The God Upon Whom We Wait

“There is nothing so necessary as to cultivate that spirit of dependence on God and of confidence in Him, which refuses to go on without the needed supply of grace and strength.

“If the question is asked whether this is anything different from what we do when we pray, the answer is that there may be much praying with very little waiting on God.  In praying, we are very often occupied with ourselves, with our own needs, and all our own efforts in the presentation of them.  In waiting upon God, the first thought is of the God upon whom we wait.  We enter His presence, and feel we just need to be quiet, so that He, as God, can overshadow us with Himself.  God longs to reveal Himself, to fill us with Himself.  Waiting on God gives Him time in His own way and divine power to come to us.

“It is especially at the time of prayer that we ought to set ourselves to cultivate this spirit

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“Before you pray, bow quietly before God, just to remember and realize who He is, how near He is, how certainly He can and will help.  Just be still before Him, and allow His Spirit to waken and stir in your soul the childlike disposition of absolute dependence and confident expectation.  Wait upon God as a living being, as the living God, who notices you…

“Waiting on Him will become the most blessed part of prayer, and the blessing thus obtained will be doubly precious as the fruit of such fellowship with the Holy One.  God has so ordained it, in harmony with His holy nature, and with ours, that waiting on Him should be the honor we give Him.  Let us bring Him the service gladly and truthfully.  He will reward it abundantly.”

--Andrew Murray, Waiting On God 

Newcastle-on-Tyne, England