Wait on the Lord, and keep his way

William Jay

“Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shall see it” (Ps. 37:34).

Here is a twofold admonition.

First. “Wait on the Lord.”—’I hope I do so.’ But are you sure of this? Is there any thing in your religious exercises that really deserves the name of waiting on God? For persons may read without attention, and hear without faith, and sing without praise, and pray without desire. They may draw nigh to him with the mouth, and honour him with the lip, while the heart is far from him.—But God is a Spirit; and they that worship him, must worship him in Spirit and in truth.—’ I hope I do thus wait on Him.’ But do you thus wait on him sufficiently ? First. In the sanctuary? Secondly. In the family? Thirdly. In the closet? Fourthly. In all your concerns—like David, who said, “On thee do I wait all the day, Lord!”

Secondly. “And keep his way.” This is beautifully connected with the former. Wait—and work. Wait—and walk. Get grace—and exercise it. Persevere in the use of means, if present comfort be withholden. Neither give up the course in which you are engaged—nor turn aside—nor stand still— nor look back—nor seem to come short; though superiors frown—and companions reproach—and iniquity abounds—and the love of many waxes cold— and numbers walk no more with him. In all opposition, and through every discouragement, let your soul follow hard after God. Thus did Job; and therefore he could say, “My foot hath held his steps; his way have I kept, and not declined. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips: I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.” So it was also with the Church. “Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way; though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.” We have enough to animate us to hold on—”After two days will he revive us: in the third day will he raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.”

Here is also a twofold promise.

First. “He shall exalt thee to inherit the land.” God is the source of all elevation and honour. He raised the Jews to the possession of Canaan, the glory of all lands. But he dignifies Christians with a title to a better, even a heavenly country; where, “with kings, are they upon the throne.”—He advances them here, as well as hereafter. For he is “the glory of their strength, and in his favour their horn is exalted”—And not only with regard to spiritual, but temporal things. For “the meek shall inherit the earth.” Not that all of them are rich and great in the world. So far from it, they are commonly a poor and an afflicted people. Not that every thing is actually in their possession, or that they have a civil right to it—dominion is not founded in grace: but security is; peace is; contentment is; happiness is. And as to covenant interest, and enjoyment, and improvement, “all things are theirs.”

Secondly. “When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.” And they will be cut off. They are often cut off, even in life, from their places, and riches, and prospects. At death they are cut off from all their possessions and comforts: for, poor as their portion here is, “‘Tis all the happiness they know.”

Yea, they are then cut off from all the means of grace, and the hopes of mercy. In the last day they will be cut off from “the resurrection of life;” and before the assembled world, they will hear the Judge irreversibly excluding them from himself, the source of all happiness—”Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels.”

Dreadful as the ruin is, there is nothing in it to alarm the praying and persevering believer. He will have no share in it. The vengeance that falls and crushes the foe, will not—cannot touch the friend. He will only be a spectator; and strange as it may now seem, the sight will not affect his happiness. But is it necessary to go further; and represent it as a source of pleasure and delight? Surely it is enough that he will see it, and adore the mercy that graciously saved him; and acquiesce in the justice that righteously condemns others.

As the saint will only see the destruction of the sinner; so the wicked will see the salvation of the righteous, and not partake of it. But to see such a blessedness; to see what was once within his own reach, and is now enjoyed by others—must be a source of the keenest anguish. Such was the display of plenty to the interdicted nobleman at the gate of Samaria: “Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes: but thou shalt not eat thereof.” And we know who has said, “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.”

The reading for today is an excerpt from “Morning Exercises” by William Jay.