Waiting on God by Andrew Murray

Psalm 62: 5 “For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him.” Psalm 62:5 NRS

Wait Thou Only Upon God[i]

Wait only upon God; my soul, be still,

And let your God unfold His perfect will.

You long to follow Him throughout this year;

You long, with listening heart, to hear His voice.

You long to be a yielded instrument—

Possessed by God and always Spirit‑sent

Into His gentle service. Then be still.

For only in that stillness can He fulfill

His heart’s desire. Oh, do not hinder His hand

From shaping you into the vessel He has planned.

Be silent before God, and you will know

The quiet, holy calm He loves to bestow

On those who wait for Him. Then you will bear

His presence, life, and light even where

The night is darkest; and your earthly days

Will show His love and sound His glorious praise.

And He will work with hands unfettered, free,

Accomplishing His high and holy purposes through you.

First must His hand of power rest on you,

Until in love’s strong fire your dross is burned

And you come forth a vessel for your Lord—

So frail and empty, yet, since He has poured

Into your emptiness His life, His love,

His power will henceforth move through you.

And He will work for you. Stand still and see

The victories your God will win for you—

So silent, yet so irresistible—

Your God will do what seems impossible.

Do not ask again what you can do;

You can do nothing. But He will carry through

The work where human effort has failed,

Where all your best endeavors have availed

You nothing. So, my soul, wait and be still;

Your God will work in you His perfect will.

If you will settle for nothing less, His best

Shall be your portion now and through eternity.[ii]

— Freda Hanbury

WAITING ON GOD!

DAILY MESSAGES FOR A MONTH[iii]

by

REVEREND ANDREW MURRAY

May 31st, 1895

‘I HAVE been surprised at nothing more than at the letters that have come to me from missionaries and others from all parts of the world, devoted men and women, testifying to the need they feel in their work of being helped to a deeper and a clearer insight into all that Christ could be to them. Let us look to God to reveal Himself among His people in a measure very few have realised. Let us expect great things of our God. At all our conventions and assemblies too little time is given to waiting on God. Is He not willing to put things right in His own divine way? Has the life of God’s people reached the utmost limit of what God is willing to do for them? Surely not. We want to wait on Him; to put away our experiences, however blessed they have been; our conceptions of truth, however sound and scriptural we think they seem; our plans, however needful and suitable they appear; and give God time and place to show us what He could do, what He will do. God has new developments and new resources. He can do new things, unheard of things, hidden things. Let us enlarge our hearts and not limit Him. ‘When Thou camest down, Thou didst terrible things we looked not for; the mountains flowed down at Thy presence,’

A. M.

Andrew Murray, Waiting on God! Daily Messages for a Month (New York; Chicago; Toronto: Fleming H. Revell, 1896), 9–10.