Skip to content

A practical exposition on the 130th PsalmJohn Owen, 1669

Section

pp. 374–37610 passages

Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.

:941p. 374

God the proper Object of the souls waiting in its distresses and depths.

:942p. 374

¹We have seen what the duty is intended in the proposition; we are nextly to consider the Reason also of it, why this is the great, first, and principal duty of souls; who in their depths have it discovered unto them that there is forgiveness with God; And the reason hereof is; that which is expressed in our second Observation before mentioned, namely.

1God himself the Object of our Waiting.

:943p. 374

That the proper object of a sin distressed souls waiting and expectation, is God himself as revealed in Christ. I have saith the Psalmist waited for Jehovah; It is not this or that mercy, or Grace, this or that help or relief; but it is Jehovah himself that I wait for.

:944p. 374

Here then we must do two things, first, show in what sense, God himself is the object of the waiting of the soul. (2.) How it appears from hence that waiting is so necessary a Duty.

Here then we must do two things, first, shew in what sense, God himself is the object of the waiting of the soul. (2.) How it appears from hence that waiting is so necessary a Duty.

:945p. 374¶1

:947p. 374–375

The Absence of God from the soul, by his departure, withdrawing, or hiding himself from it, is that which principally ⟨p. 375⟩casts the soul into its depths. Woe unto them, saith the Lord, when I depart from them, Hos. 9. 12. And this woe, this sorrow doth not attend only an universal, a total departure of God from any; but that also which is gradual, or partial, in some things, in some seasons. When God withdraws his enlightening, his refreshing, his comforting presence, as to any ways or means whereby he hath formerly communicated himself unto the souls of any; then woe unto them, sorrows will befall them, and they will fall into depths and entanglements. Now this condition calls for waiting. If God be withdrawn, if he hides himself, what hath the soul to do but to wait for his return. So saith the Prophet, Isa. 8. 17. I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. If God hide himself, this is the natural and proper duty of the soul to wait and to look for him. Other course of relief it cannot apply it self unto. What that waiting is, and wherein it doth consist hath been declared. Patient seeking of God in the ways of his Appointment is comprised in it; this the Prophet expresseth in that word, I will look for him; indeed the same in the Original with that in the Psalm, [Greek or Hebrew]; and I will earnestly look out after him with expectation of his return unto me.

The Absence of God from the soul, by his departure, withdrawing, or hiding himself from it, is that which principally ⟨p. 375⟩casts the soul into its depths. Woe unto them, saith the Lord, when I depart from them, Hos. 9. 12. And this woe, this sorrow doth not attend only an universal, a total departure of God from any; but that also which is gradual, or partial, in some things, in some seasons. When God withdraws his enlightning, his refreshing, his comforting presence, as to any wayes or means whereby he hath formerly communicated himself unto the souls of any; then woe unto them, sorrows will befall them, and they will fall into depths and entanglements. Now this condition calls for waiting. If God be withdrawn, if he hides himself, what hath the soul to do but to wait for his return. So saith the Prophet, Isa. 8. 17. I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. If God hide himself, this is the natural and proper duty of the soul to wait and to look for him. Other course of relief it cannot apply it self unto. What that waiting is, and wherein it doth consist hath been declared. Patient seeking of God in the wayes of his Appointment is comprized in it; this the Prophet expresseth in that word, I will look for him; indeed the same in the Original with that in the Psalm, 〈non-Latin alphabet〉; and I will earnestly look out after him with expectation of his return unto me.