So true is that notable passage of the Psalmist, "Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul: I cried to him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. But verily God hath heard me: he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me." (Psalm lxvi. 16, 20.) X. Much of this kind might be cited, to show the displeasure of God against even his own forms of worship, when performed without his own Spirit, and that necessary preparation of the heart in man, that nothing else can work or give: which above all other penmen of sacred writ, is most frequently and emphatically recommended to us by the example of the Psalmist, who ever and anon calling to mind his own great slips, and the cause of them, and the way by which he came to be accepted of God, and to obtain strength and comfort from him, reminds himself to wait upon God. "Lead me in thy truth, and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day long." (Psalm xxv. 5.) His soul looked to God for salvation, to be delivered from the snares and evils of the world. This shows an inward exercise, and a spiritual attendance, that stood not in external forms, but in inward divine aid. And truly, David had great encouragement so to do; the goodness of God invited him to it and strengthened him in it. For says he, "I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock." (Psalm xl. 1, 2.) That is, the Lord appeared inwardly to console David's soul, that waited for his help, and to deliver it from the temptations and afflictions that were ready to overwhelm it, and gave him security and peace. Therefore, he says, "The Lord hath established my goings;" that is, fixed his mind in righteousness. Before, every step he took bemired him, and he was scarcely able to go without falling: temptation on all hands; but he waited patiently upon God: his mind retired, watchful, and intent to his law and Spirit; and he felt the Lord to incline to him. His needy and sensible cry entered heaven, and prevailed; then came deliverance and rescue to David, in God's time, not David's strength to go through his exercises, and surmount all his troubles. For which he tells us, a new song was put into his mouth, even praises to his God. (Psalm xl. 3.) But it was of God's making and putting, and not his own.