◄ Psalm 130:5 ►














Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Our Waiting Is A Watching.
Psalm 130:5, 6
R. Tuck
In the year 1830, on the night preceding the first of August, the day the slaves in our West Indian colonies were to come into possession of the freedom promised them, many of them, we are told, never went to bed at all. Thousands and tens of thousands of them assembled in their places of worship, engaging in devotional duties and singing praises to God, waiting for the first streak of the light of the morning of that day on which they were to be made free. Some of their number were sent w the hills, from which they might obtain the first view of the coming day, and by a signal intimate to their brethren down in the valley the very first moment of breaking dawn. They "watched for the morning." The kind of watching that comes home to us is the anxious watching by the sick-beds of loved friends. Night-work is especially trying. Sentinel-watching may be also in mind.

I. A WAITING THAT IS A WEARY COMPULSION. We do not want to wait. We are made to wait. And the watching for the end of the waiting-time is simply a prolonged agony. Man often deals with his fellow-man thus; and God sometimes finds it needful to put his people into this hard discipline. Whether we like it or not, we must wait. Active man who would do something - must do nothing. Illust.: waiting for openings in life.

II. A WAITING THAT IS A HOPELESS ENDURANCE. The kind of waiting that belongs to times of uncertainty. We watch vainly, at last almost hopelessly, for the daily post. Tennyson pictures this condition in his 'Mariana' -

"She only said, 'My life is dreary:
He cometh not,' she said;
She said, 'I'm aweary, aweary;
I would that I were dead!'" Even at such times the hopelessness would pass, though the enduring had to remain, if only the watching had its uplook as well as its onlook. Its calm resting in the infinite wisdom and love that permits, as well as its peering away into the distant east for the first glimpse of morning.

III. A WAITING THAT IS A LOVING EXPECTANCY. And that our waiting may always be if we see it to be our Father-God's call to wait. There is his thought in it, his purpose in it. We may be sure of the "end of the Lord." It is well altogether to dismiss from our minds all such ideas of Divine sovereignty as even suggest that he ever "afflicts willingly." We seem to be waiting for some change in our earthly circumstances, but we are really waiting for God to change our circumstances; and we may wait with the calm, and even joyous, expectancy that he will. - R.T.

Biblical Illustrator
I wait for the Lord.
Psalm 130:5, 6
Waiting, hoping, watching
I. WAITING.

1. This is the constant posture of all the saints of God. Fancy not that in heaven they have no emotion but that of joy; we know that all their emotions are joyous, but among them is this one, — that they, too, are waiting until the Lord shall again manifest Himself, for, in the day of His appearing, those disembodied spirits shall put on their resurrection bodies.

2. The children of God, on earth, are frequently in the posture of waiting as individuals. Do you not wait to be able to serve God better? Are not some of you waiting to have your tongues unloosed, — waiting to have your hearts enlarged, — waiting for better opportunities of doing God's work, or for more grace to use the opportunities you have, — and waiting for the Divine seal upon the efforts which you have put forth? I know that is so; and if we could get all that, we should still be waiting, — waiting to see all our families saved, — waiting to see all our neighbours saved.

3. It is a very blessed posture, for waiting tries faith, and that is a good thing, because faith grows by trial. Waiting exercises patience, and that is also a good thing, for patience is one of the choice gifts of God. Waling endears every blessing when it comes; and thus we get two joys, — the joy of waiting for the joy, as well as the joy of enjoying the joy when it comes.

II. HOPING.

1. Hope is the reason for waiting.

2. Hope is the strength of waiting.

3. Hope is the sweetener of waiting. But make sure that your hope is a good hope, that it is a well-founded hope, that it is a happy hope, that it is a hope that "maketh not ashamed," that it is a hope that fixes itself on Christ alone; for if you have not that hope, you will not wait; and if you do not wait, you will not receive. It is the waiting soul that gets the blessing.

III. WATCHING. He that waits, and he that hopes, learns to watch. First notice the figure here used, and then observe that the figure is exceeded: "My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning."

1. First, what is the figure here used? With steady and weary tramp, the watchman has gone from one tower to another speaking to his brother sentinel as he has met him, keeping to his beat all through the dreary, cold, rainy, windy night; and he says to himself, "I wish it were morning." As he exchanges the watchword with his companion, he says, "I wish it were morning. My eyelids are heavy; my head begins to ache with this constant watching for the enemy; I wish it were morning." Have you never been in that posture?

2. But the figure is exceeded by the fact, for the text says, "My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning." We have been watching longer than they who guard the city towers. The sentinel has only a few hours' night-watch; but some of us have been watching for these thirty years, some of you for these fifty years; ah, some of you for sixty years! I do not wonder that you have a stronger desire for the morning than they have wire have only watched for one night. Besides, you expect so much more than they do, for when the day comes, what does it bring to them? A little ease for the sentinel, a little rest for the nurse; but they will have to go back to the nursing or the watching as soon as the shades of night return. You and I are waiting for a daylight that will bring us endless rest and perfect joy; well may we watch more than they that watch for the morning, for theirs is but the morning of a day, but ours is the morning of an eternity which shall know no end. They do but watch for the sun with his passing beams; we watch for the Sun of Righteousness whose glory makes heaven itself. Well may we grow eager when we think of what is yet to be revealed in us. Well may our hunger increase as we think of the sweets that are reserved for us.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

The quiet life in its dependence
W. M. Statham.
There is a true dependence and a false dependence. The one is the fatalistic faith of the Arabs and those Easterns who have become stolid in character, and who denude death of its horrors, to some extent, by the idea of fate. But faith and fate are different things. There always runs through the Psalms the golden thread of the personality of God. True dependence is in a person, a living God, upon whom weariness can lean, and in whom weakness is made strong.

I. TRUE DEPENDENCE IS RESTFUL IN GOD. There are two beings hers — God and the soul. If I am to depend upon God, I must look within upon my own life and see whether I so live that I can fairly lean on the great Father and depend upon Him. It is here that the beautiful question of a child's relationship to the Father comes in. May a wicked man say, "I depend upon God; He will bring all things right"? Look at this matter fairly. Is our dependence such as ought to characterize one who seeks the help and favour of God? Are our objects His objects? Are our aims His aims? Is the life we are living only an edifice to worldly ambition, or is it a temple fitted for the skies? I am to wait for the Lord. But while I am waiting, what am I? Is it the dependence of a child, seeking to do God's will; looking thoughtfully around to know how the life may glorify Him? It is waiting that is so difficult. But in our hours of waiting, painful as I deem them to be, God comes very near to us. We pray more at such times. I think that these long trials make the hungry eyes look longingly over the sea to earth sight of the sails of the vessel in which God's angels are coming! I think the long night makes us hopeful for the dawn of the day. I think that whilst we wait, we learn more of that purifying consciousness of dependence that slays our pride, and feeds our humility. There is much that is disciplinary in this, "I wait for the Lord."

II. TRUE DEPENDENCE IS WATCHFUL. In this world, when we are dependent upon anything, we always get ready. If houses of business think there is to be a spring trade in something that appertains to artistic beauty or modes of dress, and men are dependent upon this for revival of trade, they watch for every sign of plenty. They can do nothing until the "wave" comes. But the "wave" would be no use to them if they had not stocked their warehouses. "My soul waiteth for the Lord, more than they that watch for the morning." You like to be watched for. You like the little children in the summer-time to say, "Father is coming." The fisherman likes to see his wife and daughter on that old pier watching for him. God likes us to watch for Him.

III. TRUE DEPENDENCE IS HOPEFUL. "In His Word do I hope;" for "God is not a man that He should lie, or the Son of man that He should repent." And in that Word the true believer does hope continually. It is not the testimony of the past only, it is the experience of the children of God to-day, that the promises — and they are greater in number than the stars — all the promises of God in Christ Jesus are yea and amen.

IV. TRUE DEPENDENCE IS COMPLETE. "He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities." I like to follow that thought out, and to feel that quiet dependence upon God is personal in regard to one's own life of sin and transgression. I like to follow it out in regard to one's family life, and to feel how God will work if we only trust Him.

(W. M. Statham.)

Waiting
A. J. Macleane, M. A.
I. THE OBJECT OF THE CHRISTIAN'S WAITING. He waits for the development of God's purposes, for the accomplishment of God's will, for the coming of the Lord to his soul, in all the fulness of His grace to scatter the clouds of ignorance, be overpower the strength of temptation, to silence the upbraidings of conscience, to purge his soul of corruption, to confirm his faith and holy resolutions, and so to deliver him from the dangers of sin, the sharp pang of sorrow, and the misgivings of unbelief.

II. THE SPIRIT OF THE CHRISTIAN'S WAITING.

1. Patience. To wait for the Lord is to rest in Him, to abide in Him.

2. But this patience is not a mere passive submission, as the slave bows his head under the yoke he cannot throw off. All the active qualities of the Christian life are associated with that waiting for the Lord, which the spirit of patience invests with peace.

3. While he waits for the Lord, he does so with an earnest expectation and desire.

4. With loins girt and lamps burning.

III. THE ENCOURAGEMENT BY WHICH THE SPIRIT OF WAITING IS SUSTAINED. The faith of man is built upon the faithfulness of God. There is a promise for every need, and certainty in every promise.

(A. J. Macleane, M. A.)

The soul waiting for God
O. A. Jeary.
I. BY WHOM CAN THIS LANGUAGE BE APPROPRIATED?

1. By the penitent.

2. By the backslider.

3. By the afflicted Christian.

4. By the Christian about to die. As the long absent child, arrived at the door of his father's house, pants for admittance there, so does the soul of the believer, on the threshold of eternity, wait for its God.

II. ON WHAT GROUND MAY THE LANGUAGE OF THE TEXT BE APPROPRIATED WITH CONFIDENT EXPECTATION.

1. "The Word of the Lord," it should never be forgotten, "is a tried Word." It has cheered the gloomy, and strengthened the feeble, and animated the dying.

2. The extent of a Christian's privileges no mind can embrace. Take him at his worst state, in the difficulties of his first approach to God; in subsequent darkness; or in death; having still an interest in the promises of God, he claims an inheritance which monarchs might envy, and which angels delight to share.

(O. A. Jeary.)

The estate and disposition of the holy man after his prayer
Though he had formerly sense of mercy and pardon, yet he waits for more full and sweet apprehension thereof. In them we may observe, first, though God be exceeding gracious, yet there is matter of waiting, so long as we live hero on earth, for He gives not all the fulness of His blessing at once. Though He may give taste of pardon of sin in present, yet not presently deliverance out of danger (Proverbs 4:18). There is no day that is perfected in an instant; and the reasons hereof may be —

1. To force us be search our souls, whether we be fit for blessing; whether we be thoroughly humbled, and have thoroughly repented or not. Thus dealt he with Jonas, and thus with the children of Israel for Achan's cause.

2. It may be a means to stir us up to more earnestness in seeking: to make us like the woman of Canaan, more earnest the more she was repelled.

3. He gives us occasion of waiting, to show the truth and soundness of His graces in us; otherwise should we have no means to try how the grace in us would serve us in time of need.

4. Hereby God doth endear those favours that we want, that it may come the more welcome to us, and we be the more thankful for it. Thus God dealt with this holy man; and thus doth He with His Church. For while we live here we are always children of hope; not miserable, because we have a sweet taste of what we hope for, and not perfectly happy, because we want fulness. Before Christ, they hoped for His coming in the flesh; since Christ, we look for His "second coming in glory"; in grace we look for glory; and when our souls are in glory, they look for the redemption of the bodies, and for the day of restoring of all things.

5. This should whet in us our desires and prayers for our heavenly estate; and not make our heaven here on earth, but desire earnestly the full harvest, by considering how excellent the first-fruits of glory in this life are; and with the creature (Romans 8:19), "wait, and expect, and long, and groan for the time of the dissolution of all things"; and make this a note to discern of our estate; for it is a certain infallible token of a good frame of spirit in us, if we can long for that better life in the fulness that we have here; that we can desire to be with Christ. Furthermore, note this as a difference between the estates of the wicked and the godly. The wicked must look for worse and worse continually. His best is here, and while he hath this world; but the godly, their worst is here, their best is to come.

( Sibbes, Richard.)

People
David, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Hope, Hoped, Soul, Wait, Waited, Waiting, Waits
Outline
1. The psalmist professes his hope in prayer
5. And his patience in hope
7. He exhorts Israel to trust in God

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 130:5

     8031   trust, importance
     8214   confidence, basis of
     8678   waiting on God
     9612   hope, in God

Psalm 130:1-6

     8613   prayer, persistence

Psalm 130:5-6

     8318   patience
     8493   watchfulness, believers
     8603   prayer, relationship with God
     8618   prayerfulness

Library
November the Thirtieth the Spring and the River
"With the Lord there is mercy." --PSALM cxxx. That is the ultimate spring. All the pilgrims of the night may meet at that fountain. We have no other common meeting-place. If we make any other appointment we shall lose one another on the way. But we can meet one another at the fountain, men of all colours, and of all denominations, and of all creeds. "By Thy mercy, O deliver us, good Lord!" "There is forgiveness with Thee." That is the quickening river. Sin and guilt scorch the fair garden of …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Israel's Hope; Or, the Centre of the Target
WHEN HE PENNED this psalm, the writer, David, was in deep distress, if not of circumstances, yet of conscience. He constantly mentions iniquities, and begs forgiveness. He felt like a shipwrecked mariner, carried overboard into the raging sea. Thus he reviews the situation--"Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord." Yet he lived to tell the tale of deliverance. His prayer from among the waves was a memory worth preserving, and he does preserve it. The mercy of God to him he weaves into a …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

'de Profundis'
PSALM cxxx. 1. Out of the deep have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. What is this deep of which David speaks so often? He knew it well, for he had been in it often and long. He was just the sort of man to be in it often. A man with great good in him, and great evil; with very strong passions and feelings, dragging him down into the deep, and great light and understanding to show him the dark secrets of that horrible pit when he was in it; and with great love of God too, and of …
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

My Savior, on the Word of Truth
"I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope." -- Psalm 130:5. My Savior, on the word of truth In earnest hope I live; I ask for all the precious things Thy boundless love can give. I look for many a lesser light About my path to shine; But chiefly long to walk with Thee, And only trust in Thine. In holy expectation held, Thy strength my heart shall stay, For Thy right hand will never let My trust be cast away. Yea, Thou hast kept me near Thy feet, In many a deadly strife, …
Miss A. L. Waring—Hymns and Meditations

The Night Watch
Heinrich Suso Ps. cxxx. 6 Oh when shall the fair day break, and the hour of gladness come, When I to my heart's Beloved, to Thee, O my Lord, go home? O Lord, the ages are long, and weary my heart for Thee, For Thee, O my one Beloved, whose Voice shall call for me. I would see Thee face to face, Thou Light of my weary eyes, I wait and I watch till morning shall open the gate of the skies; The morn when I rise aloft, to my one, my only bliss, To know the smile of Thy welcome, the mystery of Thy kiss. …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

Fervent Supplication. --Ps. cxxx.
Fervent Supplication.--Ps. cxxx. Out of the depths of woe, To Thee, O Lord! I cry; Darkness surrounds me, but I know That Thou art ever nigh. Then hearken to my voice, Give ear to my complaint; Thou bidst the mourning soul rejoice, Thou comfortest the faint. I cast my hope on Thee, Thou canst, Thou wilt forgive; Wert Thou to mark iniquity, Who in thy sight could live? Humbly on Thee I wait, Confessing all my sin; Lord, I am knocking at thy gate, Open and take me in. Like them, whose longing …
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns

My Soul with Patience Waits
[1192]Festal Song: William H. Walter, 1894 [1193]Swabia: Johann M. Spiess, 1745 Psalm 130 Tate and Brady, 1698 DOXOLOGY My soul with patience waits For thee, the living Lord: My hopes are on thy promise built, Thy never-failing word. My longing eyes look out For thy enlivening ray, More duly than the morning watch To spy the dawning day. Let Israel trust in God; No bounds his mercy knows; The plenteous source and spring from whence Eternal succour flows; Whose friendly streams to us Supplies …
Various—The Hymnal of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA

On Perfection
"Let us go on to perfection." Heb. 6:1. The whole sentence runs thus: "Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection: Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God;" which he had just before termed, "the first principles of the oracles of God," and "meat fit for babes," for such as have just tasted that the Lord is gracious. That the doing of this is a point of the utmost importance the Apostle intimates in the next …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

"There is Therefore Now no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
Rom. viii. 1.--"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, &c." All the promises are yea and amen in Christ Jesus; they meet all in him and from him are derived unto us. When man was in integrity, he was with God, and in God, and that immediately, without the intervention of a Mediator. But our falling from God hath made us without God, and the distance is so great, as Abraham speaks to the rich man, that neither can those above go down to him, nor he come up to them. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Christian's Hope
Scripture references: 1 Timothy 1:1; Colossians 1:27; Psalm 130:5; 43:5; Proverbs 10:8; Acts 24:15; Psalm 71:5; Romans 5:1-5; 12:12; 15:4; 1 Corinthians 9:10; Galatians 5:5; Ephesians 1:18; Philippians 1:20; Colossians 1:5; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 2:19; Titus 1:2; 2:13; 3:7; Psalm 31:24; 71:14,15. HOPE IN THE PRESENT LIFE That which a man ardently hopes for he strives to realize. If he desires fame, office or wealth he will seek to set forces in motion, here and now, which will bring him that which …
Henry T. Sell—Studies in the Life of the Christian

Regeneration by Faith. Of Repentance.
1. Connection of this chapter with the previous one and the subsequent chapters. Repentance follows faith, and is produced by it. Reason. Error of those who take a contrary view. 2. Their First Objection. Answer. In what sense the origin of Repentance ascribed to Faith. Cause of the erroneous idea that faith is produced by repentance. Refutation of it. The hypocrisy of Monks and Anabaptists in assigning limits to repentance exposed. 3. A second opinion concerning repentance considered. 4. A third …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Israel's Hope Encouraged;
OR, WHAT HOPE IS, AND HOW DISTINGUISHED FROM FAITH: WITH ENCOURAGEMENTS FOR A HOPING PEOPLE. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. 'Auspicious hope! in thy sweet garden grow Wreaths for each toil, a charm for every woe.' Christian hope is a firm expectation of all promised good, but especially of eternal salvation and happiness in heaven, where we shall be like the Son of God. This hope is founded on the grace, blood, righteousness, and intercession of Christ--the earnest of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Out of the Deep of Sin.
Innumerable troubles are come about me. My sins have taken such hold upon me, that I am not able to look up; yea, they are more in number than the hairs of my head, and my heart hath failed me.--Ps. xl. 15. I acknowledge my faults, and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight.--Ps. li. 3. I said, I will confess my sins unto the Lord; and so Thou forgavest the wickedness of my sin.--Ps. xxxii. 6. Blessed is the man whose iniquity is forgiven, and …
Charles Kingsley—Out of the Deep

"That the Righteousness of the Law Might be Fulfilled in Us,"
Rom. viii. 4.--"That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us," &c. "Think not," saith our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, "that I am come to destroy the law,--I am come to fulfil it," Matt. v. 17. It was a needful caveat, and a very timeous advertisement, because of the natural misapprehensions in men's minds of the gospel. When free forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting, is preached in Jesus Christ, without our works; when the mercy of God is proclaimed in its freedom and fulness, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Essence of Prayer.
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints."--Ephes. vi. 18. In the last place we consider the work of the Holy Spirit in prayer. It appears from Scripture, more than has been emphasized, that in the holy act of prayer there is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit working both in us and with us. And yet this appears clearly from the apostolic word: "Likewise the Spirit helpeth also our infirmities: for …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Its Meaning
Deliverance from the condemning sentence of the Divine Law is the fundamental blessing in Divine salvation: so long as we continue under the curse, we can neither be holy nor happy. But as to the precise nature of that deliverance, as to exactly what it consists of, as to the ground on which it is obtained, and as to the means whereby it is secured, much confusion now obtains. Most of the errors which have been prevalent on this subject arose from the lack of a clear view of the thing itself, and …
Arthur W. Pink—The Doctrine of Justification

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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