We are all, especially in these times, learning to depend more and more on God. We no doubt should always depend fully on God, but, unfortunately in good times we have a tendency to depend on ourselves or other human generated sources. It’s usually during a crisis when our abilities don’t seem to be sufficient that we turn to God. O how wonderful it would be if we could come to the place of total dependence on God at all times, and in every condition even when life’s good.

Andrew Murray in Waiting on God says:

For God alone my soul waits in silence, from him comes my salvation.(Psalm 62:1)

If salvation indeed comes from God and is entirely His work, just as creation was, it follows as a matter of course that our first and highest duty is to wait on Him to do the work that pleases Him. Waiting becomes then the only way to the experience of a full salvation, the only way, truly, to know God as the God of our salvation.

All the difficulties that are brought forward as keeping us back from full salvation have their cause in this one thing: the defective knowledge and practice of waiting upon God. All that the church and its members need for the manifestation of the mighty power of God in the world, is the return to our true place, the place that belongs to us, both in creation and redemption- the place of absolute and unceasing dependence upon God. Let us strive to see what the elements are that make up this most blessed and needful waiting upon a God: it may help us to discover the reasons why this grace is so little cultivated and to feel how infinitely desirable it is that the church, that we ourselves, should at any price learn its blessed secret.

The deep need for this waiting on God lies equally in the nature of man and the nature of God. God, as Creator, formed man to be a vessel in which He could show forth His power and goodness. Man was not to have in himself a fountain of life, or strength, or happiness: the ever-living and only living One was each moment to be the Communicator to him of all that he needed. Man’s glory and blessedness was not to be independent, or dependent upon himself, but dependent on a God of such infinite riches and love. Man was to have the joy of receiving every moment out of the fullness of God. This was his blessedness as an unfallen creature.

Perhaps in our past we have thought we could depend on others. I’m sure to some degree, we should be able to depend on parents, spouse, leaders, bosses and pastors. Those who serve in these roles certainly should be those who can be depended upon. But what about when they aren’t available or when they can’t fix our problem or provide our need. In this time of social isolation we see the need to depend on God. Prior to this we could meet, perhaps, with the pastor but now we are restricted with that. I hope that you are discovering that God is ever present. Once again this spring as I was putting garden in, I thought, I sure wish mom and dad were here so I could get their advice about this project. Since they’re home in heaven, it’s impossible so I find myself asking my Heavenly Father. As I’ve aged, the ministers that I could go to for counsel have mostly gone to heaven so again I find myself having to depend upon God. What I’ve learned over the years is that only God can be depended upon all the time. The rest of us humans at our best can’t always be and do what others need from them. In the words of the old hymn, Leaning, Leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.

Dr. John Thompson