Looking, Waiting, and Crying Unto the Lord

Therefore will I look unto the LORD: I will wait for the GOD of my salvation: My GOD will hear me. Micah 7:7.

Here is a soul exclaiming against the very worst of foes. “A man’s enemies are the men of his own house.” Under such experience, behold and imitate the conduct before us. Here are two acts of the mind, and the cry of faith. (1st.) I WILL LOOK. The Lord is the object looked to. Blessed be the Spirit, he opens our eyes to see him, and our hearts to believe his love to us and care for us. Then we know the voice of Christ and obey it. He says, “Look unto ME, and be ye saved,” (Isaiah 45:22.) Whenever distressed with enemies from within and without, sin, Satan, or the world, here is our warrant, to look unto the Lord. He assures us of salvation from them. We shall find and feel these enemies, to the end of life. Therefore looking unto the Lord, is to be the constant work of life. O the special mercy to have such a Lord to look to! Shame to us, that we look no more to him. Happy for us when we look to him only. We are sure of comfort from him, and safety by him, from all the power, malice, and fraud of every enemy. But I see enemies beset me. I am not saved from them. I grow impatient. Unbelief prevails. Doubts and fears arise. Here is the remedy. (2d.) “I will wait.” Time will prove God’s truths, Satan’s lying suggestions, and the groundless suspicions of my own heart. “He that believeth shall not make haste.” (Isaiah 28:16.) It is, “the God of my salvation,” I wait upon, and wait for. “My times are in his hand,” (Psalms 31:15.) Every promise has its season for accomplishment. Every providence its hour. Every vision its appointed time. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1.) O this waiting faith honours the Lord’s word greatly. It has the Lord’s word for its support. The Lord honours it. Behold his absolute precious promise to us. “They who wait upon the Lord SHALL renew their strength,” (Isaiah 40:31.) But this was not silent looking, and dumb waiting. For, (3d.) Here is the cry of faith. “My God will hear me.” O the preciousness of faith! it claims the Lord, and makes a special appropriation of him. My God. Vile and sinful as I am: wretched and miserable as sin has made me: however beset and distressed with foes within, and enemies without, yet, O my soul, thou hast a covenant God in Christ to look to, wait for, and call upon. He will hear me. I am sure of it. For he put it into my heart to cry to him.

To look and wait upon the Lord,
Our priv’lege is most sweet,
For God his presence will afford,
And will with comforts greet.

- William Mason, A Spiritual Treasury For The Children of God, Volume 2, November 5