When the Lord’s face “shines upon us” (Num. 6:22–27), it means He is pleased with us and will help us; when His face is turned from us, He is displeased (69:16–18; 143:7), and we must search our hearts and confess our sins.

These dear relations will be the last to desert me, but if the milk of human kindness should dry up even from their breasts, there is a Father who never forgets.” He added, “Some of the greatest of saints have been cast out by their families.

We seek acceptance. In the world, we experience much rejection. Parents reject children; children reject parents. Husbands reject wives, and wives, husbands. We are rejected by erstwhile friends, potential employers, people we are courting, and others in dozens of diverse situations. Most of us experience rejection from someone almost every day. But God does not refuse us. David prays, “Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger.… Do not reject me or forsake me” (v. 9), and he knows, even as he prays, that God will not forsake him. God has accepted him in the past. He will continue to accept him. “Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me,” he writes (v. 10).

Spurgeon said, “These dear relations will be the last to desert me, but if the milk of human kindness should dry up even from their breasts, there is a Father who never forgets.” He added, “Some of the greatest of saints have been cast out by their families.”

We seek to be heard. Sometimes children talk to us only because they want to be listened to, not really caring what we say in response, and unfortunately many parents are too busy to listen. Is God ever too busy to listen when we speak to him? Never! Why don’t we do it more often then? The reason is that we are too busy, not God. Or perhaps the reason is our sin or unbelief. Perhaps we do not really believe that God is a true, listening parent, a parent who says: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matt. 7:7).

We seek guidance. Which of us knows the way to walk so we will be kept out of sin and make progress in the way of righteousness? No one! We no more know how to live our lives for God than children know how to avoid danger and care for themselves and others. They need to be taught, as do we. In God we have one who can be turned to for guidance. David prays, “Teach me your way, O LORD; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors” (v. 11). He prays confidently because he knows that God will do it.

We seek protection. The fourth thing a child looks for in a parent is protection, and David is certainly seeking this of the Lord because of his many enemies. They are the background of the psalm, being mentioned as early as verse 2 and being suggested even in verse 1 (“whom shall I fear?… of whom shall I be afraid?”). They are the bullies of the neighborhood, and David needs the protecting presence of God just as a small child needs his father in such circumstances.

Does David have the acceptance, answers, guidance, and protection he needs from God? Yes, because the psalm ends on this note, returning to the tone of quiet confidence with which it began: “I am confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” (v. 13). David is not speaking about the afterlife here. He is speaking about “the land of the living,” here and now.

Be strong and of good courage [NIV take heart].” These words are frequently found in connection with some great and difficult enterprise, in prospect of the combat with the power of strong enemies, and the utter insufficiency of all human strength. Is waiting on God a work so difficult, that such words are needed …? Yes, indeed. The deliverance for which we often have to wait is from enemies, in whose presence we are so weak. The blessings for which we plead are spiritual and all unseen—things impossible with men—heavenly, supernatural, divine realities. Our heart may well faint and fail

Waiting on God is hard work. Yet, it is one way—perhaps the only way—of demonstrating God’s strength manifest in our weakness. Whenever we rush frantically about trying to “do it” on our own, we in effect become “functional atheists,” denying by our actions that God is active in our lives. Often to admit that we are powerless is the first step toward acknowledging God’s strength unleashed in our lives. The well-known serenity prayer is one expression of this need to rely on God: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Acceptance is not resignation or despair but a step of trust and commitment. It means acknowledging my need to rely on God alone.

The things he is praying for (and for which we pray) do not always come to us at once. God has his timings, which are not ours, and therefore what we pray for and need is sometimes delayed. What then? Are we to despair of having answers, to lose confidence? Not at all! We simply need to wait. “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD” (v. 14). If some wealthy person promised to give you an expensive gift, wouldn’t you wait for it expectantly? If you were in trouble and a king were coming to your aid, wouldn’t you be alert for his appearance? God is just such a generous benefactor and powerful king. He is well worth waiting for. It is a privilege to wait for him.

Yet how little true waiting most of us really do.

The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18–20). The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable.

Jesus said some people hear the word of God, and a desire for God is awakened in their hearts. But then, “as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life” (Luke 8:14). In another place he said, “The desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Mark 4:19). “The pleasures of this life” and “the desires for other things”—these are not evil in themselves. These are not vices. These are gifts of God. They are your basic meat and potatoes and coffee and gardening and reading and decorating and traveling and investing and TV-watching and Internet-surfing and shopping and exercising and collecting and talking. And all of them can become deadly substitutes for God.