence* “more than they that watch for the morning.”
Let us then now consider the words, as they contain the frame and working of a sin-entangled soul.
Having been raised out of his depths by the discovery of forgiveness in God, yet not being immediately made partaker of that forgiveness, as to a comforting sense of it, he gathers up his soul from wandering from God, and supports it from sinking under his present condition.
“It is,” saith he, “Jehovah alone, with whom is forgiveness, that can relieve and do me good j his favor, his loving kindness, his communication of mercy and grace is what I need j on him therefore do I with all heedfulness attend; on him do I wait; my soul is filled with expectation from him: surely he will come to me, he will come and refresh me j though he seem as yet to be afar ofT, and to leave me in these depths, yet I have his word of promise to support and stay my soul, on which I will lean until I obtain the enjoyment of him and his kindness, which is better than life.”
And this is the frame of a sin-entangled soul, wha hath really by faith discovered forgiveness in God, but is not yet made partaker of a comforting, refreshing sense of it. And we may represent it in the ensuing observations.
The first proper fruit of faith’s discovery of forgiveness in God to a sin-distressed soul, is waiting in patience and expectation.
The proper object of a sin-distressed soul’s waiting and expecting, is God himself as reconciled in Christ: “I have waited for Jehovah.”
The word of promise is the soul’s great support in waiting for God: “in thy word do I hope.”
Sin-distressed souls wait for God with earnestness, diligence and expectation, from the redoubling of the expression.
Continuance in waiting until God appears to the soul, is necessary and prevailing j necessary, as that without which we cannot attain assistancey and prevailing, as that wherein we shall never fail.
Establishment in waiting on God where there is no present sense of forgiveness, yet gives the soul much secret rest and comfort. The Psalmist having attained thus far, can now look about him, as in the closing verses, and begin to deal with others, and exhort them to an expectation of grace and mercy.
And thus, though the soul be not absolutely in the haven of consolation where it w’ould be, yet it has cast out an anchor that gives it establishment and security. Though it be still tossed, yet it is secured from shipwreck, and is rather sick than in danger: waiting on God is a condition of safety.
. Hence he now turns himself to others, and on his discovery of forgiveness in God, and the establishment and consolation he found in waiting on him, he calls upon and encourages others to the same dutj’. ver. 7, 8.
Our design in this treatise involves the consideration of all the above propositions; still, with respect to the state of the soul represented in the Psalm, many things that might justly be insisted on in the improvement of these truths have been anticipated in our former general rules. To them we must therefore refer, to avoid repetition. We shall notice the principal points with all possible brevity, yet so as not wholly to omit any directions here tendered to us as to the guidance of the soul, whose condition, and the working of whose faith, is here described.
We proceed then to consider the duty of waiting on God for forgiveness.
This the Psahiiist expresses to have been both his duty and his practice. And he does it so emphatically that I know not that any duty is any where in the Scriptures recommended to us with such lively representations. Call to mind then what has been said concerning the state of the soul inquired into: its depths, entanglements and sense of sin, with its application to God about those things, as also v.’hat has been said of the nature of forgiveness, with the revelation that is made of it to the faith of believers; and that this may be done where the soul has 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 incumbent on such a soul is that laid down in our first proposition, namely, pc/ewi waiting and expedalion.
And here, 1. The nature of the duty itself is to be declared. And, 2. The necessity and usefulness of its practice is to be evinced and demonstrated.
As to the nature of this duty, we may observe that it does not consist in any particular acting of the soul, but in its whole spiritual frame and deportment in reference to the end desired. And this waiting, which is comprehensive of the especial duties of the soul in the case described, comprehends these three things: 1. Quietness in opposition to haste and tumultuousness of spirit 2. Diligence in opposition to spiritual sloth, despon dency and neglect of means. 3. Expectation in opposition to despair, distrust, and other actings of unbelief.
1. Quietness or composure of spirit. Hence this waiting is sometimes expressed by silence: “It is good both to hope (in the Heb.) and to be silent, for the salvation of the Lord,” Lam. 3: 26, that is, to wait quietly, as we have rendered the word. And the same word wo sometimes render rest: “Rest on the Lord,” Psalm 37: 7, (in the Heb. be silent unto him,) where it is joined with hoping or waiting, as what belongs to its nature; and so in sundry other places. And this God in an especial manner calls souls unto in straits and distresses: “In quietness and confidence,” saith he, ‘* shall be your strength.” Isaiah, 30; 15. And the effect of the righteousness of God by Christ is said to be “quietness and assurance for ever.” Isaiah, 32: 17. First quietness, and then assurance. Now, this silence and quietness which accompanies waiting, yea, which is an essential part of it, is
Opposed to hasie. 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 calls his people to waiting, he expresses the contrary by the lifting up of the soul: “Though the vision tarry, wait for it; behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith.” Hab. 2: 3, 4.. God has given the soul a vision of peace through the discovery of forgiveness with him; but he will have us wait for an actual participation and enjoyment of it. 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 be 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 (and will not) make haste.” Isa. 28: 16. Which words the apostle twice making use of, in both places renders them, “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed,” or confounded. Rom. 9; 33 J 10: 11. And that because this haste turns men off from believing, and so disappoints their hopes and leaves them to shame and confusion. Men, with a sense of the guilt of sin, having some discovery made to them of the rest and peace which they may obtain by forgiveness, are ready to catch greedily at it, and make false, unsound, undue applications of it to themselves. They cannot bear the yoke that the Lord hath put upon them, but grow impatient under it, and cry with Rachel, “Give me children, or I die.” Any way, they would obtain it. Now, as the first duty of such a soul is to apply itself to waiting, so the first entrance into waiting consists in this silence and quietness of heart and spirit. This is the soul’s endeavor to keep itself humble, satisfied with the sovereign pleasure of God, and refusing all ways and means of rest and peace but what it is guided and directed to by the word and Spirit.
As true waiting on God is opposed to haste, so it is to tumultuous thoughts and disquiet. The soul is silent, “I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it.” Psalm 39: 9. He redoubles the expression, by which he describes his endeavor to quiet his soul in the will of God. In the condition represented the soul is apt to have many tumultuous thoughts, or a multitude of perplexing thoughts, of no use or advantage to it. How they are to be watched against and rejected was before declared in our general rules: this quietness in waiting will prevent them.
2. Diligence in opposition to spiritual sloth, is included in the duty of waiting on God. Diligence is the activity of the mind in the regular use of means for the pursuit of any end proposed. The end aimed at by the soul is a comforting, refreshing interest in forgiveness with God. For the attaining of this, God has instituted and blessed various means. A neglect o( them, through negligence or sloth, will certainly disappoint the soul from attaining that end. It is confessedly so in things natural. He that soweth not, must not think to reap; he that clothes not himself, will not be warm; nor will he enjoy health who neglects the means of it. Men understand this as to their outward concerns, and though they have a due respect to the blessing of God, they expect not to be rich without industry. It is so also in things spiritual. God has appointed one thing to be the means of obtaining another J in the use of them he blesses us, and from the use of them doth his glory arise j because they are his own appointment. This diligence wholly respects practice, or the regular use of means. A man is said to be diligent in business, to have a diligent hand: though it be an affection of the mind, yet it simply respects practice and effort. This diligence in his waiting, David expresses, Psalm 40: 1. We render it, “I waited patiently;” that is, (in the Hebrew,) “waiting, I have waited;” that is, diligently, earnestly, in the use of means. So he describes this duty by an elegant similitude: ‘^ Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters; and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until he have mercy on us.” Psalm 123; 2. Servants that wait upon their masters, and look to their hands, expect an intimation of their mind as to what they would have them do. So, says David, do we wait for mercy j not in a slothful neglect of duty, but in a constant readiness to observe the will of God in all his commands.
An illustration of this we have in the spouse, when she was in the condition here described. Cant. 3: 1, 2. She wanted the presence of her Beloved, and where the presence of Christ is not, there can be no sense of forgiveness. At first she seeks him upon her bed: “By night, upon my bed, I sought him whom my soul loveth, I sought him, but I found him not.” And does she rest in merely desiring himl No, she resolves to use all means. In the city, streets and fields she would inquire after him. And the blessed result is, ^] She found himshe held him, she would not let him go.” verse 4. This then belongs to the waiting of the soul. Diligence in the use of means, whereby God is pleased ordinarily to communicate a sense of pardon and forgiveness, is a principal part of it. What these means are, is known. Prayer, meditation, reading, the dispensation of the word and ordinances are all appointed to this purpose; they are all means of communicating love and grace to the soul. Be not then heartless or slothful j up and be doing; attend with diligence to the word o( grace; be fervent in prayer, assiduous in the use of all ordinances, that thou mayest find him whom thy soul loveth; and God, through him, will speak peace unto thee.
3. There is expectation in true waiting on God, which is in direct opposition to all the actings of unbelief, and is the very life and soul of the duty under consideration. So the Psalmist declares, ‘’My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.” Psalm 62: 5. The soul will not, cannot in a due manner wait on God, unless it has expectation from him unless, as James speaks, he looks to receive some good from him. chap. 1: 7. The soul in this condition regards forgiveness not only as by itself desired, but principally as it is by God promised. This is expressed in the fourth proposition before laid down, namely, That sin-distressed souls wait for God with earnestness, intcntness of mind and expectation. As this appears from the redoubling of the Psalmist’s expression, ‘’ I wait j my soul doth wait ;*’ it also does principally from the nature of the comparison that he makes of himself with them that watch for the morning. Those that watch for the morning not only desire it and prepare for it, but they expect it, and know assuredly that it will come. Though darlness may, for a time, be troublesome, and continue longer than they would desire, yet they know that the morning has its appointed time of return, beyond which it will not tarry; therefore they look out for its appearance.
So it is with the soul. “In the morning,” says David, “will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” Psalm 5: 3. The Psalmist seems here to declare the general frame of his spirit in walking with God. “I will,” saith he, “order all things towards God,” so as that I may wait upon him in the ways of his appointment, “and will look up.” The last expression seems in our translation to express his posture in prayer. But the word is of another import. It is diligently to look after that which is coming towards us, a looking-out after the accomplishment of our expectation. This is a part of waiting for God; yea, as was said, the life of it, that which is principally intended in it. The prophet calls it his standing upon his watch-tower and watching to see what God would speak to him, Hab. 2: 1. namely, in answer to the prayer which he put up in his trouble. He is now waiting in expectation of an answer from God. And this is that to which poor, weak, trembling sinners are so encouraged, “Strengthen the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say unto them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not, behold your God will come.” Isaiah, 35: 3, 4. Weakness and discouragements are the effects of unbelief. These he would have removed with an expectation of the coming of God to the soul, according to the promise. And this I say belongs to the waiting of the soul in the condition described. Such a one expects that God will, in his season, manifest himself and his love to him, and give him an experimental sense of a blessed interest in forgiveness. And the accomplishment of this purpose and promise of God, he looks out after continually. He will not despond and be heartless, but stir up and strengthen himself to a full expectation to have the desires of his Boul satisfied in due time; as we find David doing in places almost innumerable.
This is the duty that in the first place is recommended to the soul which is persuaded that there is forgiveness with God, but sees not its own interest therein. Wait on the Lord. And it has two properties, when it is duly performed j namely, patience and perseverance. By the one, men are kept to the length of God’s time j by the other, they are preserved to the extent of their own duty.
And this is what was laid down in the third proposition drawn from the words j namely, That continuance in watching until God appears to the soul, is necessary, as that without which we cannot attain what we look after; and prevailing, as that wherein we shall never fail.
God is not to be limited, nor his time prescribed to him. We know our way, and the end of our journey; but our stations of especial rest we must wait for at his mouth, as the people did in the wilderness. When David comes to God in his great distress he says, ‘^ 0 Lord, thou art my God, my times are in thine hand.” Psalm 31: 14/, 15. His times of trouble and of peace, of darkness and of light, he acknowledged to be in the hand and at the disposal of God; so that it was his duty to wait His time and season for his share and portion in them.
During this state the soul meets with much opposition and many difficulties and perplexities, especially i£ its darkness be of long continuance: as with some it abides many years, with some all the days of their lives. Their hope being hereby deferred, makes their hearts sick, and their spirits often faint j and this fainting is a defect in waiting, for want of perseverance and continuance frustrates the end. So David, “I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord.’* Psalm 27: 13. Had I not received support by faith, 1 had fainted. What was this fainting 1 It was a relinquishment of waiting on God, as he manifests by the exhortation which he gives to himself and others:” Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thy heart j wait, I say, on the Lord.” ver. 14«. Wait with courage and resolution, that thou faint not. And the apostle puts the blessed event of faith and obedience upon the avoidance of this evil: “We shall reap, if we faint not.” Gal. 6: 9. Hence we have both encouragement given against it, and promises that in the way of God we shall not be overtaken with it. “Consider the Lord Christ,” saith the apostle, “the Captain of your salvation, lest ye be wearied, and faint in your minds.” Heb. 12:3. Nothing else can cause you to come short of the mark aimed at. “They,” saith the prophet, “who wait on the Lord,” that is, in the use of the means by him appointed, “shall not faint.” Isaiah, 40: 3L
This continuace in waiting, then,
1. Is necessary. They that watch for the morning, to whose frame and actings the waiting of the soul for God is compared, give not over until the light appears; or if they do, if they are wearied and faint, and so cease watching, all their former pSins will be lost, and they lie down in disappointment. So will it be with the soul that deserts its watch, and faints in its waiting. If, on the eruption of new lusts or corruptions j if, on the return of old temptations or the assaults of new ones; if, on a revived perplexing sense of guilt, or on the tediousncss of working and laboring so much and so long in the dark, the soul begins to say in itself, I have looked for light, and behold darkness; for peace, and yet trouble cometh; the summer is past, the harvest is ended, and I am not relieved j such and such blessed means have been enjoyc d, and yet I have not attained rest, and so gives over its y’aiting on God, it will at length utterly fail and come short of the grace aimed at. “Thou hast labored and hast not fainted” brings the reward. Rev. 2: 3.
2. Perseverance in waiting is assuredly prevalent: and this renders it a necessary part of the duty itself. If we continue to wait for the vision of peace, it will come, it will not tarry, but answer our expectation of It. Never soul perished that abode in this duty to the end. The joys of heaven may sometimes come before settled consolation in this lifej God sometimes gives in the full harvest without sending the first-fruits aforehand, but spiritual and eternal peace and rest is the infallible end of permanent waiting on God.
This is the duty that the Psalmist declares himself to be engaged in, on the encouraging discovery which was made him of forgiveness in God. “There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared: I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.” And this is what in a similar state is required of us. This is the great direction which was given us in the example and practice of the Psalmist, as to our duty and deportment in the condition described. This was the way whereby he rose out of his depths and escaped out of his entanglements. And is any reader in these depths 1 Let him hence draw directions in duty.
1. Encourage your soul unto waiting on God. Do new fears arise, do old alarms continue 1 say unto your soul,” Yet wait on God; why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me 1 hope in
God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” So the Psalmist speaks elsewhere: “Wait on God and be of good courage j” shake off sloth, rouse up yourself from under despondencies, let not fears prevail. This is the only way for success, and it will assuredly be prevalent. Oppose this resolution to every discouragement, and it will give new life to faith and hope: say, “My flesh faileth, and my heart faileth j but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever,” as Psalm 73: 26. Though thy perplexed thoughts have even wearied and worn out the outward man, as in many they do, so that flesh faileth; and though thou hast no refreshing evidence from within, from thyself or thy own experience, so that thy heart faileth; yet resolve to look to God, there is strength in him, and satisfaction in him, for the whole man: he is a rock and a portion. This will strengthen things which otherwise will be ready to die. This will keep life in thy course, and stir thee up to plead with God in an acceptable season, when he will be found. Job wrought up his condition to a supposition that God might slay him; that is, add one stroke, one rebuke unto another, till he was consumed; and so take him out of the world in darkness and in sorrow. Yet he resolved to trust, to hope, to wait on him, as knowing that he should not utterly fail in so doing.
This frame the church expresses so admirably, that nothing can be added thereto. “Thou hast removed my soul far off from peace. I forgat prosperity. And I said my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord; remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good to them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.” Lam. 3: 17-26. We have here both the condition and the duty fully expressed. The condition is sad and bitter, the soul is in depths, far from peace and rest. ver. 17. In this state it is ready utterly to faint, and to give up all for lost, both strength for the present and hopes for the future, verse 18. This makes its condition full of sorrow and bitterness, and its own thoughts become like wormwood and gall, verses 19, 20. But does he lie down under the burden of all this trouble 1 does he despond, and give over 1 No, saith he, I call to mind that there is forgiveness with God, grace, mercy, goodness for the relief of distressed souls, such as are in my condition, ver. 21-23. Thence the conclusion is, that as all help is to be looked for, all relief expected from him alone, so it is good that a man should quietly wait, and hope for the salvation of God. This he stirs up himself to, as the best, as the most blessed course for his deliverance. 2. Remember that diligent use of the means, for the end aimed at, is a necessary ingredient of waiting on God. Take in the consideration of this direction also. Do not think to be freed from your entanglements by restless, heartless desiring that it were otherwise with you: means are to be used, that relief may be obtained.
What those means are, is known to all: mortification of sin, prayer, meditation, due attendance on all gospel-ordinances; conferring in general about spiritual things j advising in particular about our own state with those who, having received the tongue of the learned, are able to speak a word in season to them that are weary. And in all these are diligence and perseverance to be exercised; or in vain shall men desire a delivery from their entanglements.