“Waiting On God,” Andrew Murray, Whitaker House.

• Critical read 
• Must read 
• Good read 
• Read if you want 
• Read something else

Why read this book? first, everything I have ever read by Andrew Murray has been a significant read. You can’t go wrong reading him.

Second, the book’s self-description captures the importance of reading it. “All the difficulties that are brought forward keeping us back from full salvation have their cause in this one thing: the defective knowledge and practice of waiting upon God.” The more I dwell on what he writes on the topic, the more I see how this statement is indeed true.

Third, it is an easily-digestible way to deal with this vitally important subject matter. The book is one of Murray’s 31-day help books developed to provide ongoing training to pastors and missionaries working in southern Africa. Each section is roughly three pages in length, and delivers a “daily-sized” portion of truth on the need for and practice of waiting on our God.

The point of the book: Waiting on our God in all matters is one of the great themes of the Bible. The expression of our faith and trust in Him, love and surrender to Him, and worship and obedience to Him can be found in the one practice of waiting on our God. This waiting is in the form of the one who awaits an answer or action from Him as well as the one who waits upon Him in humble service. Both ideas are found in the scriptures on waiting on our God.

Humility, patience, hope, and courage all are built and expressed in our waiting on God. Strengthening and counsel come via waiting on Him, as do His blessings and promises. In our impatience we often miss these gifts as we charge ahead to work, whine, or weasel out of our situations instead of waiting. There may be no greater expression of the Christian faith the the combination of humility and faith in our waiting

Impact of the book: The timing of this reading has been particularly useful as I have been waiting on my God for a number of answers, counsels, and initiatives in and through me. It seems that nearly every day I read the three-page section it is speaking to my situation and need. And what an impact this has made on my faith! The near-daily challenges are stretching me while the readings anchor me into Christ.

Most of us, including me, are impatient with the pace of spiritual and temporal progress. We chafe at waiting, complain in praying, and collapse under the weight of difficulty and set-back. It need not be that way. Has not our God promised to provide, and has He not always followed through? Often the provision is not what we ordered or expected, which is universally a good thing. We know little to nothing of what we truly need for life and godliness, and ask mostly for that which would harm us in the end.

Learning to wait upon the Lord will not prolong heartache. It will preclude it. The sooner we learn this, the more joy and peace we will have, because we will have more of the Holy Spirit’s work done in us daily.

Quotes: From the foreword (author’s italics) – “But what I want to say here is this: The great lack of our faith is that we do not know God. The answer to every complaint of feebleness and failure, the message to every congregation or convention seeking instruction on holiness ought to simply be: What is the matter, do you not have God? If you really believe in God, He will make everything all right. God is willing and able by His Holy Spirit. Cease from expecting the least good from yourself, or the least help from anything there is in man. just yield yourself unreservedly to God to work in you. He will do all for you.”

“Just think for a moment of the many waiting ones who need that prayer, how many are sick and weary and alone, and feel as if their prayers are not answered. They sometimes begin to fear that their hope will be put to shame. And then, think of how many servants of God, ministers or missionaries, teachers or workers, of various situations, whose hopes in their work have been disappointed, and whose longing for power and blessing remains unsatisfied. And then, too, think of how many have heard of a life of rest and perfect peace, of abiding light and fellowship, of strength and victory, who cannot find the path. With all these it is only that they have not yet learned the secret of full waiting upon god. They just need what we all need, the living assurance that waiting on God can never be in vain. Let us remember all who are in danger of fainting or being weary, and unite in the cry, “Let none that wait on the be ashamed.“

Similar books: Again, you cannot waste time if you are reading Andrew Murray. Some of his books that are aligned with this book are “Absolute Surrender,” “Humility,” and some of his “the secret” books; “The Secret of the Cross,” and “The Secret of Abiding.” Also consider A.W. Tozer’s “The Crucified Life” or Ann Voskamp’s “Broken.”