Waiting

We should learn to wait on God. This is a trying lesson. Even in human relationships waiting is an important element. Suppose I want a brother to help me. If he is busy when I go to see him, I cannot make my request. I must wait until he is no longer busy before I can open my mouth. We should not think that we can skip this step when we pray. Many times when God asks us to do something for Him, He does not force us. He waits until we are ready. If God can wait on us, should we not wait on God?

The book of Psalms is filled with the matter of waiting on God. In the prayers of the psalmists the word waiting is uttered numerous times. We need to wait on Jehovah (37:9). Our soul should wait in silence for God alone (62:1). We cannot breathe in God without first waiting on Him. Waiting on God is to allow Him to determine the timing. We cannot dictate the time; He dictates the time. We need to wait. When we pray, we need to inquire of God, and we also need to wait on God.

Musing

We also need to learn to muse or meditate on everything about God. We must meditate on God’s loveliness, His lovingkindness, His dignity, His glory, His attributes, and His acts. We must learn that when breathing in God through prayer, we should not only inquire of Him and wait on Him but also meditate on Him and ponder His acts.

We should not think that it is a waste of time to temporarily set aside other matters in our prayers while we meditate on God. God already knows our needs. What touches His heart the most and gives Him the sweetest thought is our musing on Him in His presence. This is the reason the psalmist says, “May my musing be sweet to Him” (104:34). We should remain in His presence and behold Him in silence. While we behold Him in this way, we inquire of Him, wait on Him, and muse on Him. We can muse on His dealings with us and on His dealings with the saints of old. We can also muse on the sweetness of His person. We can meditate on His desire, love, patience, character, glory, and sweetness. In this musing, we absorb God, and His elements fill us. We should gain this experience and learn this lesson.

Please trust in my word. We must leave our many affairs, our business, health, family, finance, and livelihood, in God’s hand and remember His promise that our heavenly Father knows that we need all these things (Matt. 6:32). We must cast all our anxiety on Him (1 Pet. 5:7). There is no need to spend much time praying for these things. There is no need to pray for every point. We should believe that He bears the responsibility for all our needs. In our prayers we should forget about ourselves and spend more time to muse on Him, allowing Him and His acts to fill our spiritual eyes and inward senses. God treasures this type of musing; He appreciates this kind of meditation. When we enjoy Him in this musing, He dispenses Himself into us and takes care of all our other needs. We should be at peace and focus on His sweetness instead of focusing on our own affairs. We need to spend time to muse upon His sweetness.

Worshipping

As we touch Him, remain in Him, behold His loveliness, converse with Him, inquire of Him, wait on Him, and muse upon Him, we should worship Him. We should worship Him in our spirit and with our whole being. We should attune our entire being to His holy splendor and worship Him in holy splendor (Psa. 29:2). We should prostrate ourselves before Him and offer Him our worship.

Praising

We should also praise God. Praise always follows worship. As we muse upon a certain matter, praises should flow forth from within us.

Interceding

We also should learn to participate in intercessory work. If time permits and we are able to spend more time before God, He will surely tell us things that concern Him. As soon as we know these things, we need to do the work of intercession. Abraham stood before God. As he remained in His presence, God seemingly said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? I have to let him know that I will destroy Sodom. But there is a child of mine in Sodom. On the one hand, I will destroy Sodom; on the other hand, I want to save Lot. This is My desire.” Once Abraham heard this, he immediately began his intercessory work before God. In his prayer he said, “Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed destroy and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?…Shall the Judge of all the earth not do justly?” (Gen. 18:24-25). Abraham’s intercession was absolutely in the form of inquiring; he did not ask or beg. Abraham kept inquiring all the way to the end. This is the best kind of intercession. As we remain in God, muse upon Him, worship Him, and praise Him, He reveals His desire to us, and we intercede by inquiring. This kind of prayer is sweet.

Allowing God to Finish His Speaking

We also need to allow God to finish what He is speaking. This was what Abraham did. He prayed, but God spoke. The Scripture says, “Jehovah went away as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham” (v. 33). Many times in our prayers we go away as soon as we have finished speaking rather than letting God go away when He is finished speaking. In our prayers we have no thought of God’s speaking. We simply speak what we want. After praying, we say, “In the name of Jesus, Amen.” Then we leave. We do not care if God is leaving or staying. Let me say this jokingly: It is perhaps a good thing that God’s presence is not with us during this type of prayer. If God were with us, He would feel very lonely. It is very impolite to meet someone, not allow him to speak, and leave as soon as we are finished speaking. This, however, is the way many people pray to God.

Although Abraham inquired in his prayer, God was the One speaking. In his prayer Abraham did not finish speaking and then walk away. Rather, Jehovah finished speaking and then left. After Jehovah departed, Abraham left. Can we wait for God to finish speaking before we say, “In the name of Jesus, Amen”? Many times as soon as we finish our speaking, we say Amen. We may say Amen to such a prayer, but has God said Amen? We have finished, but God has not finished. This is a pitiful condition. We have never learned to absorb God, to receive God, and to breathe in God. We pray in a wild and reckless way. We have never been trained in the matter of prayer. We have never surrendered in this matter. We have never allowed God to speak. Consequently, we do not gain much God at the end of our prayers. We have not absorbed Him or received very much of Him.

In summary, when we come to God to breathe Him in, we must first turn to our spirit to touch Him. We should be calm, behold Him, inquire of Him, and learn to wait on Him. We should also muse upon Him, worship Him, praise Him, and learn to intercede before Him. Later, we should allow Him to finish His speaking. Then we can let Him know that we are satisfied. This is the best kind of prayer. It is a prayer that receives and absorbs God. If we always pray in this way, we will surely receive and appropriate much more of God, and He will surely be our real enjoyment. This is what it means to enjoy God through our prayer. May the Lord graciously enable us to live in this reality!