Mine eyes fail for thy salvation,
and for the word of thy righteousness (Psa 119.123).

“A watched pot never boils.” Of course this maxim is an exaggeration, but it speaks of an experience familiar to us all. We hate to wait for anything. We like microwaves, email, and instant oatmeal. Of course the watched pot eventually boils; it just seems like it happens faster when we pay it no mind. Standing there waiting seems to stretch the seconds into minutes and the minutes to nearly an hour.

As a general rule, the more desperate we are for the results of waiting, the more the waiting itself tries our patience. I know someone who thought she would have to wait a year to marry her true love, and she spoke as if the wedding would only come when they were both senior citizens!

To wait for the Lord to answer desperate prayer is no small part of what it means to be and live as a Christian. “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD” (Psa 27.14). Waiting is not equivalent to doing nothing. “Say not, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee” (Prov 20.22). It involves suffering without despairing or retaliating, persevering without quitting, and hoping without losing sight of certain future blessedness. All these require a living, active faith in God and his Word. Such a faith is on display in our text, for the psalmist is waiting for salvation. He could testify, “I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord” (Gen 49.18).

A LONG WAIT

“Mine eyes fail for thy salvation.” The picture is of one in trouble and distress, knowing he lacks in himself the resources he needs, and looking for deliverance from another quarter. Imagine a besieged city, with the lookout in the watchtower. The enemy surrounds their walls, but the fortification will not keep them out forever. The lookout’s eyes continually scan the horizon because he has received reliable communications that help is on the way. He is so desperate and expectant that watching seems an easy thing to do at first, but as hours drag on with no rescue, it becomes harder and harder for him to hold up his head and focus his vision. Finally it seems to him that he just cannot do it any longer. He is weary, perhaps sleepy, and his vision is getting blurry. At that moment, you have in the physical realm what the psalmist had in mind in the spiritual realm—a faith sorely tried by long continuance in bad circumstances, whether painful, dangerous, or distressing.

The phrase has been variously rendered. “My eyes long for your salvation” (ESV). “My eyes fail with longing for Thy salvation” (NASB). Failing eyes have already been mentioned in this psalm, with similar associated thoughts: “My soul fainteth for thy salvation; but I hope in thy word. Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilth thou comfort me?” (vv. 81-82). “The idea here is that of looking out for a thing—of ‘straining the eyes’—so that their power becomes exhausted. The langage expresses a longing desire—a waiting—an intense wish—for a thing.”¹

New converts, having heard about the reality of answered prayer, may begin to engage in it as if it were the fabled Aladdin’s lamp which, when rubbed, conjures up a powerful genie who promises to grant wishes to the fortunate owner. The true God and the actual ministry of prayer are not like that. We are his servants; he is our Lord. While God enjoins our prayers, petitions must conform to his revealed will in Scripture, and even then he often delays the answer far beyond what we wish. Without realizing that this is his customary way of dealing with his dear people, the new believer may become quite disillusioned and discouraged by apparently unanswered prayer.

Even the greatest saints have known this by experience. “I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God” (Psa 69.3). “My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long?” (Psa 6.3). “How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?” (Psa 13.1). “O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!” (Hab 1.2).

Our Lord Jesus Christ himself suffered many trials while he waited upon his God and Father to deliver him, especially during his crucifixion.

And do thine eyes, tried believer, begin to fail? So did thy Redeemer’s before thee. He, whom thou hast been recollecting as thy Surety (v. 122), when he stood in thy place, burdened with the intolerable load of thy sin—bearing the weighty strokes of Infinite justice upon his soul—he too was contrained to cry out, “Mine eyes fail, while I wait for my God” (Psa 69.3).²

If this happened to our Lord, should you and I expect to be exempt from such trials? Long waiting and unfulfilled desire are a normal part of the authentic Christian experience. We follow Christ.

A HOPEFUL WAIT

“Mine eyes fail . . . for the word of thy righteousness.” The psalmist was continuing to look for a deliverance which God had promised to him. His hope was not wishful thinking, but founded upon the massive bedrock of divine truth and revelation.

Again, David related his own personal experience and thought to Holy Scripture, as he had done with nearly every verse in this psalm. Even though the wait for answered prayer seemed to go on and on ad infinitum, he continued to have confidence, and to express it to God in prayer, that the answer would eventually come, and the reliability of the God’s gracious gospel promise would be vindicated.

There is no reason whatsoever, from postponement of promised blessing, that the word of promise is not true. Habakkuk’s prophetic testimony is instructive:

I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith (Hab 2.1-4).

This illustrates the watching, waiting, and undaunted faith of the psalmist, along with all the Lord’s redeemed. Note the visual language: “I will stand upon my watch, and will watch, to see.” In those days God’s word was often revealed to his prophets in a visual way. Indeed, when the word of the Lord came to Habakkuk it was, “Write the vision.” That is why in former times prophets—those who proclaimed verbal revelations—were called “seers” (1 Sam 9.9).

“The vision” would have been reassuring to the people of genuine faith, with words of consolation concerning God’s benevolent purpose toward them, and his determination to overthrow their enemies. But these salvation-blessings were often prophesied for realization in the distant future, much later than when they were first announced. “The vision is yet for an appointed time.” In this sense, to the believer, that blessing seemed to “tarry,” to be delayed or tardy. “If it seems slow” (ESV).

So what is the counsel for the believer under trial? “Wait for it,” that is, wait for God to grant every blessing that answers every promise. “It hastens to the end—it will not lie . . . it will surely come; it will not delay” (ESV), that is, past the time God has appointed for it.

This confident expectation or hope for the full realization of all God’s promises is a distinguishing trait of true believers, those God regards as righteous in Christ. That is the main thought in this context of the well-known evangelical slogan, “The just shall live by faith.” Another way to state this truth is that the justified ones, real Christians, shall habitually live with abiding confidence in God’s promises, even though all the present circumstances seem to suggest that they are not true. David intimates the trusting state of his own heart by referring to Scripture as “the word of thy righteousness,” or, “thy righteous word.” When all is said and done, everyone will see that God’s Word reflects his righteousness, and that every single element of blessing he ever promised to those in Christ will be known. He “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph 3.20).

Hope is not only a grace-gift from God to his children, it is also our duty. Jesus spoke a parable to the end that men ought always to pray and not to faint (Luke 18.1), the parable of the unjust judge, pestered by a widow until he finally avenged her just to keep her from bothering him. Then our Lord Jesus stated the spiritual lesson of this parable explicitly: “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily” (Luke 18.7, emphasis mine). How can it be said that he bears long with them, and also that he will avenge them speedily? Because the time of final deliverance will be Christ’s second coming, and once this begins to occur, the full realization of God’s kingdom will unfold in a flash.

My beloved brother or sister in Christ, does this not encourage you? Whatever you are suffering now, and however long you have had to endure, it is no indication whatsoever that God does not love you tenderly, or that he is unmoved by your suffering. Nor should you doubt for a second that when his purposes are fulfilled, your prayers for relief will be answered in a much more wonderful way than you ever anticipated. God’s reputation depends on it. Christ arose, and in him, you shall too. Amen.

Notes:

1. Albert Barnes, in loc.
2. Charles Bridges, in loc.