David never makes a single petition in this psalm. He never even asks God to do anything. He strengthens himself in the Lord by counseling his own heart to wait in silence for God. He again speaks of the grace of waiting in silence on God, when he writes,
For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
(Ps. 62:5-7)
David didn’t scheme. He didn’t devise a plan. He exercised the grace of waiting in silence on God to deliver him. By so doing, he experienced God’s deliverance, restoration and blessings. So much of the Christian life can only be learned when we are brought to a place where the only thing we have left to do is to wait on the Lord. Sinclair Ferguson says, “So often we think that we are trusting Christ when things are going well; when, in fact, we are simply trusting that things are going well. It’s when things are difficult that we discover whether or not we are trusting him.” David cried out to the Lord in self-abandonment and dependance. He wrote,
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.
(Ps. 62:8)
Learning to wait on the Lord in times of want, frustration, hardship and trials is one of the greatest graces in this life. It takes the supernatural work of the Spirit of God to enable us to do so. It takes a deep knowledge of who God is from the Scriptures so that we are able to rely on Him. It takes a clear sight of Jesus Christ, the strong and mighty Redeemer of our souls, who poured out his lifeblood for the redemption of our souls. It takes the gift of faith to enable us to wait for God to act. When we begin to learn the grace of waiting in silence, we begin to grow in our understanding of what it truly is to trust in the Lord.
This article about the blessing of waiting originally appeared here and is used by permission.
