Day 12—Waiting on God, Keeping His Ways

Psalm 37:34 - Wait for the LORD and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off.

If we desire to find a man whom we long to meet, we inquire where the places and the ways are where he is to be found. When waiting on God, we need to be very careful that we keep His ways; out of these we never can expect to find Him. "You meet him who rejoices and works righteousness; those that remember You in Your ways." We may be sure that God is never and nowhere to be found but in His ways. And that there, by the soul who seeks and patiently waits, He is always most surely to be found. "Wait on the LORD, and keep His ways, and He shall exalt you."

How close the connection between the two parts of the injunction, "Wait on the LORD,"—that has to do with worship and disposition; "and keep His ways,"—that deals with walk and work. The outer life must be in harmony with the inner; the inner must be the inspiration and the strength for the outer. It is our God who has made known His ways in His Word for our conduct, and invites our confidence for His grace and help in our heart. If we do not keep His ways, our waiting on Him can bring no blessing. The surrender to full obedience to all His will is the secret of full access to all the blessings of His fellowship.


The psalm says, "Fret not yourself; trust in the LORD, and do good. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; cease from anger, and forsake wrath. Depart from evil, and do good; the LORD forsakes not His saints. The righteous shall inherit the land. The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide." And then follows—the word occurs for the third time in the psalm—"Wait on the LORD, and keep His way." Do what God asks you to do; God will do more than you can ask Him to do.

"Wait on the LORD, and keep His way." It may be that the consciousness of shortcomings and sin makes our text look more like a hindrance than a help in waiting on God. Let it not be so. Have we not said more than once, the very starting-point and ground-work of this waiting is utter and absolute impotence? Why then not come with everything evil you feel in yourself, every memory of unwillingness, unwatchfulness, unfaithfulness, and all that causes such unceasing self-condemnation? Put your power in God's omnipotence, and find in waiting on God your deliverance. Your failure has been owing to only one thing: you sought to conquer and obey in your own strength. Come and bow before God until you learn that He is the God who alone is good, and alone can work any good thing. Believe that in you, and all that nature can do, there is no true power. Be content to receive from God each moment the inworking of His mighty grace and life, and waiting on God will become the renewal of your strength to run in His ways and not be weary, to walk in His paths and never faint. "Wait on the LORD, and keep His way" will be command and promise in one.

"My soul, wait only upon God!"