Psalm 145:14-16 says, “The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. ¹⁵ The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. ¹⁶ Thou openestthine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.”  Leupold explains the passage beautifully in his commentary on Psalms as following: “A more intimate and attractive side of the kingdom of the Lord is to be dwelt upon through the rest of this section: the kindness of the Lord of this kingdom toward those that stand in need of help.  When men are about to fall or are already falling, the Lord sustains them; when they are bowed down with grief or adversity, He raises them up.  Besides, He provides for all His subjects by providing for all of them the food they need.  In a very striking manner all living creatures are lifting up their eyes to Him that, when they huger, He may supply their need.  Waiting on their part connotes trusting.  For countless centuries the record that God has achieved is this: ‘Thou givest them their food (meat KJV in Old English for food) in due season’ without undue delay.  The few exceptions to this rule that men could cite vanish in contrast with the countless instances of its fulfillment every day.  The picture is drawn out a bit more fully: God is represented as opening His hand and then giving to each, man or beast, as much as may be required to satisfy what they need and desire.  He then passes on to the next and does the same.  What a kingdom, where its Lord has time and ability to proceed thus” (Exposition of Psalms, Baker Book House Company, 11^th reprint, 1989, 979). 

Though man was the crown of God’s creation (by being created after the image of God and placed in the Garden of Eden to rule and subdue all things), he became a needy being after the fall.  Genesis 3:16-19 has the Lord’s verdict upon the fallen man and woman: “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. ¹⁷ And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; ¹⁸ Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; ¹⁹ In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”  There are sorrows, birth pangs, and toils and pain in labors in the state of the fallen mankind.  If we compare this passage with Revelation 21:4, we may find some more after effects of sin and curse: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”  There will be certain things that will not be in heaven such as death, sorrow, crying and pain.  It may indicate that all of them are also the effects of the fall.  In a broad sense, these effects may include all the causes and reasons of death and sorrow like diseases, tragedies, accidents, or disasters.  Until the final redemption day comes, man will continue to suffer with all of them. 

Man is far away from perfection.  After all, he is needy in everything.  The psalmist says that all animals wait upon the Lord for their food.  They look wild and strong, but they ought to wait on God for their provisions.  Man as God’s creation is not an exception.  Psalm 145 is a psalm of praise and the kingdom of God (verse 11).  In the middle of the psalm, the psalmist points out that “the eyes of all wait upon thee [the Lord].”  Man is not an independent being from God, but rather a dependent being.  Man may fall and bow down.  Though he does not have strength and ability not to fall and not to rise again, it is the Lord who upholds him and lifts him up again.  It is no wonder that all saints of God put their eyes upon Him and wait on Him.  All God’s creation including the whole universe depends on Him.  The material objects like the sun and the moon may not wait on God with any intelligent and conscientious effort, but man with the image of God in him waits on him consciously. 

When we wait on God, there are at least six important spiritual elements involved: (1) We recognize who God is, (2) we recognize our needy condition, (3) we intelligently and willfully put our trust in God by depending on Him wholly, (4) we surrender ourselves to His providential care, (5) we show our true bravery by waiting on Him in times of needs, and (6) we give our place to God alone by waiting on Him.  Each and every one of these six spiritual elements is important for our spiritual walk with God.  First, we recognize that there is God.  However, our faith in God involves more than just recognizing that there is God. Or leave as is? Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”  His reward includes all our needs.  Jesus taught His disciples to pray for their daily bread.  He also says that God cares them far more than beautiful flowers in the fields and fowls in the air.  If they ask, they shall be given.  He has will and power to provide all our needs.  From this very truth of God, we can have great confidence in Him and depend on Him.  Second, we must know of our needy condition.  At every step, we are nothing and cannot do anything without His supplies.  By faith, we confess that we cannot move on without constant supplies from God.  Waiting on God puts us into the right perspective in faith.  We often have a wrong idea that depending on God means to ask God for everything and to receive everything from Him, in which we focus on our needs and ourselves than God.  However, waiting on God means to fully understand our needy condition and wait on God for His supply and disposal at His own time according to His own will.  Waiting on God brings God to the center stage.  Third, we cultivate such a spiritual character within us that we wait on God constantly.  It means that we do discipline ourselves to wait on God consciously and intelligently.  In other words, constant waiting on God is a spiritual attitude produced by spiritual exercise and discipline.  We must put our conscious efforts to cultivate this spiritual trait by the grace of God.  Fourth, waiting on God implies our complete surrender to His will and guidance.  We cannot think of waiting on God without absolute surrender.  When we surrender our will, desire, plans, purposes, directions, and hopes to God alone, we will finally learn to wait on Him.  Fifth, waiting on God, or surrendering to Him, means to give our ways away and to take the will of God all by faith alone.  Things may not go well, and circumstances are not very pleasant.  There seems to be no immediate rescue in sight.  Nevertheless, we take courage to wait on God.  It is not a form of fatalism but of faith.  Six, we give God everything of us, when we wait on Him. We desire that His will be done while we submit to His will.  He owns and possesses us for His purpose and glory. 

The psalmist says in Psalm 145:15-16, “The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. ¹⁶ Thou openestthine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.”  In due season, if we wait on Him, He will provide what we need.  He will open His hands and satisfy us.  Let us begin to learn to raise our eyes and fix them on Him and wait.  If God provides for lilies, birds, and animals, how much more He will provide for His redeemed children!  Wait upon Him today, you, children of God!

Lovingly,

Your pastor

More Lively Hope

© Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church
14 Bedford Square, Colonel Light Gardens, South Australia 5041