Father, if I only saw You as One who longs to lead me in Your paths and desires to be gracious to me, my prayer life would be so different. Forgive me when I try to turn You into some kind of genie to do my will when it’s painfully obvious that Your will is so much better. Help me to long to live in the center of Your will and leading. And help me wait for Your perfect instructions. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Waiting for Instructions 1To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. 2O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. 3Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. 4Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. 5Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. —Psalm 25:1-5 The psalm has at all times been a very special one because of its reiterated expression of the felt need of the divine teaching and of the childlike confidence that that teaching would be given. Study the psalm until your heart is filled with two thoughts: the absolute need and the absolute certainty of divine guidance. And with these, how entirely it is in this connection that he speaks, “On thee do I wait all the day.” Waiting for guidance, waiting for instruction, all the day, is a very blessed part of waiting upon God. The Father in heaven is so interested in His child, and so longs to have his life at every step in His will and His love, that He is willing to keep his guidance entirely in His own hand. He knows so well that we are unable to do what is really holy and heavenly, except as He works it in us, that He means His very demands to become promises of what He will do, in watching over and leading us all the day. We may count on Him to teach us His way and show us His path in special difficulties and times of perplexity, as well as in the common course of everyday life. And what is necessary for us to receive this guidance? One thing: waiting for instructions, waiting on God. “On thee do I wait all the day.” We want, in our times of prayer, to give expression to our sense of need and faith in His help. We want to definitely become conscious of our ignorance as to what God’s way may be. We must be aware of our need of the divine light shining within us if our way is to be as the sun, shining more and more unto the perfect day (Proverbs 4:18). And we want to wait quietly before God in prayer until the deep, restful assurance fill us. It will be given: “the meek will he guide in . . . his way.” (Psalm 25:9 KJV). “On thee do I wait all the day.”The special surrender to the divine guidance in our seasons of prayer must cultivate, and be followed up by, the habitual looking upward “all the day.” As simple as it is to walk all day in the light of the sun, so simple and delightful can it become to a soul, practiced in waiting on God, to walk in the enjoyment of God’s light and leading. —Andrew Murray Journal: · How can I tell when I am waiting on God for instructions or just going my own way? · Do I view God as gracious and wanting to lead me? Why does it matter if I believe that?