Waiting on God Only

By Andrew Murray

CBN.com – My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation. Psalm 62:5-6.

It is possible to be waiting continually on God, but not only upon Him. There may be other secret confidences intervening and preventing the blessing that was expected. And so the word only must come to throw its light on the path to the fullness and certainty of blessing. ”My soul, wait thou only upon God. . . He only is my rock.”

Yes, “my soul, wait thou only upon God.” There is but one God, but one source of life and happiness for the heart; “He only is my rock”; “My soul, wait thou only upon God.” You desire to be good; “There is none good but. . . God” (Matt. 19:17), and there is no possible goodness but what is received directly from Him.

You have sought to be holy; ”There is none holy as the LORD” (1 Sam. 2:2), and there is no holiness but what He by His Spirit of holiness every moment breathes in you. You would gladly live and work for God and His kingdom, for men and their salvation. Hear how He says: “The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary . . . He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. . . They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength. (Isa. 40:28, 29, 31). He only is God; He only is your Rock: ”my soul, wait thou only upon God.”

”My soul, wait thou only upon God.” You will not find many who can help you in this. There will be enough of your brothers to draw you to put trust in churches and doctrines, in schemes and plans and human appliances, in means of grace and divine appointments. But, ”my soul, wait thou only upon God” Himself. His most sacred appointments become a snare when trusted in. The brazen serpent becomes Nehushtan (see 2 Kings 18:4); the ark and the temple a vain confidence. Let the living God alone, none and nothing but He, be your hope.

“My soul, wait thou only upon God.” Eyes and hands and feet, mind and thought, may have to be intently engaged in the duties of this life. ”My soul, wait thou only upon God.” You are an immortal spirit, created not for this world but for eternity and for God. Oh, my soul, realize your destiny. Know your privilege, and ”wait thou only upon God.” Let not the interest of spiritual thoughts and exercises deceive you; they very often take the place of waiting upon God. ”My soul, wait thou,” your very self, your innermost being, with all its power, ”wait thou only upon God.” God is for you; you are for God. Wait only upon Him.

Yes, ”my soul, wait thou only upon God.” Beware of two great enemies: the world and self. Beware of allowing any earthly satisfaction or enjoyment, however innocent it appears, keep you back from saying, ”I [will] go. . . unto God my exceeding joy” (Ps. 43:4). Remember and study what Jesus said about denying self: ”Let [a man] deny himself” (Matt. 16:24). Tersteegen says: ”The saints deny themselves in everything.” Pleasing self in little things may be strengthening it to assert itself in greater things.

”My soul, wait thou only upon God.” Let Him be all your salvation and all your desire. Say continually and with an undivided heart, ”From him cometh my [expectation]. He only is my rock. . . I shall not be greatly moved” (Ps. 62:1-2). Whatever your spiritual or temporal needs are, whatever the desire or prayer of your heart, whatever your interest in connection with God’s work in the church or the world – in solitude or in the rush of the world, in public worship or other gatherings of the saints, ”my soul, wait thou only upon God.” Let your expectations be from Him alone. ”He only is my rock.”

”My soul, wait thou only upon God.” Never forget the two foundation truths on which this blessed waiting rests. If you are ever inclined to think this waiting only is too hard or too high, they will recall you at once. They are your absolute helplessness and the absolute sufficiency of your God. Oh, enter deeply into the entire sinfulness of all that is of self, and do not think of letting self have anything to say one single moment.

Enter deeply into your utter and unceasing inability to ever change what is evil in you, or to bring forth anything that is spiritually good. Enter deeply into your relationship of dependence on God, to receive from Him every moment what He gives. Enter deeper still into His covenant of redemption, with His promise to restore more gloriously than ever what you have lost. And, by His Son and Spirit, He will unceasingly give you His actual divine presence and power. And thus, wait upon your God continually and only.

”My soul, wait thou only upon God.” No words can tell, no heart can conceive, the riches of the glory of this mystery of the Father and of Christ. Our God, in the infinite tenderness and omnipotence of His love, waits to be our life and joy. Oh, my soul, let it no longer be necessary that I repeat the words, ”Wait upon God.” But, let all that is in me rise and sing, ”Truly my soul waiteth upon God” (Ps. 62:1). ”On thee do I wait all the day” (Ps. 25:5).

My soul, wait thou only upon God!