God Waiting to be Gracious

The following entry in Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening devotional reminded me of Andrew Murray's book, Waiting on God.

Morning, December 9

Go To Evening Reading

“Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you.”

Isaiah 30:18

God often delays in answering prayer. We have several instances of this in sacred Scripture. Jacob did not get the blessing from the angel until near the dawn of day—he had to wrestle all night for it. The poor woman of Syrophoenicia was answered not a word for a long while. Paul besought the Lord thrice that “the thorn in the flesh” might be taken from him, and he received no assurance that it should be taken away, but instead thereof a promise that God’s grace should be sufficient for him. If thou hast been knocking at the gate of mercy, and hast received no answer, shall I tell thee why the mighty Maker hath not opened the door and let thee in? Our Father has reasons peculiar to himself for thus keeping us waiting. Sometimes it is to show his power and his sovereignty, that men may know that Jehovah has a right to give or to withhold. More frequently the delay is for our profit. Thou art perhaps kept waiting in order that thy desires may be more fervent. God knows that delay will quicken and increase desire, and that if he keeps thee waiting thou wilt see thy necessity more clearly, and wilt seek more earnestly; and that thou wilt prize the mercy all the more for its long tarrying. There may also be something wrong in thee which has need to be removed, before the joy of the Lord is given. Perhaps thy views of the Gospel plan are confused, or thou mayest be placing some little reliance on thyself, instead of trusting simply and entirely to the Lord Jesus. Or, God makes thee tarry awhile that he may the more fully display the riches of his grace to thee at last. Thy prayers are all filed in heaven, and if not immediately answered they are certainly not forgotten, but in a little while shall be fulfilled to thy delight and satisfaction. Let not despair make thee silent, but continue instant in earnest supplication.

Spurgeon's daily devotional Morning and Evening is so classic and popular that it can be viewed on many websites on the internet like: HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE


Waiting on God by Andrew Murray is also another classic that many websites host, like:
HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE,
AUDIO HERE, HERE

The fact that there are 31 chapters means the book can be read in one month. One chapter per day. Or, in about 8 months if you read one chapter every week [say, on Sunday].

Recommended Devotional Material

Someone asked me what devotional material I recommend. I'm no authority on the subject but I gave some recommendations off the top of my head. Most of them were freely available online. I didn't want to lose the collection of links and realized it would make a good blogpost. So, I've posted my response below (with minor editing).

It would depend on your taste. I myself don't limit myself to Calvinistic literature [The person who asked is a Calvinist like myself, but may not also be a continuationist-AP]. But if you're looking for Reformed [i.e. Calvinistic] stuff, I hear [The] Valley of Vision is good. One can never go wrong with Spurgeon's Morning and Evening along with his 'Checkbook of Faith" (AKA Faith's Checkbook). Various websites have them for viewing or download (e.g. http://www.spurgeon.org/medit.php).

There are a lot of other Reformed devotional material at https://www.monergism.com/topics/prayer/devotional.

I would also recommend good books on prayer. For example, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND The Hidden Life of Prayer by David M'Intyre (last name spelled in various ways including "MacIntyre"). https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/hidden.html

I think there are 32 chapters in Andrew Murray's With Christ in the School of Prayer which can be accessed at www.ccel.org
Anything by Murray can be turned into a devotional like his "Abide in Christ".

I also recommend Curt Daniel's Prayer and the Sovereignty of God. http://www.faithbibleonline.net/prayer-and-the-sovereignty-of-god/ I'm not sure, but I think it's a transcript of one of his Calvinism lectures: https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/histtheocalvin.html

I would also recommend A.W. Pink's chapter on prayer and God's sovereignty in his classic book, The Sovereignty of God: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/pink/sovereignty.html

Almost anything by Thomas Watson can be turned into a devotional reading. For example, A Divine Cordial: http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/ipb-e/epl-10/web/watson-cordial.html
https://www.ccel.org/ccel/watson/cordial.html

Or his book The Art of Divine Contentment.
http://grace-ebooks.com/library/Thomas%20Watson/TW_The%20Art%20of%20Divine%20Contentment.pdf
or https://www.ccel.org/ccel/watson/contentment.html

Speaking of contentment, Jeremiah Burroughs' Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment is also good: https://www.preachtheword.com/bookstore/contentment.pdf

When it comes to non-Calvinistic books on prayer, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND A.B. Simpson's The Life of Prayer. I so recommend it, I posted a copy of the book on one of my blogs here:
http://charismatamatters.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-life-of-prayer-by-absimpson.html

Also, A.B. Simpson's daily devotional Days of Heaven on Earth which is freely online too (e.g. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28416, or https://www.cmalliance.org/devotions/simpson).

Arminian R.A. Torrey's book How To Pray is a classic. Many websites have it like: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/torrey/pray.html

In the Catholic tradition, I recommend Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/kempis/imitation.html

Martin Luther recommended Theologia Germanica: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/anonymous/theologia.html

Arminian A.W. Tozer's book The Knowledge of the Holy :http://www.heavendwellers.com/hdt_knowledge_of_the_holy.htm

Or The Pursuit of God :http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/tozer/5f00.0888/5f00.0888.c.htm
or http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25141/25141-h/25141-h.htm

Man the Dwelling Place of God:
http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/tozer/5j00.0010/5j00.0010.c.htm
or http://www.dailybread.com.au/e-books/AW_Tozer/Man%20-%20the%20Dwelling%20Place%20of%20God.pdf

Or E.M. Bound's books on prayer: http://charismatamatters.blogspot.com/2013/08/em-bounds-on-prayer.html

Reformed folk consider Charles Finney a Pelagian, I think he was either Semi-Pelagian or nearly non-Pelagian. I find some of stuff in Lectures on Revivals of Religion to be good. Spit out the bones, and eat the meat: http://www.gospeltruth.net/1868Lect_on_Rev_of_Rel/index68revlec.html

Finally, I recommend reading biographies of past Christians.

For example, George Mueller. A good beginning one is the one by Basil Miller.

Augustine's Confessions (I recommend the Rex Warner translation. Though, people have given high praise to Maria Boulding's translation as well as the one by F. J. Sheed) Your local library should have a copy of one of those translations.

I could recommend more, but those are off the top of my head.

For those who are Continuationists like myself, I would also recommend some of the books in my blogpost:

Recommended Resources on Divine Healing

 As I pointed out in that blogpost, some of the book recommendations are not on the topic of divine healing, but relate to it for some reason or another. For example, because they address the issue of prayer and/or faith. I also said in that blogpost that I don't necessarily agree with everything taught in any book I might recommend. When reading any book discernment is necessary. We all need to learn to spit out the bones and dine on the meat.