Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Calvin Complete Commentary - Psalms 27:14 - 27:14
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
14.Wait thou on Jehovah. It may be doubted whether David, having in the preceding verses spoken of himself, here addresses his discourse to others, and exhorts them by his own example to fortitude and persevering patience, as he does in the conclusion of Psa_31:19, where, after speaking concerning himself particularly, he makes a transition, and addresses himself to all the godly. But as he speaks here in the singular number, and uses no mark to show that he directs his discourse to others, it is in my opinion probable that he applies it to himself, the more to encourage his confidence in God, lest at any time his heart should faint. (592) As he was conscious of his weakness, and knew that his faith was the great means of preserving him safe, he seasonably strengthens himself for the future. Under the word waiting, too, he puts himself in mind of new trials, and sets before his eyes the cross which he must bear. We are then said to wait on God, when, withdrawing his grace from us, he suffers us to languish under afflictions. David, therefore, having got through one conflict, prepares himself to encounter new ones. But as nothing is more difficult than to give God the honor of relying upon him, when he hides himself from us, or delays his assistance, David stirs himself up to collect strength; as if he had said, If fearfulness steal upon thee; if temptation shake thy faith; if the feelings of the flesh rise in tumult, do not faint; but rather endeavor to rise above them by an invincible resolution of mind. From this we may learn, that the children of God overcome, not by sullenness, but by patience, when they commit their souls quietly to God; as Isaiah says,
“ quietness and in confidence shall be your strength,”
(Isa_30:15.)
As David did not feel himself equal to great and difficult efforts, he borrows strength from God by prayer. Had he said no more than Act like a man, (593) he would have appeared to allege the motions of his own free-will, but as he immediately adds, by way of correction, that God would be at hand to strengthen his heart, he plainly enough shows, that when the saints strive vigorously, they fight in the strength of another, and not in their own. David does not, like the Papists, put his own efforts into the van, and afterwards supplicate for divine aid, but having done his own duty, although he knew that he was destitute of strength in himself, he requests that his deficiency may be supplied by the grace of the Holy Spirit. And as he knew that the war must be continued during his whole life, and that new conflicts would daily arise, and that the troubles of the saints are often protracted for a long period, he again repeats what he had said about waiting on God: Wait thou alone on Jehovah
(592) “A ce que sa foy ne soit jamais esbranier.” — Fr. “ his faith might never be shaken.”
(593) Calvin here seems to use the Septuagint version. What he renders in the text, “ of good courage,” is rendered by the Septuagint, ἀνδρίζου “ manly, or act like a man.” The Vulgate reads, “vinliter ae,” following the Septuagint, as it generally does. Paul uses the same phraseology in 1Co_16:13. “” says Ainsworth, “ the words of encouragement against remissness, fear, faintness of heart, or other infirmities.”