WAITING ON GOD. 385 that waiting is, and in what it consists, has been shown. Patient seeking of God in the ways of his appointment, is comprised in it : this the prophet expresses in that saying, "I will look for him;" it is indeed the same in the original with that in the psalm : "I will earnestly look out after him, with expectation of his return un- to me." .f1 sense of God's displeasure is another cause of these depths and troubles, and of the continuance of the soul in them, notwithstanding it has made a blessed dis- covery by faith, that there is with him forgiveness. It all has respect to sin ; and the reason of the trouble that arises from sin, is because of the displeasure of God against it. What then is the proper posture and frame of the sinner towards God as displeased 1 Shall he contend with him l shall he harden himself against him l shall he despise his wrathand contemn his threat- enings l or shall he hide himself from him, so to avoid the effects of his wrath l Who knows not how ruinous and pernicious to the soul such courses would be, and how many are ruined by them every day i Patient waiting on him is the soul's only resource. This duty flows also from the greatness and sovereignty of Himwith whom we have to do : "My soul waiteth for Jehovah." Indeed, waiting is a duty that depends on the distance between the persons concerned in it, namely, he that waiteth and he that is waited on ; so the Psalmist teaches us, Psalm 123: 2. And the greater this distance is, the more cogent are the reasons of the duty on all occasions. And because we are practically averse to the performance of this duty, or at least quickly grow weary of it, notwithstanding our full con- Fürcivengss, 17
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