But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength--
Strength for the returning exiles
There was a real climax in the prophet’s statement.
And its application, in his thought, was to the return of the exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem. God’s helpfulness would be adequate to their needs in all the stages of their return. In the first flush of joy, and in the first flights of eager anticipation, “on which we see them rising in the psalms of redemption as on the wings of an eagle”; again, in the rush and excitement of their hurried departure, the running to and fro in hasty and exhausting preparation; but finally, when they wanted it most, in the long tramp, tramp, tramp of those seven hundred weary miles, day after day, week after week, when their pace must be adapted to those of the heavily-laden beasts of burden, and of the little ones whose strength would often fail and who would need to be lifted up and carried in the father’s arms. How often on that tiresome journey would the sweet music of the prophet’s words return to their memory, “they shall walk and not faint.” Then it was that their trust in Jehovah would be put fully to the proof. It was in the walking and not in the flying that their faith would triumph. (J. Halsey.)
The Gospel of the Exile
I. This is THE GOSPEL OF THE EXILE; the “Gospel before the Gospel” (Cheyne); the good news of the swift accession of power and deliverance to the Jewish people, humiliated, dispirited, and tired out by monotonously waiting in their Babylonian captivity for a long-delayed good.
II. Like all Gospels, THIS GOSPEL OF THE EXILE IS GOD’S. Every true prophet’s great appeal is, “Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard” of God! The whole air rings with His name. The universe is lit up with His glory. The stars speak His power. In His ceaseless activity, fatherly solicitude, and unsleeping watchfulness for His people, He fainteth not, nor is weary. The Exile is not a mistake. You are not in the wrong school. He knows what He is doing. There is no searching of His understanding. Believe in Him, wait on Him, wait for Him, and you will become younger and stronger than ever. So God in His loving care for, and constant education of souls, is the Alpha and Omega of this whole Gospel for captive Israel. We cannot have any good news for any age, or for any people, or for any soul, without Him. All flesh is aa grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the revelation of the inexhaustible God liveth and abideth for ever. The strength of God is the salvation of men.
III. Like all Divine evangels, THIS GOOD NEWS FOR THE CAPTIVES OF BABYLON IS ADDRESSED IMMEDIATELY TO A SPECIAL NEED, AND ADAPTED BY ITS FORM TO EFFECT A PARTICULAR RESULT, namely, that of patient endurance of acute affliction. The Gospel is for men and women who have lost their strength in living, and are losing it more and more, day by day, till they fear its utter extinction by the presence of thickening despairs, and the ceaseless gnawing of spiritual fibre by silent misery and unutterable grief. Nothing tires like hopelessness. Nothing makes the heart sick like long delays. Unto them, therefore, is the word of this salvation sent. “Wait for God.” “Wait upon the Lord.” “Trust in Him at all times.” He will come. He cannot help coming, His nature urges Him towards you with all the tenderness of His love, and all the helpfulness of His omnipotence. Faith in God takes multitudinous forms in the long story of the soul’s life with God. It is a Divine law on which this direction rests. God must be waited for. We cannot anticipate Him. While the soil is frozen and hard we cannot compel the crop; we wait for the spring. The farmer of the Nile waits till the waters rise and then casts his bread upon them, hoping to see his harvest after many days. There is a time for growth, and we must take facts according to God’s plan. Even young men faint in the conflict because they will not wait for God. Defeated and overwhelmed with despair you say, “It avails nothing, I am no forwarder to-day than I was last week, I am as far from the kingdom of God as ever; my passions are as wild, my mind as untameable as it was when I started for a better and manlier life.” Recall Moses. Did he not in his impatience lift up the standard of freedom forty years too soon? But is not waiting for God cowardly indolence and fatalistic apathy? Cowardly indolence, indeed! Nothing will more test any fibre you’ve got!
IV. Like all Gospels from the heavens, THIS ONE FOR THE HEBREW EXILES OBTAINED ITS FULL AND COMPLETE VERIFICATION FROM THE UNCONTRADICTED FACTS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE. The captive people waited for God and on God, and they did not wait in vain. The ransomed of the Lord returned: but the return was the least good they received, and deliverance their smallest boon. Grace and strength came by the prophets and by prayer in unbroken continuity, and fresh gifts of power and light and zeal and joy enlarged and enriched their lives. They were born again. They renewed their youth, and became a regenerated, pure, missionary people; found Babylon a better school than Jerusalem, and the severities and perils of captivity a healthier discipline than the luxuries and security of freedom. The sevenfold blessing of the Exile stands written in the unimpeachable Chronicles of Israel, and the world.
1. First and most distinctive of the gains of the Jews from their captivity, stands their advanced and perfected knowledge of God. The Divine idea was lifted above all the restrictions of race and locality to the throne of the universe; the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob was recognised as the Saviour of the ends of the earth. We fret and chafe in our sufferings and under our chastisements, when to patience and meekness the God of all comfort comes with His sweetest and most refreshing revelations.
2. Next comes up out of the Exile the more definitely shaped and clearly conceived image of the Anointed of the Lord, the Daysman or Mediator, the Lord our Righteousness, the Herald of a New Covenant, the suffering and conquering Servant of God, who is to realise the ideal Jerusalem, and bring a new heaven and a new earth.
3. Fired by this hope of a personal Redeemer, and controlled by a spiritual conception of Jehovah, the worship of God entered on that final spiritual phase which has never been wholly eclipsed, though it has suffered, and still suffers, many painful obscurations.
(1) There is such a signal and hearty recognition of the power of prayer in the individual and in the community, as to warrant the idea that the Exile was the origin of the prayer-meeting.
(2) There is a total detachment from all ritual, and the cheerful acceptance of “little sanctuaries,” synagogues, or “meeting-houses,” and even of quiet spots by the river-side, in place of the gorgeous temple and its arresting and impressive symbolism.
(3) The spell of idolatry is broken for ever.
4. Bound up with this we see the generation of a higher ethic; the birth of a nobler conception of life, as the sphere for rightness of aim and righteousness of character. Through this gate of tribulation Israel enters into the kingdom of holiness.
5. The temporary limitations and restrictions of Israel being annulled, it is forthwith lifted into the stream of universal history, never to be taken out again. It is proved that Hebraism can exist without a temple and without a priest, without an altar and without a land, without anything or anybody save the soul and God.
6. With glowing ardour and intense enthusiasm these elect souls go forth on this service, seeking to establish a knowledge of the true God, urging the heathen to accept the light they enjoy, and sharing with them as proselytes the peace and prosperity, brought by truth and righteousness. The missionary spirit, as well as the missionary idea, glows and throbs in the oracles and songs which represent the highest thought and the purest emotion of this time.
7. This was completed by the enlargement and recension of that unique and marvellous missionary agent, the Old Testament literature, so splendidly enriched with some of its most pathetic and consolatory contributions, so carefully transcribed and sacredly guarded by the “Scribes,” who started into existence in these days; and so diligently pondered by those choice spirits who had learnt to sigh for God as their exceeding joy, and to serve Him as their chief delight. It was the Great Missionary Book. “Salvation is of the Jews.” Believe it, then; exhausted men get fresh strength by trustful longing for God; renew their spiritual energy, their faith in goodness, their power for selfsacrificing work, for fleet-footed missions of mercy, by waiting on God and for God. It is history, and actual experience.
V. This GOSPEL, LIKE ALL ITS FELLOWS, NEVER DIES. It endures for ever and ever as a living message, not effete though old, not wasted though abundantly used, but partaking of the unwearied energy and eternal reproductiveness of its infinite source. Man’s wants are too diverse to be met by any one messenger. God speaks at sundry times, and by different voices; but no voice ever dies out, no message is ever wholly lost, and if not for one soul, yet for another and another, it is quick and powerful, renewing faith, and hope, and zeal. (J. Clifford, D. D.)
Waiting upon God
I. A DUTY SUGGESTED.
1. We are reminded of the solemn and formal acts of devotion, as implied in the words--“wait upon the Lord.”
(1) This language is borrowed from the custom of subjects entering into the presence of their monarch with petitions, acknowledgments, or gratulations. They presented themselves and their offering.
(2) God invites and encourages the attendance of His subjects. Opportunities of waiting upon an earthly sovereign are rare: but God has rendered the way to the throne plain, and the access easy. “Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly.”
(3) But as in approaching an earthly sovereign there is required an attention to the prescribed usages and decorum of a court, so, in order to our acceptable waiting upon God, we must observe the defined forms, and cultivate the sacred proprieties of His worship; those which belong to “the place where His honour dwelleth.” Much of the benefit of worship is lost by many, simply from the absence of a due preparation of the heart, or from a thoughtless neglect of the decencies of God’s house. These are auxiliaries to religion, if not a part of it. Too many professors overlook the obligation to “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”
2. The words of the text are descriptive of the state and exercises of the mind; of the feelings and aspirations of the heart in Divine worship. They imply--
(1) The spiritual recognition of God. The object of all profitable worship is God, and the end is intercourse with Him. The phrase, “wait upon God,” represents a devotional heart. If vanity share the sacrifice, or irreverence desecrate it, God will turn away our prayers and His mercy from us: our service will be an abomination unto Him. Spiritual worship requires a strict and holy discipline over the mind, constant vigilance and heartfelt dependence upon Divine grace.
(2) Earnest desire for God; a keen sense of want.
(3) Confident expectation of the Divine mercy and grace; reliance upon the Divine word and faithfulness; assurance of the acceptance and answer of prayer through Christ.
(4) Patient and submissive perseverance.
(5) There is an intimate and important connection between the outward acts and the inward feelings in devotion.
II. WE ARE ASSURED OF THE BENEFIT RESULTING FROM THE DISCHARGE OF THIS DUTY. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength,” or change their strength; its measure shall be adapted to their different claims.
1. The Christian’s strength may fail amid the many trials and temptations of life, and its revival become necessary. The soul may lose its energy, its decision of purpose, its promptitude of action, its confidence in God, and become weak, irresolute, and fearful.
2. Our situation may demand additional strength. We may be summoned to a post of great responsibility, to the performance of arduous duty.
3. Where are we to obtain this power,--this reviving of strength?
4. With pleasure contemplate the animating result of this renewal of strength. In conclusion, our text suggests
(1) Instruction. We are taught where we must go in times of trouble.
(2) Consolation. Circumstances may change; man may change; but God never changes.
(3) Reproof. To the presumptuous--those who seek strength and comfort and satisfaction in the creature, who forsake the living God. (H. H. Chortle.)
Waiting upon the Lord
I. WHAT IT IS TO WAIT UPON THE LORD. Three things make it: service, expectation, patience. We must be as those Eastern maidens, who as they ply their needle or their distaff, look to the eye and wait upon the hand of their mistress, as their guide which is to teach them, or their model which they are to copy. Our best lessons are always found in a Father’s eye. “Therefore if you would wait upon the Lord, you must be always looking out for voices--those still small voices of the soul,--and you must expect them, and you must command them.” But service, however devoted, or expectation, however intense, will not be waiting without patience. Here is where so many fail.
II. THE ACTION. Elevation, rapid progress, a steady course--soar, run, walk. Is it not just what we want--to get higher, to go faster, and to be more calmly consistent?
1. Elevation. What are the wings? Beyond a doubt, faith, prayer; or, if you will, humility and confidence in a beautiful equipoise, balancing one another on either side, so that the soul sustains itself in mid-air and flies upward.
2. The servants of God in the Bible--from Abraham and David to Philip in the Acts--whenever they were told to do anything, always ran. It is the only way to do anything well. A thousand irksome duties become easy and pleasant if we do them with a ready mind, an affectionate zeal, and a happy alacrity.
3. To maintain a quiet sustained walk, day by day, in the common things of life, in the house and out of the house, not impulsive, not capricious, not changeable,--that is the hardest thing to do. Let me give four rules for this walk:
(1) Start from Christ.
(2) Walk with Christ.
(3) Walk leaning on Christ.
(4) Walk to Christ. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Communion with God
I. THE SECRET OF LIFE’S POWER.
II. THE SUPPORT OF LIFE’S JOURNEY. “They shall run,” etc.
III. THE BASIS OF LIFE’S EXALTATION. They shall “mount up,” etc. (J. T.Harwood.)
Waiting upon the Lord
I. THE DUTY HERE RECOMMENDED. “Waiting upon the Lord.” This expression may include many acts of the mind, but the connection of the words shows that here it principally refers to prayer. Waiting on the Lord implies--
1. A sense of our own weakness, and our need of Divine help.
2. A persuasion of the power and goodness of God; His readiness to stretch out His almighty hand to help us, amidst the difficulties, infirmities, and temptations to which we are exposed.
3. That Divine help is to be sought by prayer.
4. If we hope for His interposition, we are to be diligent in the use of those means which He hath appointed, and to which He hath promised His blessing.
II. THE ENCOURAGEMENT GIVEN. Such devout, humble souls shall “renew their strength.” They shall grow more steady and established in religion. They shall find a supply of Divine help proportioned to their trials. As their work and their difficulty are renewed, so shall the vigour of their souls be renewed. How far this strength shall operate, and what noble effects it shall produce, may be seen by the following words.
III. WAITING UPON GOD HATH IN ITSELF A NATURAL TENDENCY TO ESTABLISH AND STRENGTHEN THE SOUL. It promoteth that humility which is our greatest security, and restrains that pride which goeth before a fall. It will also lead us to exert our best endeavours, and put forth all our own strength, as we would not be chargeable with the guilt of affronting God by asking His help without them. The nature of the blessed God strengthens this encouragement. Therefore the prophet had suggested to Israel this thought, that “the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary.” His power is vast and unbounded, and nothing is too hard for Him. His understanding is infinite; there is no searching it. Therefore He can never be puzzled with any difficulties, but must know how in every possible case to deliver the godly out of their temptations. Consider also His promises and His covenant. (Job Orton.)
The encouragement of true worshippers
Nothing can give a better conception of the strength and the weakness of human nature, than by comparing what man has done in subduing the material powers by which God has surrounded him, and in providing for his own temporal comfort, and his utter helplessness in those things which relate to the life of the soul. When he has to contend with the powers of nature, he is strong and victorious; but when he has to contend with the powers of spiritual wickedness, and with his own ungodly desires, he is helpless. The lord of nature, he is the slave of sin. The helplessness of man in spiritual things is a disease for which no remedy has been discovered, and for which no remedy ever will be discovered but that which the Word of God points out.
I. WHAT IS MEANT BY WAITING UPON THE LORD? Waiting upon God is a duty very frequently enforced in Scripture, and to which the highest blessings are annexed. “Because of His strength,” says the Psalmist, “I will wait upon Him, for God is my defence.” “Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart.” “Our soul waiteth for the Lord; He is our help and shield.” “Wait on the Lord,” says Solomon, “and He shall save thee.” “Keep mercy and judgment,” says the prophet Hosea, “and wait on thy God continually.” It is an expression peculiar to the Old Testament; but in the New Testament the same duty is repeatedly inculcated, though in different language. The precept is the same in substance with the exhortation of St. Paul, “Be ye followers of God, as dear children”; or with that of St. James, “Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.” The expression denotes a feeling of need, and a sense of dependence upon the Almighty, without whom nothing is strong or holy. For one to wait upon another implies inferiority, and a desire of protection and assistance. In many circumstances we require the protection and assistance of our fellow-creatures, but in all circumstances we require the protection and assistance of our Creator. He is ever ready to extend to us that protection and help without which we are powerless and defenceless. But He requires, as the condition of our receiving His grace, that we sincerely feel and humbly acknowledge our need of it; and that, ceasing from our own wisdom, and confessing from the heart our own weakness, we throw ourselves unreservedly upon His wisdom and strength. This sense of entire dependence upon the grace of God will naturally express itself in prayer, and in a devout and regular use of the appointed means of grace. Not only in the immediate exercises of religion, but at all times the Christian will be animated by a spirit of devotion. He will keep himself constantly near to God. But waiting upon God not only implies worship, it also implies obedience. In short, to wait upon God is to be a religious man.
II. THE NATURE OF THIS GREAT BLESSING WHICH GOD HAS ASSURED TO ALL THAT WAIT UPON HIM. In the weary pilgrimage which they have to finish, in the sore warfare in which they are engaged, He will strengthen and uphold them. Not merely is help found for the weakness of believers, but a provision is also made for relieving and substituting for it a buoyancy and joyful exaltation of spirit, so that he is enabled to hold on his way with gladness as well as with constancy. The pious man is compared in Scripture to the sun--“his soul is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” The Gospel is a message of joy. (W. Ramsay.)
Soul-growth
What are some of the methods by which men, in the Divine economy, advance in spiritual impulse, and rise permanently higher?
1. We must not be biassed by any theory of Church or ordinances, nor by any preaching, to suppose that we are shut up to the dealings of God with us through these channels. The Church is a very powerful instrument, and will be indispensable through ages. Does not the village common school work upon the human soul? Do not books? Do not newspapers? Do not men in all the ten thousand struggles of business? Do not all the influences which go to make up the ever-teeming society? Is there anything which God does not use in operating upon the reason, the affections, and the moral sentiments of men?
2. It pleases God to make the spiritual development of men depend on time-growth. We know how it is with children. We know that they develop first by the body. Then come the social affections, with the elementary forms of the intellect. Nor can you force things in a normal and healthy child. You must take it in the hour of God’s appointment. Third in the order of time, and last, is the spiritual nature. We rejoice in the earliest flower because it is the earliest, and we rejoice in the latest flower because it is the latest; but do what you will, you cannot make the aster blossom in spring. You must wait until the time for it to blossom arrives. Now, among men the same thing happens. There are those who have a premature development of spiritual impulses.. But because the higher nature of some people is unfolded early, are we to make them the criterion for other people? It is better not to seek to produce ecstatic experiences in anticipation of the normal methods.
3. Then there are many persons who renew their strength, who develop into a higher spiritual life, into more fevour, more joy, and more stability by reason of the removal of false or imperfect views of truth.
4. There are many persons who fail to come to the light of truth, and to the inspiration of the higher views of religion, by reason of worldly prosperity, which tends to satisfy their lower nature. Under such circumstances it is that, in the Divine ordering of things, what are called distresses, infirmities, and even great sorrows, are blessed of God to the opening of their nature and to the renewing of their spiritual strength. Men never could see the corona of the sun--the red flame that surrounds that orb--until the sun was eclipsed; and the corona, the light, the glory of God is seen when men are under eclipse and in darkness. There are revelations made to men then, which prosperity never brings to them. We are rich and strong, not by the things which we possess, but by the amount of true manhood which is developed in us.
5. It pleases God, also, to employ the companionship of friends and neighbours in developing men in the direction of their higher manhood. There is nothing that is so helpful to a soul as the contact of another soul.
6. When, by the use of these various instrumentalities our souls have grown, and have come into the possibility of a higher spiritual disclosure, then there is a further soul-growth in us. We come to a state in which there is a direct influence of the soul of God exerted upon us--as direct as sight and voice are to the bodily senses. The Divine Spirit comes into the hearts of men in ways that are inexplicable to the lower understanding, and that, therefore, men who are on the lower plane of life do not comprehend. When men come to a higher Christian life they have days of spiritual insight; and those days grow longer and longer, like the days of the coming summer, when the sun goes down later and later, and rises earlier and earlier. As the result of a whole life of education and practice in Divine duties men may come, at last, into that state in which the Spirit of God shines with a steadfast lustre upon them. Then there is the triumph of grace in the soul. Then intuitions become truths--not fitful, nor irregular, not based upon inchoate and undigested knowledge, but constant, regular, and founded on sound judgment. (H. Ward Beecher.)
The strength of believers, and the renewing of it
I. GOOD MEN ARE POSSESSED OF SPIRITUAL STRENGTH.
1. It is that spiritual vigour of mind by which sin is overcome.
2. And by which the world is overcome.
3. By this strength, spiritual duties are acceptably performed.
4. This strength is that qualification of mind by which the followers of Christ are enabled to endure trials and bear the cross.
5. “A deathbed is a detector of the heart.” But death does not “make cowards of us all.” He who said this, knew but little of the courage which the grace of God communicates to the minds of the most timid of the disciples of Jesus.
II. THIS STRENGTH REQUIRES TO BE RENEWED.
1. It is possible for the best of men to lose much of the influence of religion from the heart, and for a time to be very unconscious of it.
2. The corroding cares of the world should excite them to obtain the renewal of their strength.
3. Their strength requires to be renewed, because it is not innate, but communicated.
4. And because the servants of God have gone awfully wrong when it has not been renewed.
5. Good men have done wonders when their strength has been renewed.
III. THE RENEWAL OF STRENGTH IS TO BE OBTAINED BY WAITING UPON THE LORD.
1. Prayer is the waiting posture of the soul.
2. Waiting upon the Lord includes expectation. “My eyes are unto Thee; my expectation is from Thee.”
3. Watchfulness is implied in waiting upon the Lord.
IV. THE BLESSEDNESS OF WAITING UPON THE LORD. “They shall mount up with wings as eagles,” etc. This is expressive of--
1. Steady attachment to the ways of God. “Walk without fainting.”
2. Rapid progress. “Run without weariness.”
3. Elevated devotion. “Mount up with wings as eagles.” “They shall put forth fresh feathers as the moulting eagle.” No doubt the allusion is to the velocity with which the eagle soars towards the sun, after the renewal of his feathers. (W. Jones.)
The waiting Christian strengthened
I. THE DUTY ENJOINED. To wait upon God. This implies the recognition of God as the supreme Arbiter and Disposer of all human events. It is the posture of expectancy for every blessing of which we stand in need, temporal and spiritual.
II. THE MANNER IN WHICH WE ARE TO WAIT UPON GOD.
1. The way of public ordinances.
2. The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
3. The exercise of domestic worship and private prayer.
4. Seeking to become wise unto salvation out of His written Word, and in meditation on its soul-inspiring contents.
III. THE TEMPER AND FRAME OF MIND INVOLVED IN THE EXPRESSION, WAITING UPON GOD.
1. It implies the existence of an invincible faith, which nothing can destroy, although for a moment it may be disturbed.
2. This calls into action another principle closely connected with faith, and emanating from it,--the principle of patience and Christian resignation to the will of God.
3. Obedience.
IV. THE ENCOURAGEMENT HERE BESTOWED ON THE FULFILMENT OF THE DUTY REQUIRED,--renewed strength shall be imparted. This implies a declension of strength, fainting, and fatigue; to all of which the Christian pilgrim is more or less exposed.
1. In consequence of the exhausted spirits of the weary traveller never being renewed, some who did run well are hindered, and halt in their career; while others adopt altogether a retrograde movement, return to the path of their former delights, apostatise from the faith, and become worse than infidels.
2. But here we have a direct promise from a covenant-keeping God, that our strength shall be renewed adequate to all the demands which a perilous enterprise can render necessary.
3. We must speak in the language of reproof to all those who are strangers to this operation in the soul; who never do humbly wait upon God, but when chastised and rebuked of the Lord are disposed to resist His authority, to impugn His character as merciful and gracious; who give utterance to all the outbreaks of a rebellious, unsanctified heart. They are both to be censured and pitied.
4. But we speak encouragement to those who have already assumed the waiting position, and are thus tarrying the Lord’s leisure. Endeavour in every possible way to cultivate this holy, humble, dependent spirit. (H. S.Plumptre, M. A.)
Exhaustion and renewal, in nature and in grace
As it is the same God who works in nature and in grace, so a most interesting analogy may be traced between His operations in both. When the earth is parched with the heat of summer, and its productions begin to languish from excessive drought, it is watered and refreshed by the showers of heaven, and its various plants and fruits not only resume their former health and vigour, but spring up and flourish with greater luxuriance than before. The flower, too, that had drooped and withered at the close of day, is revived by the cool and the dews of night, and in the morning puts forth its buds, and expands its leaves anew, delighting the eye with the beauty of its colours, or perfuming the air with the sweets of its fragrance. For every degree of exhaustion in nature, indeed, the wisest and most adequate provision is made by its all-pervading and beneficent Author. When, in like manner, the spiritual strength of the Christian is impaired, and he is ready to sink under.the pressure of temptation or distress; when his consolations appear to be nearly exhausted; or when, through the prevalence of remaining unbelief and corruption, he becomes languid in duty, or faint under affliction--his decays of strength are recruited from above; new fountains are opened for his comfort; he rises as from the ground, on which he was sitting in feebleness and sorrow, and no longer with faltering, but with firm and steady steps, pursues the course of active duty, or of patient suffering, in which he is appointed to move. The stores of Divine grace provided for him are inexhaustible, and the communications of this grace imparted to him are most suitably proportioned to his need of them (Php_4:19). (D. Dickson, D. D.)
Waiting on God
I. THE CHARACTER OF THOSE CONCERNING WHOM THE DECLARATION OR PROMISE IN THE TEXT IS MADE, considered as “waiting on the Lord.”
1. They earnestly desire the enjoyment of His favour.
2. They diligently attend to, and take peculiar delight in, all His service and will.
II. THE IMPORT OF THE DECLARATION, that they who thus wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; or, as the words might be translated, shall be renewed in strength.
1. That the principles of the spiritual life within them shall be gradually strengthened and increased.
2. That increased communications of Divine grace shall be made to them.
III. THE INTERESTING EFFECTS OF ITS BRING SO RENOVATED OR INCREASED. “They shall mount up with wings as eagles,” etc. This may intimate--
1. That their devotions shall become more elevated and intense.
2. By that renovation and increase of spiritual strength which is the effect of waiting on the Lord, His people acquire greater alacrity and perseverance in doing His will. They shall run, or march on, and not be weary. Here the metaphor is varied, and changed into one that is more common in the sacred writings, as expressive of Christian duty, which is frequently compared to running or marching. “I will run in the way of Thy commandments, when Thou shalt enlarge my heart.”
3. Fortitude and patience under affliction is also the effect of that renewing and increase of spiritual strength, which is received from waiting on the Lord. They shall walk, and not faint.” Even when incapable of being active in the service of God, grace is promised for enabling them to move forward without fainting in the path of submission and suffering. (D. Dickson, D. D.)
Strength by patience
“New strength” is often our deepest need. The machinery of the steamship, the locomotive, or the factory may be perfect in itself, its parts exquisitely adjusted, and all ready for action; yet it is inoperative until the steam is generated and applied. So, what a human being often needs is just--motive power. Not new faculties of body or of mind; not new opportunities for action, or new fields of enterprise; not so much new knowledge either; not even new desires and affections; but “new strength”--fresh inspiration. It is painful to be in that condition in which we feel that we can, and yet cannot; that we have faculty, yet lack inspiration; that we have wings of heavenward desire, with but little power to use them. The prophet here points us to the source of all true inspiration: “He giveth power to the faint.” He points us also to the condition on which this Divine energy is to be recovered: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.”
1. What, then, is meant by this “waiting upon the Lord”? We use the word “wait” with reference to service: a servant “waits” upon his master or his master’s guests. We use it, too, with reference to the holding of an interview with a superior: a deputation “waits” upon the Prime Minister; the Prime Minister “waits” upon His Majesty. We use the word also with reference to a state of expectation, more or less prolonged: as when we say that we are “waiting” for some friend. It is in this last sense--the sense of continuous expectancy--that the word is used in the Bible. To “wait” is more than to pray. It is to keep looking for the answer to our prayers. It is the opposite, therefore, both of despair and of impatience. Hence the Psalmist says, “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.” And again, “I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope,” etc. So here the prophet does not mean to say that if we would “renew our strength,” we have simply to seek an interview with God and lay our request before Him; but that if we keep looking to God with a believing and patient expectation, new vigour will come to us, our very patience will be a source of strength, and the God in whom we hope will not disappoint us.
2. “Waiting is often the only means of receiving fresh energy.” Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the evening. But when the evening comes, he is exhausted. All the organs are there, but they want new strength. The man lies down on his bed, and “waits.” Sleep comes upon him; and through its influence the waiting body recovers all its vigour, so that the man rises again in the morning ready for his toil. Often, too, the very best prescription which a physician can give is, “Rest and cheerful society.” A godly patience, then, is the grand secret of spiritual might. For such patience not only carries within itself the germs of strength, but also places the soul in that condition in which it is most susceptible of quickening influences and can most readily take advantage of fresh opportunities. Power is hidden in patience, as the subtle force of the lightning slumbers in the brooding cloud. Despair paralyses. Impatience, too, weakens. Magnetise a needle, and it becomes much more sensitive to the force of the magnet. And so a human heart which is constantly looking to God will be much more susceptible of all influences that come from God. The soil is ready for the vitalising shower. The sails are unfurled to catch the heavenly breeze. The ear is listening for the whispers of the Divine voice. Whereas the man who has worn himself out by impatience, or yielded himself up to despair, is too inert or too distracted to take adequate advantage of the fresh opportunities which may come at last. On the other hand, the blended eagerness and calm of the soul that is “waiting upon the Lord” make it the more receptive of all Divine influences, and keep it at least strong enough to take advantage of fresh sources of strength.
(1) The calm of a believing soul may be heightened into a kind of ecstasy. Patience has sometimes a dull, torpid, chrysalis aspect; but, when the time is ripe, patience passes into a winged rapture which rises gladly into the sunshine of heaven. In all godly “waiting” there lies the capability of Godward soaring. A patient spirit has the wings of faith and hope. “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life,” etc. There is the eagle again--keen-eyed and strong as before, but soaring now into the blue, bearing itself up on exultant wing, and gazing into the heavenly radiance! Exuberance of holy feeling is not a thing to be manufactured. These loftier moods have sometimes come even when you least expected them! Although we cannot always account for these moods of the soul, we might all experience them more frequently if our habitual attitude were more of a “waiting upon God.” We cannot, indeed, manufacture inspiration; but what if the “breath of God” comes upon us and finds our souls too dull or too distracted to respond to its subtle influences? At the best, however, these lofty flights can only be occasional.
(2) There are races to be run down here upon the earth, special duties to be performed, for which a man must gird himself by special effort. Fatigue will oppress us long before the goal is reached,--our running in the path of duty will be a thing of fits and starts,--if we do not keep expecting that God will bless our endeavours. New strength will come to us for all holy enterprise in proportion as we trust in God for results. Be sure that, in “waiting on” Him to do what we cannot, we receive all the more energy to do what we can.
(3) There is also “walking” to be done here on earth, the ordinary routine of life to be trudged through every day. And perhaps it is in this region that a godly patience is needed most for the constant renewal of our spiritual strength. There is little or no effort in holy ecstasy, and its very joy is an inspiration. Any special duty, also, tends, by its very specialty, to brace us for the doing of it; there is, moreover, the goal in view, and the prize to be won. But the ordinary homely duty of the work-day world--the monotonous path which must be daily trod, this indeed requires the most abiding patience. Men who live far from God are apt to grow sick and weary of the humdrum monotony of their daily life, especially if they have to bear some continuous burden from which they see little hope of escape. Even the drudgery of life can be transfigured in the light of the Father’s love. And those who believe that their ordinary life has a Divine significance--that it is as the rough scaffolding within which a very temple may be built--and who are striving to live daily as under the eye of the heavenly Friend, have within their souls a peace which keeps them from “fainting.” (T. C. Finlayson.)
The renewed of strength
I. THE MEANS OF RENEWING OUR STRENGTH, as expressed in the phrase, “they that wait on the Lord.”
1. There must be approach to God.
2. Expectation.
3. A patient continuance in an expecting attitude, until we actually receive the fulfilment of the Divine promise. This phrase is descriptive, not merely of an occasional exercise, but of what is, or ought at least to be, the constant temper and frame of the believer’s mind.
II. To those who live in this spirit is given AN EXCEEDING GREAT AND PRECIOUS PROMISE. They “shall renew their strength.” Our spiritual strength seems to include chiefly three things--
1. Clear and comprehensive views of the truth of God. We often say that “knowledge is power”: certainly, ignorance of.the truth of God is weakness.
2. A correspondence between our will and affections and the truth existing in our minds.
3. Divine consolation. “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”
III. THE HAPPY RESULT OF THIS RENEWAL OF STRENGTH. (J. Entwisle.)
The blessedness of Divine service
There are three blessings suggested as consequent upon this waiting--
I. RENEWED VIGOUR. “They shall renew their strength.” This is not arbitrary, but necessary.
1. The intellect is strengthened by holy exercises upon Divine themes.
2. The affections are strengthened by holy exercises on right objects.
3. The will is strengthened by holy exercises in godly purposes. The whole soul gets strength by such exercise.
II. SOUL ELEVATION. “Mount up with wings as eagles.”
1. Holy gratitude is a wing that will bear the soul aloft to its
Benefactor.
2. Holy love is a wing that will bear the soul upward to its object.
3. Holy hope is a wing that will bear the soul above to its anticipated possessions.
III. INTERESTING PROGRESS. “Run, and be weary,” etc.
1. Godliness is progress. It is not a stationary state. It is a running and a walking. Forgetting the things that are behind, etc.
2. Godliness is progress without fatigue. There is no weariness in love. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The highest strength derived from the highest service
I. THE HIGHEST STRENGTH IS DERIVED FROM THE HIGHEST SERVICE.
1. The highest strength is not physical nor intellectual, but moral. Strength to resist the wrong, to pursue the right, to honour God and bless humanity.
2. What is the highest service? Waiting upon the Lord. To wait upon Him implies a practical recognition of His existence, personal superintendence, and absolute authority. This service must be--
(1) Spiritual.
(2) Supreme.
II. THE HIGHEST STRENGTH IS DEVELOPED IN THE HIGHEST ACTIVITY. What is this activity?
1. Soul devotion.
2. Soul progress. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Waiting on God
The Lord’s people must wait--
1. In simplicity of intention. On Him only (Psa_62:5).
2. In faith. They “wait for the Lord, and in His word do they hope” Psa_130:5). Even when He hides His face (Isa_8:17). Their faith at one time is supported only by the promises,,-at other times by their own experience (Psa_27:14; Lam_3:25-26; Isa_30:18; Isa_49:23).
3. They wait with patient perseverance. It is not only an act, but a gracious habit of mind (Psa_25:5).
4. They wait with humility and self-denial. They wait on God, asking counsel, seeking strength, and imploring pardon and peace. This posture of mind becomes the ignorance and guilt and unworthiness of the creature; the perfection, the wisdom and love of such a Being.
5. They wait with submission and resignation. They wait His time, acquiesce in His methods. (J. Cooke.)
Waiting upon the Lord
These consolations are suited to men in all ages, and in all countries. We are precisely in the same position in which the Jews were found--we are equally apt to faint when under God’s rod; and He seeks to inspire us with hope and confidence.
I. Let us notice: THIS WAITING UPON THE LORD. And the first thing that strikes us is the language used by the prophet--language so far removed from mere formal expression. There is no mention here of the use of many words, or of certain external marks of devotion; it is simply, “Waiting upon the Lord!” Evidently the prophet uses it as representing an act of devotion, looking to God for help in the time of need. True waiting upon the Lord seems to have three features, which we suppose to be contained in the words here used.
1. Desire.
2. A collected frame of mind.
3. Trust in the Lord.
II. “They that wait upon the Lord SHALL RENEW THEIR STRENGTH.” We are altogether dependent upon God for our natural, as well as for our spiritual strength. God seems to observe in spiritual things a similar order to that which exists in natural things. Our natural strength requires constant renovation by the food that is convenient for us. So it is in the spiritual life: we can make no provision of grace for the future; we are called to depend upon God day by day. There are various reasons why we should constantly apply to God for a renewal of our spiritual strength. There are conflicts to be endured with our spiritual foes, within our own hearts; we live in a world that is lying in wickedness; we have to do with matters concerning the present life that are often very trying and perplexing in their nature, and often is our courage likely to fail. In an indirect manner, then, this encouraging passage of Scripture reminds us of the cause of our spiritual declensions. It is because we do not constantly wait upon the Lord. (J. Hocart.)
Waiting upon the Lord
1. THE GENERAL PROPOSITION. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.”
II. THE DEMONSTRATION OR CONFIRMATION OF THIS. “They shall mount up,” etc. (T. Horton, D. D.)
Waiting in patience
Profane and desperate persons fly off in a discontent and impatience, like Jehoram (2Ki_6:33). The more willing we are to wait upon God the better it is for us; for He pays for time and gives us the more because we have waited. (T. Horton, D. D.)
Strength for strength
“Change their strength” (marg.). This seems to be the proper sense and meaning. There is a double kind of change to be observed.
1. In quality. They shall have a new kind of strength bestowed upon them, over what they had before conversion, as Caleb had another spirit, and Saul another heart. For even before conversion there is a kind of strength which does appear, and that also in reference to religion, and the duties of it, but it is not such a strength as any are to rest themselves contented with. There is the strength of temper, and natural constitution, and a man may be able both to do and suffer very much by it. This is that which does for the most part extend itself to the outside and form of religion. The strength of wit, and reason, and understanding, and memory, and the like, while their heart and will and affections have no saving work at all upon them. There is the strength of custom, and religious education. There is the strength of civility and moral principles. This was the strength which was in Paul before his conversion. They that wait upon the Lord shall “change,” that is, they shall have another strength bestowed upon them, and such as will be more useful to them. Instead of this natural, and moral, and customary strength, they shall have a supernatural and spiritual given unto them. This is different, and surpassing the other.
(1) In regard of its Original, as coming from the Holy Ghost (Eph_3:16).
(2) In the subject, for the former strength is only in the outward, this in the inward man.
(3) In the effects, for this supernatural strength is able to do greater matters than the other can do, helping a man to deny himself, to overcome the world, to mortify lusts and corruptions, etc.
2. In quantity and degree. Good Christians shall through God’s grace grow stronger and stronger.
(1) There are some cases and conditions, especially wherein a Christian has most need of having his strength renewed unto him; as, against a new service; against some new temptation and conflict with Satan; against some new trial and affliction.
(2) For the means, we may take them thus: In the renewing of their repentance; in the renewing of their covenant; in the renewing of their obedience; in the renewing of their faith. (T. Horton, D. D.)
The strength of a Christian
The strength of a Christian is amplified by a resemblance to a threefold motion.
1. Flying.
(1) The eagle is an emblem of strength renewed (Psa_103:5).
(2) The eagle soars aloft.
(3) Here is the swiftness and agility of the motion. A good Christian performs good duties with some life and fervour in them.
2. Running.
(1) The motion itself. This is a pace which is very requisite for the Christian.
(a) Because he has a great way to go, much ground to be despatched; therefore there is need of speed for the passing over it.
(b) But a little time, and much time lost already.
(c) The vehemency of desire to the thing itself which we run for. It is a 1Co_9:25).
(2) The continuance of this motion. There are many who run, but run themselves out of breath (Gal_5:7). There are some kinds of people in the world who all on a sudden will amend their lives. But let them meet with some strong temptation and they are presently weary of those purposes and endeavours. What is the reason of all this? Because they wanted this principle of spiritual strength.
3. Walking. Walking is less than running, and fainting is more than weariness. If then those who run are not weary, the same when they walk shall not faint. There are divers things which we are liable to faint at, which yet the Scripture takes us off from fainting at.
(1) The delay of answering our prayers (Luk_18:1).
(2) Our manifold afflictions (Heb_12:5).
(3) The afflictions of others, and the scandal of the Cross (Eph_3:13).
(4) The many businesses in religion--so much work to be performed. How shall we avoid it? Get a renewing of this spiritual strength day by day. (T. Horton, D. D.)
Renewing strength
This it nearly concerns us to do upon these considerations.
1. In point of honour, and that especially with God Himself. Spiritual weakness is a disparagement, especially as a relapse, and after some former degrees of strength. The excellency of dignity and the excellency of strength go both together, and he that falls from the one does, with Reuben, fall also from the other. Becoming weak as water, he shall not Gen_49:4).
2. In point of ease. A weak Christian is a burden to himself as meeting with many difficulties which he cannot grapple with, but which prove too hard to him. There are many temptations to resist, and many afflictions to endure, and many duties to perform.
3. In point of comfort. A weak Christian will be an uncomfortable Christian. (T. Horton, D. D.)
Waiting upon the Lord
I. “THEY THAT WAIT UPON THE LORD SHALL RENEW THEIR STRENGTH.”
1. This sounds as if they were in danger of becoming weary and faint in their minds. Is this really so? What do you say, Christian tradesman--you upon whom God hath laid the responsibilities of home and family--you Christian citizen-you whom the arrows of affliction have wounded--you proclaimer of the Lord’s message?
2. The least that.it can mean is they shall stand their ground.
3. But the margin speaks of this renewal as a change of strength, as if it would remind us of the mansidedness of the grace of God, and its perfect adaptability to our everchanging needs.
II. “THEY SHALL MOUNT UP WITH WINGS AS EAGLES.” This seems to say that the life of communion with God is not a long series of vapid and unemotional hours, a dead level of mechanical and spiritless employments, but a life that has rare and glorious experiences, holy aspirations, ennobling thoughts, ecstatic emotions, spirit-stirring hopes.
1. Purer air.
2. Clearer vision.
3. Untroubled quiet.
4. Rare landscape.
5. Unclouded sunshine.
III. “THEY SHALL RUN AND NOT BE WEARY.” Capacity for the most strenuous exertion.
IV. “THEY SHALL WALK AND NOT FAINT.” Is this the same as saying that we shall have the power of steady perseverance, of patient endurance under protracted trial? Did the prophet put this last in his brief summary because patience is one of those Christian graces that has its perfect work the latest? (J. H. Anderson.)
The strong in danger of exhaustion
It is a great mistake to suppose that only the puny are liable to downfalls. The truth lies the other way! The more alert and bold a youth will be, the more certainly he will at some time overtask his strength. The boy who never knew what it was to be fagged out at school is not worth much. The young man who never overdid himself and felt utterly exhausted through some strenuous exertion in a great contest will never do much in the world--he is not worth much-Not the tame, slow idlers, but the forceful men, the men who rejoice in their strength and to use their strength, the men who would rather drop than give in while another yard can be run, or another step be made, or another blow be struck for victory--these are the men who will assuredly be carried on in the great enterprise until they are weary, and when weary will be carried on by their indomitable spirit, while others are seeking rest, until at last they reel and stagger and collapse. Hence it is for these that the prophet chiefly writes. For the old, for the young, for the sick and infirm, and even for such as may be tottering into the grave, he writes for them, and all he says is true and needful for their case. But more than all, in view of the great work to which he is calling his countrymen, he writes for those who feel called upon to do something in the world, for those who are conscious of high powers, and are in the purest sense of the word ambitious. (T. V. Tymms.)
Waiting upon God
I. WHAT IS THIS WAITING?
1. It means prayer--much more than an occasional supplication, however real; it means persistent, persevering, continual prayer; it means an abiding attitude of trustful dependence upon God; it means all that is wrapped up in those beautiful words, “Oh, rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him”; it means trust in the Lord and do good; it means trust in the Lord at all times, for with Him is everlasting strength, and have no confidence in self.
2. But the prophet has a deeper thought than this. There are many things for which we can only ask and then wait in quiet stillness, things which we cannot help God to give us, things which God Himself bestows without our aid, if we are ever to possess them. Renewal often comes to men in their extremity like this.
3. But while we cannot pass over such times and such experiences, it would be unhealthy to be dwelling upon them as if they were the whole of life. They are not. We are not always faint. Usually we have, at any rate, just a little strength, and then waiting upon Him means not only prayer and uplooking, but doing His commandments like the angels, who because they do them excel in strength.
II. WHAT IS THE ISSUE OF SUCH WAITING UPON GOD? The prophet’s imagery is startling, and some critics would presume to call his figures somewhat mixed; but the thought conveyed is clear. The older Jewish commentators imagined they discovered here a reference to an ancient belief that at a certain time the eagle plunged into the sea and bathed off his worn-out plumage, and that afterwards new feathers grew. The Septuagint translators of the Old Testament were so sure of this bit of false science that in order to square their Hebrew Scriptures with the fashion of thought in Alexandria, they ventured to alter the words of our text, and to read, “They shall put forth new feathers like eagles,” and so the old Greek version reads to-day. But we have good reason to believe that the prophet drew his imagery from familiar objects in the land of exile. There could be little doubt but that from childhood he had often looked upon some of those carved tablets on which men with wings of eagles fastened to their shoulders were common, that he had often looked on those colossal images of winged bulls and lions and men such as may be seen in our British Museum to-day. Now those composite figures had subtle meanings. They could not suggest to the prophet his religious thought, but his inspired genius laid them under tribute to assist the utterance of a thought of higher inspiration. At any rate he found in the matchless wing-power of the eagle a sublime image of an inspiring and God-seeking man. The figure of one flying through the heavens, coupled strangely with the promise of running without being wearied, represents the godly man as ever having courage to entertain great hopes. Never failing to seek and obtain fellowship with God in the highest, always daring to attempt great actions, this heavenly minded man has thoughts and yearnings which raise his mode of life above the level of common things. This man, however, has this double life. There is the soaring Godward, and there is the common drudgery of daily walk and conversation, the practical common life. (T. V. Tymms.)
Renewal of strength
As we look back on history we can see positive evidence that the promise of this text was historically fulfilled, and in the eases of the men to whom the message came first. The national life was restored, and that restoration of national life in the Jews is unique in the history of mankind; you cannot point to anything like it since man walked this earth, but it took place. It seemed impossible that these few exiles could escape from those nations, and go back to their own land and restore their institutions, but they did. And who did it? The men who were making themselves rich in those days in Eastern cities stayed there. The men who led the remnant back were God-fearing men like Ezra and Zerubbabel, men who waited on God. The wall of Jerusalem, of the second temple, would never have been built but for men like Nehemiah and Haggai, men who had their times of fear and depression and weakness, hut who went to God and came back not only strengthened themselves, but able to strengthen their brethren, so that the great work was done. So to-day in every Christian Church, in every Christian enterprise, in every modern fight for righteousness and truth, there are some men who never know when they are defeated; there are some men who, because of this, are invulnerable men; and the men who, when cast down always say there is lifting up, the men who can live and die for Divine ideas, the men who to-day are converting savage races into Christian peoples and working out in painful and prosaic details, and with much danger to their lives in some cases, the glowing dreams of ancient seers respecting the transformation of mankind, these are they who wait in secret on their God. (T. V. Tymms.)
Exhaustion and recovery
1. If anything were needed to teach men the necessity for connecting their own spirits with the Divine, it is the quick exhaustion of individual resources. Even “as the stream of brooks they pass away.” Faith and hope and love itself, so dewy fresh in the morning, spend themselves in noonday’s scorching heat, and run low at eventide. Sometimes, indeed, long before the shadows are stretched out, in manhood’s very prime the wasting is manifest. I can strive no more, says the tired heart. Who does not know the temptations of reaction, and the days when the lights burn low?
2. In such moods we need to look away from the crowds, and from the glaring lights of the city, to the calm glories of the moon, and the stars above our heads. All these evils, so full of fierce and destructive energies, will soon be as the dust beneath our feet. Truth and holiness and right abide for ever. To “look off” unto the eternal, to get behind the veil into the realm of true being is the need of the fevered and exhausted soul. Hidden in that secret pavilion we see things as they really are. Wrong may prosper for a time. Greed, unrighteousness, sensuality, may appear to be more stable than granite. But they are only painted cloud. We see the years move on, and the everlasting truth subdue all to itself. Maybe in revolutions and bloodshed, for the wheels of God grind inexorably and small. But at the last, evil is found to be in its nature only decay. “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Such a vision restores the heart of faith. To think that we are labouring in vain is the thought that paralyses. But whatever is done for right is done for God and endures eternally.
3. But there are other thoughts that come to us in the quietude of the Divine fellowship. We are shown the infinite powers that He concealed in the heart of a solitary man of faith. Faith is like a spark. Though it seems tiny, it is real fire, and it can set the world ablaze. Faith can work miracles. Our Lord trusted to faith to subdue humanity. It has already conquered half the world,
