Psalms 130:6

Psalms 130:6

No one can read the Psalms and doubt that David knew and loved the Second Advent. And therefore I am inclined to believe that it was of this he spoke in the text.

I. Who but a very bad man thinks of the morning with any other than a happy feeling? The man of ardent enterprise chafes at the hindrances of the darkness, and longs for the morning. The timid child is afraid of the loneliness, and wishes it were day. The weary sentry treads his rounds, and listens for the early notes that herald his release. The solitary mourner wails that the night is long. The expectant bride looks out upon the horizon, and sighs for the dawn. And just so it is with the whole Church; all, with one consent, watch for the morning. That morning shall roll back the uncertainties and the hindrances, the terrors and the regrets, the sins and the sufferings of the old, and let in a new existence.

II. There are four things which especially go to make up that one little, comprehensive command "Watch." (1) Whoever would watch for Christ must have some intelligent conception of the nature of His coming. (2) To watch for the Second Advent is to be always regarding it as David did, and Peter: as the great antidote and cure for all present evil. (3) You must place the thought of the Second Advent as the crown of all your happiness. It will be like the bloom of the morning upon the mountain-top. (4) If you would watch for Christ, all life must be in harmony with the watch. The light must be in that heart that looks for light.

J. Vaughan, Sermons,12th series, p. 189.

I. What is the true idea of the phrase "waiting upon God"? "Waiting" expresses a state or habit which is the result of a combination of desire, expectation, and patient submission. "Waiting on God" is thus the patient expectation of results which God has promised to secure, results which are in themselves desirable, and which God has given us reason to believe will be realised. It implies the exercise of self-control, a meek acquiescence in the Divine arrangements, a confident assurance that God will do what He has promised and show Himself in full accordance with all that He has revealed Himself to be.

II. As practically exemplifying this Divine principle, (1) we may take the case of a Christian man engaged in the business of life. Here waiting upon God will be exhibited not in the neglect of means or in any fanatical expectation that God will send down success apart from diligent and wise endeavours on the part of the individual to secure it, but in the pious, devout, and patient expectation of God's blessing to give effect to exertion wisely and perseveringly put forth. (2) The same principle applies to our spiritual business. We are to use the means; and when we have done what God has commanded us to do, true piety teaches us to wait on Him for that grace without which no effort of ours after spiritual attainment will succeed. (3) Take the case of a Christian man under the discipline of affliction. He who has learned to "wait" commits himself to God, assured that He will not afflict His people willingly or lay on them more than they are able to bear, but, in the infinitude of His love, wisdom, and power, will make all things work together for good to those that love Him and are the called according to His purpose.

W. Lindsay Alexander, Christian Thought and Work,p. 62 (see also Good Words,1861, p. 191).

Reference: Psalms 130:6. Clergyman's Magazine, vol. xii., p. 84.