‘Wait for the Lord, O my soul!’
[Psalms 27:7-14]
A person named Stormy Omashan says in the article, ‘Why are you worried when you can pray?’: ‘We don't like waiting. We want to act.’ I think it's a very meaningful word. We are quick to act rather than to stay quietly before God and wait for Him. When we cannot wait any longer, we ask the question, 'When should I wait?' and then we just act. In response, Stormy Omashan says that it is best to see the time of waiting as the time to serve God. He encourages us to try our thoughts like this: ‘If you think that you are serving God rather than enduring the current situation, it is much easier to endure’ (Internet).
In Psalms 27:14, the psalmist David says, “Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.” Here he uses the word “wait” twice. He is emphasizing the word 'wait, o my soul'. David is giving us the lesson of waiting for God quietly. Dr. Yoon-sun Park speaks of four things to do when the saints face adversity: (1) We must remember and wait that the adversity we face is not what God doesn’t know, (2) We have to wait at the Lord’s feet, because we aren’t aware of what God is doing and it is difficult for humans to know, (3) When the time comes, God will solve the adversity, so we must wait in a prayerful manner, and (4) At some time, it is better for the saints to wait for the Lord quietly in solving the problems than to work. Under the heading “Wait for the Lord, O my soul!”, I would like to meditate and learn three things what those who wait for the Lord do.
First, those who wait for the Lord want the Lord’s grace.
Look at Psalms 27:7 – “Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice, And be gracious to me and answer me.” Why did David want the Lord’s grace? If I was David, I would ask God's justice for my enemies so that God would punish my enemies of evildoers (v. 2), rather than seeking God's grace. Why did David ask for God's grace? This was because David was afraid that the Lord would be angry and abandon him (v. 9). This was because David feared being forsaken by God like Saul (Park). So why was King Saul forsaken by God? The reason is because he had rejected the word of God. So the Lord had also rejected him from being king (1 Sam. 15:23). Although King Saul received God's command through Samuel, that is to utterly destroy Amalek, he disobeyed God (v. 3). Why did he disobey God's command? The reason was because King Saul initially considered himself small, but after winning the war against Amalek, he became proud enough to set up a monument for himself (v. 12). The Bible says that God looks at the heart, not our appearance like us (16:7). King Saul’s heart was proud. And because his hear was proud, he disobeyed God and was eventually abandoned by God. David was afraid of this. He was afraid that like Saul he might disobey God's commands in pride and be abandoned by God. Interestingly, David was afraid of God rather than fear of people in situations where he could fear people enough. In other words, David wasn’t afraid of being abandoned by people, but afraid of being abandoned by God. His situation was in the midst of “trouble” (v. 5) due to the persecution of his enemies and enemies of evildoers (v. 2), and despite the fact that a host encamped against David (v. 3), David didn’t fear them but the holy God. David who feared that God would be angry and abandoned him, feared that the bud of pride would grow in his heart and be abandoned by God.
How about us? Do we fear God, like David, that the bud of pride will grow in our hearts and be forsaken by God? Or are we living a life of disobedience to the word of God in pride like Saul? If we have forsaken the word of God and have lived the life of disobedience, we should wait for God's grace, like David. And if we want God's grace like David, we must cry out to God (v. 7). And as we cry out to God, we must wait for God to answer our prayers.
Second, those who wait for the Lord seek the Lord’s face.
Look at Psalms 27:8 – “When You said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, O LORD, I shall seek.’” Here, the word ‘Seek the Lords face’ means to wait with desire for the Lord’s grace (face) (Park). The reason why David, who was afraid of committing sins to God his heart, wanted the Lord's graceful face (face) was because he knew that he would commit sin in his heart if God wouldn’t show His grace and help him.
After finishing my work last week, I went home to eat and shared my thoughts with my wife. My thought was that if God isn’t gracious to us and if He doesn’t work, we cannot change even a very small wrong habit. I thought about how we could keep our corrupt heart from pride without God's help if we couldn't even fix our little wrong habits without God's grace. This is what David said in Psalms 27:9 – “Do not hide Your face from me, Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not abandon me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation!” David, who longed for the Lord's face, wished God's help and to live a life with God through His grace. That was why he prayed to God, “Do not abandon me nor forsake me” (v. 9). Then David had faith that his parents forsook him, but the Lord wouldn’t take him up (v. 10). Not only was he feared that his heart be proud and sin against God, but also he feared that the Lord might hide His face from him. He feared that he could no longer see the gracious Lord like a baby who is afraid because he can't see his parents' face. So David prayed to the Lord so that he could see His face. In that prayer, David was sure to see God's grace: “… I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD …” (v. 13). How precious is this assurance. God, who shows His face to those who seek God's face, David, who longed for His gracious face, was convinced to see the Lord's grace. David, who feared that he would sin against God through pride of his heart, prayed to fill his heart with the grace of God and had assurance that God would answer his prayer, because he was more and more eager to see God's face in his heart (v. 8). We must guard against pride in our hearts, and our hearts must seek His face like David. The wave of God's grace will flow through our lives as we seek and find the Lord's grace.
Third and last, those who wait for the Lord see the Lord’s way.
Look at Psalms 27:11 – “Teach me Your way, O LORD, And lead me in a level path Because of my foes.” David, who wanted to walk with the Lord, was convinced to see the Lord's grace while seeking His grace. In the midst of that, he asked the Lord to teach him the way of the Lord through God's grace so that he could walk that way. Here, “Your way” refers to the “righteous way” (Park). In the midst of the persecution of evil adversaries who practiced injustice, he feared God that he would be abandoned by God because of pride of his heart. At the same time, he asked God to teach him the Lord’s way by God’s grace. David also prayed to God, “And lead me in a level path” and this is the prayer that David asked for the Lord’ help as he was waling on the way of righteous (Park). David's adversaries and enemies of evildoers were persecuting David to stop walking in the right way. So David prayed to the Lord, acknowledging that he could not faithfully walk in the right way without His help. In particular, in verse 12, we can learn more about David's situation: “Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence.” With the enemies of David were trying to harm David by false witness, criticism, that is by biting remarks in malice, David prayed to the Lord to help him so that he could walk the Lord’s way, the way righteous way.
I wonder how the Lord's way David wanted to walk was the level path. The reason for this was because David's circumstances and situations that he was facing were by no means the level path. How could the Lord’s path that David was walking be the level path in the midst of persecution from his enemies, evildoers, and perjurers? We can find the answer when we meditate on the way of the cross of Jesus Christ. Even though it is never a smooth path in people’s perspective, when each of us deny ourselves and carry the given cross and walk the Lord's way in following Him, the Lord will give us peace that the world cannot give. In other words, our Lord makes the smooth way in our hearts. It was as if Moses had sinned against God by grumbling because the path was blocked in front of the Red Sea, but God made the way of peace in his heart because Moses looked at God and asked Him for deliverance. As a result, Moses and the Israelites walked the Red Sea, like the ground. Likewise, when we were in a situation of adversity and trouble like David, so in human perspective there is no smooth path, our Lord gives the way of Zion in our hearts. What an amazing grace of God? Then, our Lord gives us the smooth way and guides us faithfully even in our life situation, just as God split the Red sea in our lives.
What are we waiting for? Are we seeking the Lord’s compassion and grace and waiting like David, no matter what adversity and danger we are facing and walking the Lord's way? Are we faithfully walking on the Lord's path to that high place of heaven? Our Lord, who makes the path of our lives smooth, continues to smooth our path, both now and in the future, not to lean to the left or to the right. Let us seek God's compassion and grace and faithfully head toward the heaven with His help.
Giving thanks to God for His compassion and grace for enabling me to walk the Lord’s way boldly by strengthening and empowering my soul with His Word,
James Kim
(Looking at the Lord of peace, who makes the smooth path of the Lord in my heart)