" . . . What [God] asks of us, in the way of surrender, obedience, and trust, is all comprised in this one phrase: waiting on Him for His salvation. It combines the deep sense of our entire helplessness to work what is divinely good and our perfect confidence that God will work it all by His divine power.

" . . . Our heart is the scene of a divine operation more wonderful than creation. We can do as little toward the work as we could toward creating the world, except as God works in us to will and to do. God only asks us to yield, to consent, to wait on Him, and He will do it all. Let us meditate and be still until we see how proper and right and blessed it is that God alone does it all. Then our soul will drop down in deep humility and say, "I have waited for your salvation, O Lord." And the deep, blessed foundation of all our praying and working will be: "Truly my soul silently waits for God" (Psalm 62:1).

" . . . There can be no good except what God works; to wait on God and to have the heart filled with faith in His working, and in that faith to pray for His mighty power to come down, is our only wisdom. Oh, for the eyes of our heart to be opened to see God working in us and in others, and to see how blessed it is to worship and simply wait for His salvation!"

"Our private and public prayers are our chief expression of our relationship to God. It is mainly in them that our waiting on God must be exercised. If our waiting begins by quieting the activities of daily life and being still before God; if we bow and seek to see God in His universal and mighty operation; if we yield to Him in the assurance that He is working and will work in us; if we maintain the place of humility and stillness, and surrender until God's Spirit has stirred up in us confidence that He will perfect His work, our waiting will become the strength and the joy of our soul. Life will become one deep cry: "I have waited for your salvation, O Lord." My soul, wait only on God! * * * *

The True Place of the Creature

These wait all upon Thee; that Thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That Thou givest them they gather: Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled with good. Psalm 104:27, 28

"This psalm, in praise of the Creator, has been speaking of the birds and the beasts of the forest; of the young lions, and of man going forth to his work; of the great sea, in which there are innumerable creeping organisms, both small and large. And it sums up the whole relationship of all creation to its Creator, and its continuous and universal dependence on Him, in the one phrase: "These all wait for You!" Just as much as it was God's work to create, it is His work to maintain. As little as the creature could create itself, is it left to provide for itself. The whole creation is ruled by the one unalterable law of waiting on God!

"If . . . we hope to grasp what waiting on God is to the believer, to practice it and to experience its blessing, it is necessary for us to begin at the very beginning and see the deep reasonableness of the call that comes to us. We will come to understand how the duty is not an arbitrary command. And we will see how it is not only made necessary by our sin and helplessness but it is also our restoration to our original destiny and our highest rank, to our true place and glory as creatures happily dependent on the all-glorious God.

"These all wait for You, That You may give them their food in due season" (Psalm 104:27). It is God who gives all: let this truth enter deeply into our hearts. Until we fully understand all that is implied in our waiting on God, and until we have been able to cultivate the habit, let the truth enter our souls. Waiting continually on the one true God in entire dependence upon Him is . . . the one unalterable and all-comprehensive expression of our true relationship to the One in whom we live.

"Let us resolve once and for all that it will be the one characteristic of our life and worship to continually, humbly, and honestly wait on God. We may rest assured that the One who made us for himself that He might give himself to us and dwell in us will never disappoint us. In waiting on Him we will find rest and joy and strength and the supply of every need. "My soul, wait only on God!"

* * * * *

"The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season." Psalm 145:14, 15

"Psalm 104 is a psalm of creation, and the words "these all wait for You" are used in reference to the animal kingdom. Psalm 145 is a psalm of the kingdom, and "the eyes of all wait upon Thee" refers specifically to the needs of God's people, particularly to those who have fallen or are discouraged. What the universe and the animal creation do unconsciously, God's people are to do intelligently and voluntarily. Man is to be the interpreter of nature. He is to prove that there is nothing nobler or more blessed . . . than to wait on God. "If an army has been sent out to march into enemy territory and news is received that it is not advancing, the question is at once asked, "What is the cause of the delay?" The answer will very often be: "Waiting for supplies." If provisions of gear or ammunition have not arrived, they dare not proceed. It is no different in the Christian life: Day by day we need our supplies from above. And there is nothing so necessary as cultivating a spirit of dependence on God and of confidence in Him that refuses to go on without the needed supply of grace and strength. "If you ask whether this is different from waiting on God in the place of prayer, I answer that there can be a lot of praying going on without really waiting on God. In prayer, we are often occupied with ourselves, with our own needs and our own efforts to effectively present them. In waiting on God, the first thought is of God himself. We enter His presence and immediately feel the need to be quiet, so that He can speak to us. . . . "It is especially at the time of prayer that we ought to cultivate this spirit of quiet waiting. "Before you pray, bow quietly before God; remember and realize who He is, how near He is, how certainly He can and will help. Be still before Him and allow His Holy Spirit to awaken in your soul the childlike disposition of absolute dependence and confident expectation. Wait on God as you would a living person. He is the living God who is aware of you and . . . all of your needs. Wait on God until you know you have met Him; your prayer time will never be the same. "And when you pray, allow intervals of silence, reverent stillness of soul in which you yield yourself to God. . . . Waiting on Him will become the most blessed part of prayer, and the answer to your prayer will be twice as precious because it is the fruit of fellowship with Him. God has ordained that in harmony with His holy nature and our humble estate we honor Him by waiting on Him. Let us give Him this service gladly and honestly. He will reward it abundantly. "These all wait for You, that you may give them their food in due season" (Psalm 104:27). God provides in nature for the creatures He has made. How much more will He provide in grace for those He has redeemed! . . . " My soul, wait only on God!

* * * * *

"Show me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day." Psalm 25:4, 5

"We spoke [previously] about an army at the point of entering enemy territory whose reason for delay was "waiting for supplies." Their answer could as well have been "waiting for instruction" or "waiting for orders." If the last dispatch had not been received with the final orders of the commander in chief, the army would not have dared to move forward. It is the same in the Christian life. Waiting for instruction is as important as waiting for supplies.

"The Father in heaven . . . knows so well that we do not naturally do what is holy except when He works it in us, that He makes His demands the same as promises of what He will do to watch over us and lead us through the day. We may count on Him to teach us His way and to show us His path not only in special trials and hard times but also in everyday life. "Are we convinced that the way to receive this guidance is by daily waiting on Him for instruction? We must acknowledge our need and declare our faith in His help. We will have a deep restful assurance that He hears and answers. "The humble He teaches His way" (Psalm 25:9). " . . . If we could truly see God's love for us, and if we truly believed that He waits to be our life and to work His will in us, waiting on God would become our highest joy, the natural spontaneous response of our heart." "My soul, wait only on God!"

* * * * *

And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. Isa 30:18

"Blessed are all they who wait for Him. A queen has her ladies-in-waiting. The position is one of subordination and service and yet it is also considered a position of the highest dignity and privilege, because a wise and gracious ruler makes them her companions and friends. What an honor and blessing to be attendants-in-waiting on the everlasting God, always on the watch for every indication of His will or favor, always conscious of His nearness, His goodness, and His grace. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him. Blessed are all those who wait for Him."

* * * * *

My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved. Psalm 62:5, 6

"It is possible to wait continually on God while not waiting only on Him. There may be secret confidences that hinder us and also prevent the expected blessing. And so the word only is important to the fulness and certainty of blessing. "My soul, wait silently for God alone. . . . He only is my rock" (author's note: emphasis added).

"There is only one God, one source of life and happiness for the heart . . . "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. . . . But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 28-29, 31)

"Eyes and hands and feet, mind and thought, may be intently engaged in the duties of this life, but your innermost being--your heart--can still be involved in waiting on God continually. You are an immortal spirit, created not for this world but for eternity and for God. Know your privilege. Wait on God. Let nothing take its place.

"Our two greatest enemies are the world and self. Let no earthly satisfaction or enjoyment, however innocent, keep you from going to God for the deepest joy and contentment. Pleasing self in little things may strengthen it to assert itself in greater things. Let your expectation be from God alone. Whatever your spiritual or physical need, whatever the desire or prayer of your heart, whatever your interest in connection with God's work in the church or in the world--let your expectations be from Him."

"Never forget the two foundational truths on which this blessed waiting rests. If you are ever inclined to think that "waiting only" is too hard or too high, these truths will recall you at once. They are: your absolute helplessness and God's absolute sufficiency"

"Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD." Psalm 27:14

* * * * *

A further note on "waiting on God" ...

Dear Ones,

I have been much blessed in reading a biography of Lilias Trotter (I mentioned her in a previous post), written by Miriam Huffman Rockness, and I hope to post some excerpts from this book at some point. Lilias Trotter, born in London in 1853, into wealth, privilege and status in Victorian England, felt a call to serve God in places where the Gospel was unknown, and chose to follow that call even when it led to Muslim Algiers. The work among the Muslims along the north coast of Africa was very slow, with many "hemmed-in" places and times, but God sent encouragements and strengthening all along the way, along with dry (figuratively and literally) seasons when "hope was sustained by faith alone". After several decades of sometimes tedious "groundwork" in that part of the world, many things began to happen "at once" it seemed, to bring a range of new horizons "that would have seemed a dream during the hemmed-in years of the past".... "The main thing that stands out in looking back over the year [1922]," writes Lilias [in her diary], "is the changing spirit among the Moslems . . . as unmistakeable it seems to us as the first faint spring-breath." She adds,

"We have here at Dar Naama a reproduction of a Danish picture. It is a frozen river, grey in its icy deadness, but that breath of the spring is beginning to conquer, & through the midst of it the first flow of the current has begun to gleam, reflecting the purple firtrees & the daffodil sky of dawn in its curve. . . . it is worth, a thousand times over, to spend one's life among the Moslems, to see that hour draw near! (22 December 1922)

After sending the posts on "waiting on God" yesterday, I read the following [related] passage in this book this morning: Lilias wrote in her diary (12 December 1922): "Time is nothing to God--nothing in its speeding, nothing in its halting--He is the God that inhabiteth eternity." And children of eternity "can afford to tarry His leisure no matter how short [their] time is." "To Lilias this meant that even when there were no outward signs of encouragement, she would keep a listening heart tuned to her Father's voice, then faithfully do what He said. As she loved to say, "He knew what He would do." This meant complete rejoicing when His purpose was revealed in the proving of His promises. And it meant for the future that same waiting on God, content with simple obedience, understanding that the results of one's work on earth may be realized long after one's time on earth is finished. "Over and over, throughout the pages of her diary, Lilias writes this faith refrain: "Blessed are all they that wait for Him." She firmly believed that time is nothing to God, nor to His children, "Les Enfants de l'Eternitie," the children of eternity.

May we be encouraged by the example of Lilias Trotter and other faithful saints, to "press on" in faithful obedience and trustful waiting concerning our Father's promises and commands . . . Back to Part 1