Waiting at the Gate

WAITING AT THE GATE

“I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait,
and in His Word do I hope. ” – Psa. cxxx. 5 .

I AM a suppliant at the door of a palace, a beggar at the gate of a King, but with this gracious dissimilarity to usual petitioners, that the Lord of the palace is my personal Friend, and, though I am waiting outside at present, I possess an invitation to enter, and know that the door will be wide open to me some day. Nay, more than this, if I tell all that is in my heart — I am daily expecting that the King Himself will come and call me in, and admit me to His presence as His own child.

     Well, my soul, this is a blessed condition of favour and privilege surely! Thou mayest well afford to wait patiently for so glorious a hope as this. Thou knowest that waiting is far better than wandering, and that silently uplifted hands plead more eloquently than a torrent of words. Keep thou thy tarrying, entreating posture; and if the summons come not yet, it should be joy enough to wait and watch for His time and His will, and to anticipate the coming glory in which He has promised that thou shalt share. 

     For what dost thou say thou are waiting? Alms? Entrance? Welcome? Thou hast the first even now, for His bounty reaches thee as thou standest watching daily at His gates; and the better blessings are certain when He has perfected that which concerneth thee, for then thou wilt know with glad surprise “what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him.”

     Meanwhile, dost thou not get some wondrous glimpses of thy glorious Friend through the lattices, and have there not been times when thou didst catch the sweet tones of His voice as He said, “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself?” 

     “I wait for the Lord.” Blessed Master, I thank Thee for my waiting times – they are times of love and favor, they draw me nearer, closer, more urgently to Thy feet. Thy “delays are not denials.” Thy tarryings do but ensure a more bountiful providing. When thou seemest slow to answer prayer, it is but to make me more eager for the mercy, or to teach me to ask with greater confidence, or that Thou mayest gather up Thy blessings in order to bestow them “exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think.” 

     “My soul doth wait.” Ah, Lord! what special blessedness of sweet content I find in waiting before Thee when Thou fillest my heart with adoring love and gratitude, when I am silent, because no words are needed between Thee and my wondering soul, when I am humbled to the very dust by Thy love and favor, yet lifted into the Heavenly places through Christ Jesus, and thus I wait, and watch, and worship! This is the waiting upon Thee which renews the strength of my spiritual life . This is the waiting that never wearies, the expectancy that never disappoints, the “hope that maketh not ashamed.” Oh, to be found thus waiting for God, and upon God, “till He come!” 

     “And in His Word do I hope.” What is His ” Word to thee this morning, my  soul? Hast thou already gathered thy daily manna, and tasted its sweetness? The Heavenly food lies thick around thee, for the Lord has strewn the pages of His Word with promises of blessedness to those who wait for Him. And remember, His slightest Word stands fast and sure; it can never fail thee. So, my soul, see that thou ” have a promise underneath thee, “for then thy waiting will be resting, and a firm foothold for thy hope will give thee confidence in Him who has said, ” They shall not be ashamed that wait for Me.”