How to Prepare While You’re Waiting on God

 I love free kindle books, so recently I started reading Waiting on God by Andrew Murray. Am I the only one who has a hard time waiting?  I get anxious to hear from God. Day 9 is my favorite lesson in the book so far. “Be strong and let your heart take courage, All you that wait on the Lord.” Ps. 31:24. Here is a portion of Murray’s words [with minor changes]:

Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not upon your own understanding.” This is a discussion of two things, our heart and our mind. 

 “The mind gathers knowledge from God’s word, and prepares the food by which the heart with the inner life is to be nourished. But there is a terrible danger, of our leaning on our own understanding …

People imagine that if they are occupied with the truth, the spiritual life will…  be strengthened. But this is not the case. Understanding deals with conceptions and images of divine things, but it cannot reach the real life of the soul…It’s with the heart man believes, and comes in touch with God. It is in the heart God has given His Spirit, to be the presence and the power of God working in us. In all our religion it is the heart that must trust and love and worship and obey. My mind is utterly impotent in creating or maintaining the spiritual life within me. The heart must wait on God for Him to work it in me.

 It’s like our physical life.   My reason may tell me to eat and drink, and how the food nourishes me. But in the eating and feeding, I can do nothing: the body has its organs for that special purpose.

Just so, reason may tell me what God’s word says, but it can do nothing to the feeding of the soul on the bread of life – this the heart alone can do by its faith and trust in God… And so the Christian needs, when he has studied or heard God’s word, to cease from his thoughts, to put no trust in them, and to waken his heart to open itself before God, and seek the living fellowship with Him.

This is now the blessedness of waiting upon God… That I confess the impotence of all my thoughts and efforts, and … bow my heart before Him in holy silence, and trust Him to renew and strengthen His own work in me.”

 Yes. That’s what I’m waiting for. For Him to do His work! With my mind, I can study God’s word, feed food to my soul, but only in preparation to meeting Him.

Week 12 also helps, “Wait on the Lord, and keep His way, and He shalt exalt thee to inherit the land.” Ps 37:34 “It is true you don’t have the strength yet to keep all His ways. But keep carefully those for which you have received strength already.” That’s another whole lesson. God will never bless us if we are not trying to follow Him.

 Andrew Murray has it right – in preparation to meeting God, I can study the Bible and keep His ways.

 Related articles

• Wednesday’s Words to Live By February 8th – February 14th “Wait On God” (drdehooks.wordpress.com)
• Waiting On God Who is Waiting on Us (brokenbelievers.com)
• Waiting on God, Day 20 (myheartsmission.com)
• On Eagles’ Wings (themeditationsofmyheart.wordpress.com)
• Hearing from God (richwendling.wordpress.com)
• Wait On The Lord (achristianmeditation.wordpress.com)