[Matthew Henry is greatly known for his magnificent commentary on the whole Bible.  He also wrote a book proposing A Method for Prayer, in between writing volumes of that commentary.  This series of articles is from that book.] A Study by Matthew Henry (1662-1714)   How to Spend the Day with God, pt. 1   “…On Thee do I wait all the day.” (Psalm 25:5). Which of us is there that can truly say thus? —That lives this life of communion with God, which is so much our business, and so much our blessedness?  How far short do we come of the spirit of holy David, though we have much better assistance for our acquaintance with God than the saints then had, by the clearer discoveries of the mediation of Christ. Yet that weak Christians, who are sincere, may not therefore despair, be it remembered, that David himself was not always in such a frame as that he could say so; he had his infirmities, and yet was a man after God’s own heart. We have ours, which, if they be sincerely lamented and striven against, and the habitual bent of our souls be towards God and heaven, we shall be accepted through Christ; for we are not under the law, but under grace. However, David’s profession in the text shows us what should be our practice:  on God we must wait all the day. That notes two things, a patient expectation, and a constant attendance. First.  It speaks a patient expectation of his coming to us in a way of mercy; and then, all the day must be taken figuratively, for all the time that the wanted and desired mercy is delayed. David, in the former part of the verse, prayed for divine conduct and instruction. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me. He was at a loss, and very desirous to know what God would have him to do, and was ready to do it; but God kept him in suspense; he was not yet clear what was the mind and will of God, what course he should steer, and how he should dispose of himself. Will he therefore proceed without divine direction? No, on thee will I wait all the day, as Abraham attended on his sacrifice from morning till the sun went down, before God gave him an answer to his inquiries concerning his seed (see Gen. 15:5,12); and as Habakkuk stood upon his watch-tower, to see what answer God would give him when he consulted his oracle; and though it do not come presently, yet at the end it shall speak, and not lie. David, in the words preceding the text, had called God the God of his salvation, the God on whom he depended for salvation, temporal and eternal salvation; from whom he expected deliverance out of his present distresses, those troubles of his heart that were enlarged (Ps. 25:17), and out of the hands of those enemies that were ready to triumph over him (Ps. 25:2), and that hated him with cruel hatred (Ps. 25:19). Hoping that God will be his Savior, he resolves to wait on him all the day, like a genuine son of Jacob, whose dying profession was, “I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord” (Gen. 49:18).  Sometimes God prevents his people with the blessings of his goodness; before they call he answers them, is in the midst of his church to help her, and that right early (see Ps. 46:5). But at other times he seems to stand afar off, he delays the deliverance, and keeps them long in expectation of it, nay, and in suspense about it. The light is neither clear nor dark; it is day, and that is all. It is a cloudy and dark day, and it is not till evening time that it is light, that the comfort comes, which they have been all the day waiting for; nay, perhaps it comes not till far in the night. It is at midnight that the cry is made, “Behold the bridegroom comes.” The deliverance of the church out of her troubles, the success of her struggles, and rest from them, a rescue from under the rod of the wicked, and the accomplishment of all that which God hath promised concerning it, is what we must continue humbly waiting upon God for, without distrust or impatience; we must wait all the day. 1. Though it be a long day; though we be kept waiting a great while, quite beyond our own reckoning. Though, when we have waited long, we are still put to wait longer, and are bid, with the prophet’s servant, to go yet seven times (I Kings 18:43), before we perceive the least sign of mercy coming. We looked that this and the other had been he that should have delivered Israel, but are disappointed. “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved,” (Jer. 8:20). The time is prolonged, nay, the opportunities are let slip; the summer time and harvest time, when we thought to have reaped the fruit of all our prayers, and pains, and patience, is past and ended, and we are as far as ever from salvation. The time that the ark abode in Kirjathjearim was long, much longer than it was thought it would have been when it was first lodged there: it was twenty years; so that the whole house of Israel lamented after the Lord, and began to fear it would abide forever in that obscurity (see I Sam. 7:2). But though it be a long day, it is but a day; but one day, and it is known to the Lord (see Zech. 14:7).  It seems long while we are kept waiting, but the happy issue will enable us to reflect upon it as short, and but for a moment. It is no longer than God hath appointed, and we are sure his time is the best time, and his favors are worth waiting for. The time is long, but it is nothing to the days of eternity, when those that had long patience shall be recompensed for it with an everlasting salvation. 2. Though it be a dark day, yet let us wait upon God all the day. Though, while we are kept waiting for what God will do, we are kept in the dark concerning what is doing, and what is best for us to do; yet let us be content to wait in the dark. Though we see not our signs, though there is none to tell us how long; yet let us resolve to wait, how long so ever it be; for though what God doth, we know not now, yet we shall know hereafter, when the mystery of God shall be finished. Never was man more perplexed concerning God’s dealings with him than poor Job was: “I go forward, but he is not there; backward, but I cannot perceive him; on the left hand, on the right hand, but I cannot see him” (Job 23:8-9); yet he sits down, ver. 10, resolving to wait on God all the day with a satisfaction in this, that though I know not the way that he takes, he knows the way that I take; and when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold, approved and improved. He sits by as a refiner, and will take care that the gold be in the furnace no longer than is needful for refining it. When God’s way is in the sea, so that he cannot be traced, yet we are sure his way is in the sanctuary, so that he may be trusted (see Psalm 77:13,19). And when clouds and darkness are round about him, yet even then justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne. 3. Though it be a stormy day, yet we must wait upon God all the day. Though we are not only becalmed, and do not get forward; but though the wind be contrary, and drives us back; nay, though it be boisterous, and the church be tossed with tempests, and ready to sink, yet we must hope the best: yet we must wait and weather the storm by patience. It is some comfort that Christ is in the ship. The church’s cause is Christ’s own cause; he has espoused it, and he will own it; he is embarked in the same bottom with his people, and therefore why are ye fearful?  Doubt not but the ship will come safe to land. Though Christ seem for the present to be asleep, the prayers of his disciples will awake him, and he will rebuke the winds and the waves; though the bush burn, if God be in it, it shall not be consumed. Yet this is not all, Christ is not only in the ship, but at the helm; whatever threatens the church is ordered by the Lord Jesus, and shall be made to work for its good. It is excellently expressed by Mr. George Herbert: Away! despair, my gracious God doth hear, When winds and waves assault my keel, He doth preserve it, he doth steer, Even when the boat seems most to reel. Storms are the triumph of his art. Well may he close his eyes, but not his heart. It is a seasonable word at this day; what God will do with us we cannot tell; but of this we are sure:  he is a God of judgment, infinitely wise and just, and therefore blessed are all they that wait for him (see Isa. 30:18). He will do his own work in his own way and time; and though we be hurried back into the wilderness, when we thought we had been upon the borders of Canaan, we suffer justly for our unbelief and murmurings; but God acts wisely, and will be found faithful to his promise; his time to judge for his people, and to repent himself concerning his servants, is when he sees that their strength is gone. This was seen of old in the mount of the Lord, and shall be again. And therefore let us continue in a waiting frame. Hold out faith and patience, for it is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.  [This study will continue in the next issue, D. V.] —————————————————————— This article is taken from:  Henry, Matthew.  A Method for Prayer. Glasgow: D. Mackenzie, 1834. (Originally published in 1710).  A PDF file of this book can be downloaded, free of charge, at: http://www.ClassicChristianLibrary.com