1. Truly,
or “only.” That faith alone is true which rests on God alone; confidence
which relies only partly on the Lord is vain confidence. My soul waiteth
upon God. My inmost self draws near in reverent obedience to God. I am no
hypocrite. To wait upon God, or for God, is the habitual position of faith; to
wait on him truly is sincerity; to wait on him only is spiritual chastity. The
original is, “only to God is my soul silence.” The presence of God alone
could awe his heart into quietude, submission, rest, and acquiescence; but when
that was felt, not a rebellious word or thought broke the peaceful silence. The
proverb that speech is silver but silence is gold is more than true in this
case. No eloquence in the world is half so full of meaning as the patient
silence of a child of God, the whole mind ready to be moved by every breath of
his mouth, but free from all inward and self-caused emotion, as also from all power
to be moved by anything other than the divine will. From him cometh my
salvation. The good man will, therefore, in patience possess his soul till
deliverance comes; faith can hear the footsteps of coming salvation, because
she has learned to be silent. Our salvation in no measure comes to us from any
inferior source; to wait on the creature is idolatry.
2. He only is my rock and my salvation. Sometimes a metaphor may be more full of meaning and more
suggestive than literal speech; hence the use of the figure of a rock, the very
mention of which would awaken grateful memories in the psalmist’s mind. David
had often lain concealed in rocky caverns, and here he compares his God to such
a secure refuge; and, indeed, declares him to be his only real protection. The
literal word salvation follows the figurative expression: that our God
is our refuge is no fiction; nothing in the world is more a matter of fact. He
is my defense. Here we have another and bolder image; the tried believer
not only abides in God as in a cavernous rock, but dwells in him as a warrior
in some bravely defiant tower or lordly castle. I shall not be greatly
moved. His personal weakness might cause him to be somewhat moved; but his
faith would come in to prevent any very great disturbance. Moved like a ship at
anchor which swings with the fide, but is not swept away by the tempest. When
we know assuredly that the Lord is our salvation, we cannot be very much cast
down.
3. How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? It is always best to begin with God, and then may we
confront our enemies. David expostulates with his insensate foes; he marvels at
their dogged perseverance in malice, after so many failures and with certain
defeat before them. He tells them that their design was an imaginary one, which
they never could accomplish however deeply they might plot. It is a marvel that
people will readily enough continue in vain and sinful courses, and yet to
persevere in grace is so great a difficulty as to be an impossibility, were it
not for divine assistance. The persistency of those who oppose the people of
God is so strange that we may well expostulate with them and say, “How long
will ye thus display your malice?” A hint is given in the text of the
cowardice of so many pressing upon one man; but none are less likely to act a
fair and manly part than those who are opposed to God’s people for
righteousness’ sake. Satan could not enter into combat with Job in fair duel,
but must call in the Sabeans and Chaldeans, and even then must borrow the
lightning and the wind before his first attack was complete. If there were any
shame in him, or in his children, they would be ashamed of the manner in which
they have waged war; there is not a drop of chivalrous blood in all their
veins. Ye shall be slain all of you. Those who take the sword will
perish with the sword. Rigorously will the great Lawgiver award death to those
who seek the death of others. As a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a
tottering fence. Boastful persecutors bulge and swell with pride, but they
are only as a bulging wall ready to fall in a heap. They expect people to bow
to them and quake in their presence, but people made bold by faith see nothing
in them to honor, and very, very much to despise. It is never well on our part
to think highly of ungodly persons; it will be wisdom to keep our distance, for
no one is advantaged by being near a falling wall. The passage is thought to be
more correctly rendered as follows: “How long will ye press on one man, that
ye may crush him in a body, like a toppling wall, a sinking fence?” Both
senses may blend in our meditations, for if David’s enemies battered him as
though they could throw him down like a bulging wall, he on the other hand
foresaw that they themselves would by retributive justice be overthrown like an
old, crumbling, leaning, yielding fence.
4. They only consult to cast him down from his excellency. The excellencies of the righteous are obnoxious to the
wicked, and the main object of their fury. The elevation which God gives to the
godly in Providence, or in repute, is also the envy of the baser sort, and they
labor to pull them down to their own level. Observe the concentration of malice
upon one point only, as here set in contrast with the sole reliance of
the gracious one upon his Lord. If the wicked could only ruin the work of grace
in us, they would be content; to crush our character, overturn our influence,
is the object of their consultation. They delight in lies; hence they
hate the truth and the truthful, and by falsehood endeavor to compass their
overthrow. To lie is bad enough, but to delight in it is one of the blackest
marks of infamy. They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly.
Flattery has ever been a favorite weapon with the enemies of good people; they
can curse bitterly enough when it serves their turn; meanwhile, since it
answers their purpose, they mask their wrath, and with smooth words pretend to
bless those whom they would willingly tear in pieces. It was fortunate for
David that he was well practiced in silence, for to deceivers there is no safe
reply. Selah. Here pause, and consider the futile rancor of the unholy,
and the perfect security of those who rest upon the Lord.
5. My soul, wait thou only upon God. When we have already practiced a virtue, we must stir
ourselves up to maintain the holy position. Submit yourself completely, trust
immovably, wait patiently. Like your Lord, conquer by the passive resistance of
victorious patience; you can only achieve this as you are inwardly persuaded of
God’s presence, and as you wait solely and alone on him. Unmingled faith is
undismayed. Faith with a single eye sees herself secure, but if her eye be
darkened by two confidences, she is blind and useless. For my expectation is
from him. We expect from God because we believe in him. Expectation is the
child of prayer and faith, and is owned of the Lord as an acceptable grace. We
should desire nothing but what it would be right for God to give, then our
expectation would be all from God; and concerning truly good things we should
not look to second causes, but to the Lord alone, and so again our expectation
would be all from him. The vain expectations of worldly people come not; our
expectations are on the way, and in due course will arrive to satisfy our hopes.
Happy is the person who feels that all he has, all he wants, and all he expects
are to be found in his God.
6. He only is my rock and my salvation. Alone, and without other help, God is the foundation and
completion of my safety. He is my defense. Not my defender only, but my
actual protection. I am secure because he is faithful. I shall not be moved—not
even in the least degree. See how his confidence grows. In verse 2 an adverb
qualified his quiet; here, however, it is absolute. A living faith grows; experience
develops the spiritual muscles of the saint, and gives a force which our
religious childhood has not yet reached.
7. In God is my salvation and my glory. Our honor may well be left with him who secures our souls.
To find all in God, and to glory that it is so, is one of the sure marks of an
enlightened soul. The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. He
multiplies fides, for we need varied expressions to serve as coffers for our
treasure. God who is our rock when we flee for shelter is also our strong rock
when we stand firm and defy the foe. Observe how the psalmist brands his own
initials upon every name which he rejoicingly gives to his God—my
expectations, my rock, my salvation, my glory, my
strength, my refuge; he is not content to know that the Lord is all
these things; he acts faith towards him, and lays claim to him under every
character. If our experience has not yet enabled us to realize the Lord under
any of these consoling tides, we must seek grace that we may yet be partakers of
their sweetness.
8. Trust in him at all times. Faith is an abiding duty, a perpetual privilege. We should
trust when we can see, as well as when we are utterly in the dark. Adversity is
a fit season for faith; but prosperity is not less so. God at all times
deserves our confidence. A day without trust is a day of wrath, even if it be a
day of mirth. Ye people, pour out your heart before him. You to whom his
love is revealed, reveal yourselves to him. His heart is set on you; lay bare
your hearts to him. Turn the vessel of your soul upside down in his secret
presence, and let your inmost thoughts, desires, sorrows, and sins be poured
out like water. Let the Lord be your only father-confessor, for he only can
absolve you when he has heard your confession. To keep our griefs to ourselves
is to hoard up wretchedness. The stream will swell and rage if you dam it up;
give it a clear course, and it leaps along and creates no alarm. Sympathy we
need, and if we unload our hearts at Jesus’ feet, we shall obtain a sympathy as
practical as it is sincere. God is a refuge for us. Whatever he may be
to others, his own people have an especial heritage in him; here then is the
best of reasons for resorting to him whenever sorrows weigh upon us. Prayer is
especially the duty of those to whom the Lord has specially revealed himself as
their defense. Selah. Precious pause! Sheep may well lie down when such
pasture is before them.
9. Surely men of low degree are vanity. Here the word is only again; only vanity, nothing
more. They are many and enthusiastic, but they are not to be depended on; they
are mobile as the waves of the sea, ready to be driven to and fro by any and
every wind; they cry “Hosanna” today, and “Crucify him” tomorrow. And
men of high degree are a lie. We gain little by putting our trust in the
aristocracy; they are not one whit better than the democracy. May we not trust
the elite? Surely reliance may be placed in the educated, the chivalrous, the
intelligent? For this reason are they a lie: because they promise so much, and
in the end, when relied upon, yield nothing but disappointment. The more we
rely upon God, the more we shall perceive the utter hollowness of every other
confidence. To be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than
vanity. Judge them neither by quantity nor by appearance, but by weight,
and they will no longer deceive you. A feather has some weight in the scale,
vanity has none, and creature-confidence has less than that; yet such is the
universal infatuation that mankind prefers an arm of flesh to the power of the
invisible but almighty Creator; and even God’s own children are too apt to be
bitten with this madness.
10. Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in
robbery. Wealth ill-gotten is the trust only
of fools, for the deadly pest lies in it; it is full of canker, it reeks with
God’s curse. To tread down the poor and silence their cries for justice is the
delight of many a braggart bully, who in his arrogance imagines that he may defy
both God and man; but he is warned in these words. The oppression of the
innocent and the robbery of the poor may be effected in human courts, but no
twistings of the law, no tricks and evasions will avail with the Court of
Heaven. If riches increase, set not your heart upon them. If they grow
in an honest, providential manner, as the results of industry or commercial
success, do not make much account of the circumstances; be not unduly elated,
do not fix your love upon your money. To bow an immortal spirit to the constant
contemplation of fading possessions is extreme folly. Shall those who call the
Lord their glory, glory in yellow earth? We must not rest in men; so neither
must we repose in money. All the wealth and honor the whole world can afford would
be too slender a thread to bear up the happiness of an immortal soul.
11. God hath spoken once.
So immutable is God that he need not speak twice, as though he had changed; so
infallible, that one utterance suffices, for he cannot err; so omnipotent, that
his solitary word achieves all his designs. We speak often and say nothing; God
speaks once and utters eternal verities. Twice have I heard this. Our
meditative soul should hear the echo of God’s voice again and again. He hears
twice in the best sense who hears with his heart as well as his ears. That
power belongeth unto God. He is the source of it, and in him it actually
abides. This one voice of God we ought always to hear, so as to be preserved
from putting our trust in creatures in whom there can be no power, since all
power is in God. What reason for faith is here! It can never be unwise to rest
upon the almighty arm. Out of all troubles he can release us, under all burdens
sustain us, while men must fail us at the last, and may deceive us even now.
12. Also unto thee, O Lord,
belongeth mercy. This tender attribute sweetens the
grand thought of his power: the divine strength will not crush us, but will be
used for our good. God is so full of mercy that it belongs to him, as if all
the mercy in the universe came from God, and still was claimed by him as his
possession. His mercy, like his power, endures forever, and is ever present in
him, ready to be revealed. For thou renderest to every man according to his
work. This looks rather like justice than mercy; but if we understand it to
mean that God graciously rewards the poor, imperfect works of his people, we
see in it a clear display of mercy. May it not also mean that according to the
work he allots us is the strength which he renders to us? He is not a hard
master, but metes out to us strength equal to our day. In either meaning we
have power and mercy blended, and have a double reason for waiting only upon
God. Man neither helps nor rewards us; God will do both. In him power and grace
are eternally resident; our faith should therefore patiently hope and quietly
wait, for we shall surely see the salvation of God. All glory be to God only.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
