Trust and Trials.
xxvi. 8, 9. Yea, in the way of Thy judgments . . . will I seek Thee early.
In this verse the prophet expresses the confiding trust of God’s people amid times of judgment. It is as though they had said, “When the pathway assigned for Thy people was rough with judgments,—sore inflictions of national calamity,—even then, Lord, did we wait still on Thee in patient, trustful hope, and our desire was toward the remembrance of Thy name.” Note the view this passage affords of the character and experience of God’s people.
I. They wait upon him. Wait in the most unpromising circumstances.
“Yea, in the way of Thy judgments have we waited for Thee.” When all is dark and threatening; when the promised mercy is long delayed and all seems settling into gloom and desolation; when the dungeon has no lamp and the night no star, even then does the Church wait for God (chap. viii. 17). It is a genuine mark of grace to trust a withdrawing God and never forego confidence in Him, but look for Him as in the darkest night the shivering sentinel looks for the morning star; as the husbandman amid the severest winter believes in the returning spring. Such was the faith of Habakkuk (Hab. iii. 17–19). So, like Aaron’s rod, the Christian’s hope will bloom in the midst of barrenness. “Yea, in the way of Thy judgments have I waited for Thee.”
II. Their desires centre in Him. “The desire of our soul is to the remembrance of Thy name.” God’s name is a compendious expression for the fulness of His perfections. God’s people are concerned for the honour of God’s name whatever becomes of their own. Religion consists much in holy desire. “Thy servants who desire to fear Thy name.” They desire to live in the fear of God, in His love and in His service. Desire is love on the wing; delight is love at rest. David combines both (Ps. xxxvii. 4). Making God our heart’s delight, He will not fail to give us our heart’s desire. This desire, if genuine, will never be satisfied without God. As well offer lumps of gold or strains of music to one dying of thirst, as offer the world’s best gifts to that soul which truly thirsts for God and His righteousness (Ps. lxxiii. 25). 1. Where genuine, this desire is the fruit of implanted grace. It is an evidence of a renewed nature. The beating of the pulse proves life. That which aspires to God has come from heaven. If the iron, contrary to its nature, moves upward, it is a sign that some magnetic force attracts it; and if the soul aspires to God, that is a sign that the grace of God has visited that soul. 2. Genuine desires after God are influential. Real desires govern our conduct (Prov. xxi. 25). It is useless to pretend that we thirst for grace, if by devout prayer and holy resolve we do not let down the bucket into the well.
III. They seek Him diligently night and day. “With my soul have I desired Thee in the night, yea, with my spirit within me will I seek Thee early.” Our Lord gives it as the distinctive mark of God’s elect that they cry night and day to Him. This habit of prayer prompting to duty, tests the sincerity of our desires, &c.—Samuel Thodey.