The Only Expectation of God’s Church

According to the most trusted Bible commentators, Psalm 145 is a psalm of David. He wrote this psalm at the end of his life. In verse 1 we may see the condition of the heart of this poet. There he is saying, “I will extol Thee, my God.” By nature, not one of us is able to say this because this God addressed by David is our Judge.

There was a time before sin that man, having come forth out of the hands of His Creator in the image of the Lord, found his greatest enjoyment in extolling his God. However, when we listen to the world today, we must say it seems as if there is nothing left of extolling the name of God. Yet, the Lord has and will always have a people who by grace in this life may already learn what that is, extolling the name of God, and who may one day do this forever.

David may see so much in this when in another psalm he says, “Oh how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee.” Would you not say that for those people there are times when it may be Thanksgiving Day? David says, “The eyes of all wait upon Thee.” This is true. The entire creation is dependent upon the Lord. If the Lord had withheld His hand, nothing would have grown. Had we been dealt with by the Lord as we deserve, then, instead of rain, fire would have come from heaven, and we would all have been destroyed. Must this not cause deep concern among us when we see the ever deeper hardening of the heart? Where are they who with crying and supplicating come to God’s house saying, “Lord, I am unconverted, have mercy upon me”?

“The eyes of all wait upon Thee.” Above all, this speaks of God’s people. The Lord has opened their eyes. They now see in what a dangerous condition they are. They experience deeply the separation between the Lord and their soul. Sin becomes a burden. All their former life comes before their eyes. No longer can they travel through this life in their former way. They must leave the world, but where must they go?

They begin to seek. As a seeking people, the Word of God and the institutions of the Lord become so precious. These people do not have to be admonished to come to church. They come with a hunger and thirst. When they sit under the preaching, their heart cries, “Our eyes wait upon Thee.” There are times when on Monday they may meditate upon what they have received Sunday in the house of the Lord. On Tuesday they long for the time when it may again be Sunday. There are times when the Lord gives so much of His favor unto those searching eyes that it may become Thanksgiving Day. They may then say, “Thanks be unto God for His wonderful grace.” They may then raise their eyes and heart, saying, “Lord, we will go from strength to strength, ever onward, ever upward.”

Oh, what a wonder when the Lord again gives us a Prayer Day and comes to apply what He speaks of in His Word, namely, “That which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up.” Why does the Lord do this? He takes away every expectation founded upon self. He will cause those eyes to look deeper into their lost condition. He wants those eyes to see our deep covenant break in our covenant head Adam. He wants that heart to learn that it is lost forever, lost seeing the righteous justice of God.

Must this go so deep? Yes, because the ever-faithful Jehovah God will bring those eyes to the hill Golgotha where they may see the Lamb that was slain. There they may view the price which has been paid. There they may behold a satisfied Judge, who in Jesus Christ becomes all and everything for their never-dying soul. “All eyes.” That is the entire Church of the Lord from the smallest to the greatest. The eyes of a refuge-taking faith, or those who may have more assurance, may experience, “Unto you therefore which believe He is precious.”

Dear reader, upon what have you been focusing your eyes? Many focus them upon the world. It will be something in that day when our eyes will be turned away from all that cannot help anymore, and they must then be focused upon a righteous Judge who will say, “I have never known you; go ye out into outer darkness.” Many focus their eyes upon a self-willed religion. They have never stood with the publican in the back of the temple, saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” They have an accepted Jesus but not a given Jesus. That also must end in bitter disappointment. “The eyes of all wait upon thee.” Are there such eyes in beginning or in continuance? They will not always wait. David says, “Thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” This is also outwardly.

As a denomination we commemorate Thanksgiving Day. Looking back, we may say that the Lord has made all things well. He gave food and drink in the midst of our families. We may continue in the day of grace. Although many have been laid upon a sickbed, for some it has become eternity. Should we not say this is all because of the open hand of the Lord? We may continue with our families to have a place under the truth of God’s Word. These are the many blessings of God’s open hand. Why is it, then, that ever more we do not want to reckon with this God? We want to assure ourselves outside of Him. With all our religion we no longer want to live according to the landmarks which the Word of God continues to hold before us. Yet the Lord continues to open His hand to satisfy the desire of every living thing.

The desire for earthly food will stop at the grave, but the Lord has other food. That is food for hungering and thirsting souls who cry with a missing heart, “Lord, open Thine hand once.” Thinking of that food they say, “Lord, may it be that out of Thy open hand there may come one crumb from the Master’s table.” What a wonder it then becomes in their life when the Lord opens His hand and they may see how this God was moved from within Himself, how there was never anything of myself that asked for God, but there came a time that He asked for me. What a wonder this becomes when the Lord opens His hand and one may see something of Him who said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

Dear reader, it then becomes Thanksgiving Day. Souls may be broken and humbled before the Lord, and that is the fruit of God’s work, a fruit which is precious in His sight. Those people may experience that there is nothing in me but everything in Him. Oh, it is a wonderful work to be saved, for then all of myself may be placed outside. There the soul may experience, “Underneath are the everlasting arms.” When we may come to an end, there is a full salvation with Him.

What are the fruits of this? There are times when their mouth may voice David’s psalm, “I will extol Thee, my God, O King; and I will bless Thy name for ever and ever.” Then they cry out, “Lord, hold on to me; never let me go, but work with Thy dear Spirit ever more in my heart.”

Has the Lord opened His hand for you this past season? Has He blessed you with family life and provided for you so abundantly that today you may be able to say that He has made all things well? However, that is only pertaining to this earthly life. You say, yes, this is necessary; but this life will one day come to an end. That is why I ask you another question. Has the Lord opened His hand to give you a true spiritual need? Has He opened His hand by laying you at the gate of His free, one-sided mercy, with a crying heart saying, “Lord, I cannot let Thee go anymore; speak only one word unto my soul”? Has He opened His hand and led you upon the way as a lost, undone sinner unto the blood given to the saving of your soul? Has He opened His hand to place you at the foot of the cross, “Give me Jesus or I die”? At times such as this you may taste something of what it is to bring gratitude to the Lord on this Thanksgiving Day. Then you may feel something of what the poet is speaking, “The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.”

Who will say at the end of this season, “Lord, what doeth thou?” Some have been taken away; others may continue to be in the day of grace. Perhaps some received riches in abundance while others received only a meager share of this world’s goods and as a result struggle from one day into the next. The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and all is according to His eternal counsel. It is also according to that same counsel that He continues to bring His Word to us, saying, “Turn ye, turn ye unto Me and be ye saved.” Yet, that same righteous and holy God according to His everlasting counsel has chosen some to everlasting life and others to eternal destruction.

Oh, may such a doctrine bring us upon our knees. This tells us that there is a way to be saved because this holy God has chosen a people to be His people. To save them, He gave a way outside of man in His only beloved Son. Oh, one day they may be there forever where nothing can ever mar their happiness anymore. Here, among those who certainly will be saved because He who cannot lie has promised, there are little lambs who out of that open hand receive enough milk to give inner spiritual growth. Among them here below are grown sheep who are in need of solid food. Together they may learn that their God is righteous and holy in all His works. “The LORD is nigh unto them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth.”

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