What it is to Wait upon God (II)

II. For the second thing. Having shewed you what it is to wait on God, I come next to shew, that this we must do every day; and all the day long.

A. We must wait on our God every day. Omni die ([every day], so some. This is the work of every day, which is to be done in its day, for the duty of every day requires it. Servants come in the courts of princes have their weeks, or months of waiting appointed them, and are tied to attend only at certain times. But God's servants must never be out of waiting: all the days of our appointed time, the time of our work and warfare here on earth we must be waiting, Job 14:14, and not desire or expect to be discharged from this attendance, till we come to heaven, where we shall wait on God, as angels do, more nearly constantly.

We must wait on God every day.

1. Both on sabbath days and on week days. The Lord's day is instituted and appointed on purpose for our attendance on God in the courts of His house, there we must wait on Him, to give glory to Him, and to receive both commands,,, and favours from Him, ministers must then wait on their ministry, Romans 12:7 and people must wait on it too, saying as Cornelius for himself and his friends, now we are all here ready before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God, Acts 10:33. It is for the honour of God to help to fill up the assemblies of those that attend at the footstool of His throne, and to add to their number. The whole sabbath time except what is taken up in works of necessity and mercy, must be employed in waiting on our God. Christians are spiritual priests, and as such it is their business to wait in God's house at the time appointed. 

But it is not enough; we must wait upon our God on week days, too, for every day of the week we want mercy from Him, and have work to do for Him. Our waiting upon Him in public ordinances on the first day of the week, is designed to fix us to, and fit us for communion with Him all the week after; so that we answer not the intentions of the sabbath, unless the impressions of it abide upon us, and go with us into the business of the week, and be kept always in the imagination of the thoughts of our heart. Thus from one sabbath to another, and from one new moon to another, we must keep in a holy and gracious frame; must be so in the Spirit on the Lord's day, as to walk in the Spirit all the week.

2. Both on idle days, and busy days, we must be found waiting on God. Some days of our lives are days of labour and hurry, when our particular calling calls for our close and diligent application; but we must not think that will excuse us from our constant attendance on God. Even then when our hands are working about the world, our hearts may be waiting on our God, by an habitual regard to Him, to His providence as our guide, and His glory as our end, in our worldly business; and thus we must abide with Him in them. Those that rise up early, and sit up late, and eat the bread of carefulness in pursuit of the world, yet are concerned to wait on God, because otherwise all their care and pains will signify nothing; it is labour in vain, Psa. 127: 1, 2, no, it is labour in the fire.

Some days of our lives we relax from business, and take our ease. Many of you have your time for diversion, but then when you lay aside other business, this of waiting upon God must not be laid aside. When you prove yourselves with mirth, as Solomon did, and say, you will enjoy pleasure a little, yet let this wisdom remain with you, Eccl. 2:1, 3, let your eye be then up to God, and take heed of dropping your communion with Him, in that which you call an agreeable conversation with your friends. Whether it be a day of work, or a day of rest, we shall find nothing like waiting upon God both to enlighten the toil of our work, and to sweeten the comfort of our repose. So that whether we have much to do, or little to do in the world, still we must wait upon God, that we may be kept from the temptation that attends both the one and the other.

3. Both in days of prosperity, and in days of adversity, we must be found waiting upon God. Doth the world smile upon us, and court us? Yet let us not turn from attending on God, to make our court to it: If we have never so much of the wealth of the world, yet we cannot say we have no need of God, no further occasion to make use of Him, as David was ready to say, when in his prosperity he said he should never be moved; but soon saw his error, when God hid His face, and he was troubled. Psa. 30:6. When our affairs prosper, and into our hands God bringeth plentifully, we must wait upon God as our great landlord, and our own obligations to Him; must beg His blessing on what we have, and His favour with it, and depend upon Him both for the continuance, and for the comfort of it. We must wait upon God for wisdom and grace, to use what we have in the world for the ends for which we are intrusted with it, as those that must give account, and know not how soon. And how much soever we have of this world, and how richly soever it is given us to enjoy it, still we must wait upon God for better things, not only than the world gies, but than He Himself gives in this world. Lord put me not off with this for a portion.

And when the world frowns upon us, and things go very cross, we must not so fret ourselves as its frowns, or so frighten ourselves with them, as thereby to be driven off from waiting on God, but rather let us thereby be driven to it. Afflictions are sent for this end, to bring us to the throne of grace, to teach us to pray, and to make the word of God's grace precious to us. In the days of our sorrow, we must wait upon God for those comforts which are sufficient to balance our grief; Job, when in tears, fell down and worshipped God, taking away, as well as giving. In the day of our fear we must wait upon God for those encouragements that are sufficient to silence our fears; Jehoshaphat, in his distress waited on God, and was not in vain, his heart was established by it; and so was David's often, which brought him to this resolution, which was an anchor to his soul, what time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.

4. Both in the days of youth, and in the days of old age, we must be found waiting on God. Those that are young cannot begin their attendance on God too soon: The child Samuel ministered to the Lord, and the scripture story puts a particular mark of honour upon it; and Christ was wonderfully pleased with the hosannas of the children that waited on Him, when He rode in triumph into Jerusalem: when Solomon in his youth, upon his succession to the throne, waited upon God for wisdom, it is said, the saying pleased the Lord. I remember thee (saith God to Israel) even the kindness of thy youth, when thou wentest after Me, and didst wait upon Me in a wilderness, Jer. 2:2. To wait upon God, is to be mindful of our Creator, and the proper time for that is in the days of our youth, Eccl. 12:1. Those that would wait upon God aright, must learn betimes to do it; the most accomplished courtiers are those that are bred at court.

And may the old servants of Jesus be dismissed from waiting on Him? No, their attendance is still required, and shall be still accepted: they shall not be cast off by their Master in the time of old age, and therefore let not them then desert His service. When through the infirmities of age they can no longer be working servants in God's family, yet they may be waiting servants. Those that like Barzillai are unfit for the entertainments of the courts of earthly princes, yet may relish the pleasures of God's courts as well as ever. The Levites when they were past the age of fifty, and were discharged from the toilsome part of their ministration, yet still must wait on God, must be quietly waiting, to give honour to Him, and to receive comfort from Him. Those that have done the will of God, and their doing work is at an end, have need of patience to enable them to wait till they inherit the promise: and the nearer the happiness is which they are waiting for, the dearer should the God be they are waiting on, and hope shortly to be with, to be with eternally.

Matthew Henry 

A Method for Prayer, pp. 206-209

The Purpose of the Sabbath

8 MARCH

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O most High. Psalm 92:1

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Isaiah 1:12-18

As the psalm’s inscription says, the Jews were in the habit of singing Psalm 92 on the Sabbath day. It is apparent in other passages that other psalms were also applied to this use. As the words may be literally read in the Hebrew, it is good for giving thanks unto the LORD. The psalmist says it is good to have a certain day set apart for singing the praises of God; it is a useful arrangement that one day is chosen on which the Lord’s people can celebrate God’s works.

The reason the psalmist dedicates this psalm to the Sabbath is obvious. The day is not to be holy in the sense of our being devoted to idleness, as if idleness could be acceptable worship to God, but in the sense of separating ourselves from all other occupations so that we can meditate upon divine works. Because our minds are inconstant, we are apt to wander from God when exposed to various distractions. We need to be disentangled from all cares if we would seriously apply ourselves to the praises of God.

The psalmist teaches us that rightly observing the Sabbath does not consist of idleness, as some absurdly imagine, but in the celebration of the divine name. The argument that he makes is drawn from the profitableness of service, for nothing is more encouraging than to know that our labor is not in vain and that what we engage in meets with divine approbation.

John Calvin

FOR MEDITATION: The Lord did not give us the Sabbath so that we might fritter it away doing nothing unprofitable. It is given so that we might focus on Him and on His Word, and keeping it as a matter of the heart. Take a moment to re-examine how you spend your Sabbaths. Is there room for improvement?

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke

Observance of the First Day

From the preceding it will be evident that it is important properly to observe the weekly sabbath, and that the desecration of that sabbath day is a sad sign of spiritual deterioration. 

First of all, it will be plain that they who insist on the seventh day instead of the first day of the week are utterly in error, proceed from a wrong conception principally, and fail to understand the significance of the Christian sabbath.

This error is not to be found only in the mistaken notion that one day is holier than the other. The error of the Seventh Day Adventist much rather consist in this, that he does not understand the progress of God's work, and fails to see that God repeatedly spoke of another day. He does not understand that our sabbath consists principally in our entering into the work of God, which He perfected for us in Christ Jesus our Lord, and that therefore, if we must celebrate a special day at all, the Christian church, following Scripture, chose the first day as being the resurrection-day of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Seventh Day Adventist insists on the sabbath of creation and of the shadows. He closes his eyes to the fact that God has provided some better thing for us.

The sabbath of creation is gone forever, and cannot possibly be celebrated by the Christian church. It was lost when a man fell into sin and death. 

The first paradise will never, and must never, return.

Moreover, the sabbath of the shadows was temporary, as are all the shadows. And the earthly land of Canaan is forever destroyed, to open up new vistas for the better, that is, the heavenly country. For this better country already the patriarchs of the old dispensation hoped, as they dwelt in the land of Canaan as in a strange country. For we read: "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Heb. 11:9, 10. And again, in the same chapter, vss. 13-16. "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He hath prepared for them a city."

A better day has dawned. And the dawn of this better day the Seventh Day Adventist ignores, does not see. It dawned on the first day of the week, the resurrection-day of the Lord, that gives us rest. Small wonder that the disciples from the outset met on that day. Small wonder, especially in the light of the fact that again on the first day of the week the risen, glorified Lord returned in the Spirit, and sanctified that day until His coming again in glory. On that first day of the week God entered into His rest through our Lord Jesus Christ, when He raised Him from the dead. On the first day of the week He spiritually bestowed that rest upon His church which is the temple of God with men. It is on that day that the people of God celebrate the sabbath of the Lord their God.

From all that we have said about the sabbath of the Lord, it will also be self- evident that it is quite impossible to legislate the world into proper observance of the sabbath day. It is impossible for the unbelieving world to observe the sabbath of the Lord our God. I have no objection that proper legislation be passed, and that the already existing laws be enforced, pertaining to restriction of labor, business, traffic, and public amusements of Sunday. But at best, such legislation may be conducive to create a better atmosphere for the people of God in the world to keep the weekly sabbath holy and to fill their minds and hearts with the things concerning the kingdom of God. Nevertheless, the ungodly cannot possibly celebrate the sabbath, even though they spend it in complete idleness and refraining from all labor. The sabbath is strictly a spiritual idea. The keeping of the sabbath is a high spiritual act, the expression of hope and faith on the part of the Christian sojourner in the midst of this present world. It is for this reason a very sick faith and a waning hope, when they that call themselves Christians, that outwardly join the band of Christian pilgrims in the world, evince no longing to keep the sabbath properly, desecrate it, and more and more join the world, to follow after their own desires, speak their own words, and do their own evil works.

For the Christian is really a stranger and sojourner, a pilgrim in a strange country, because principally he entered into the sabbath of the Lord through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He is begotten again unto a lively hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. When he is regenerated, he receives the beginning of that new and resurrection life of the Lord. He ceased from his labor and toil. He rests from sin and from the world and its evil works. And he becomes a new man, the citizen of another country, the heavenly, of the new Jerusalem, that will descend out of heaven from God in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. He lives the sabbath life. Hence, his whole life is a sabbatic life, a ceasing from sin, and an entering into the rest of God's perfected covenant.

But in this world his life is a sojourner's sabbath. For he still sojourns in Babylon. And in Babylon they do not know the sabbath of the Lord our God. They are aliens to the very idea of the sabbath, of the rest of God's tabernacle. We need not be surprised, therefore, that in the world they devote the first day of the week to the pursuit of earthly and worldly things, of the things of the flesh. It is usually especially on the sabbath that all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, becomes emphatically manifest. But this is all the more reason why the Christian sojourner, living his sabbath life in the midst of the world, where he feels that he is a stranger, where he meets with Babylon's opposition and reproach, where all things tend to draw him downward and to make it difficult for him to live his life of rest, shall long for the say of the Lord, the weekly sabbath, which the Lord in His great mercy provided for him, and shall insist to keep it holy. He shall not entertain the notion that by merely refraining from earthly labor he is observing the sabbath of the Lord. He shall not imagine that one day is holier than the other. But he shall as much as is in him desist from every earthly task, to remove from his mind and heart all earthly cares, in order that the whole day may be occupied only with the sabbath of the Lord; congregate with His people in His house diligently; meditate on His Word; take hold of His promises; and let his hole conversation be in heaven.

"Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and his hand from doing any evil." Is. 56:2

For even as this keeping of the sabbath itself the expression of a healthy and vigorous spiritual life, of the lively hope unto which we are begotten again by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, so the proper observance of the weekly sabbath will bear the fruit that the believer individually and the church of Christ organically are strengthened in the most holy faith. Quickened in the hope eternal, sustained and encouraged by the proper observance of the weekly sabbath, the believer will yield himself to the Lord, to work by His Holy Spirit in him. And he will be encouraged once more to take up his pilgrim's staff and pursue his journey in the world, looking forward to the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God.

Blessed is the man that doeth this, for he has the sure promise of the Lord: "My salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed."

Herman Hoeksema 

The Triple Knowledge, III: 267-271

http://rfpa.org/collections/books-by-herman-hoeksema?page=2 

Of the Sabbath and Lord's Day

THERE now remains but one thing more to be added to what has been said concerning daily meditation, namely, the meditation relating to that eminent day of God, first the seventh day of the week, now in the New Testament times changed to, and called the first day of the week, and the Lord's Day.

1. As to rise,nature, ends and advantages of the Sabbath in the Old Testament, and the Lord's Day in the New, it is the best day ever the world saw, or shall be seen on this side heaven.

2. It was and is that day wherein the infinite glories and excellences of a God have shined brighter and warmer on the spirits of men than in any other day beside- namely, His infinite wisdom, power, love, goodness, mercy, and riches of free grace.

3. The Sabbath, as some judge, hat its rise so early as in Paradise, or when man was in state of innocence: it must then be of very great antiquity, and a rarity of great worth. And,

4. Then it must be that only holy day which man in state of innocenc had- possibly , if he had stood, should ever have had afterward. 

5. After the first institution it had the most glorious and tremendous promulgation and sanction, such a delivery and ratification, as no other law (except those that were spoken at the same time) ever had, namely, by God's so wonderful and most astonishing appearance on Mount Sinai, in the sight of six hundred thousand persons. There it was one of the then words spoken by God's own mouth, by God first spoken in the ears of all that so prepared and awakened numerous multitude, and after in the mount was written with the finger of God, written on the first table of stone, before the six commandments of the second table. This commandment thus written was with the others reserved in the golden ark or chest, made purposely by Moses from God's command to keep the tables, and then by God's appointment was to be preserved in the glorious tabernacle made by Moses, and there it was to be with highest honor preferred to be kept in the holy of holies.

6. Though some yield it not, yet a vast majority judge the Sabbath had its change from the seventh to the first day of the week by the Lord of the Sabbath, Christ Himself, or at least by His apostles from His authority.

7. However it be changed, yet it is looked upon as grounded on that so amazing part of our redemption, Christ's glorious resurrection on the third day after His passion.

8. The Sabbath formerly was the Old Testament church's fixed time to behold as in a mirror the glory of God the Creator, His eternal Godhead, power, wisdom, goodness, and most glorious excellences, in the so admirable frame of heaven and earth, and the so various and curious pieces in it, all most exquisitely wrought and finished. It was the peculiar time for setting up the ladder of the creatures by contemplation to climb from earth to heaven with. But now changed into the first day of the week, it is the Christian church's time for beholding, as in a mirror, the glory more peculiarly of God the Redeemer- now not in humiliation, but in His appearing and begun exaltation in the His glorious resurrection from the dead, that His concerned people might joy with highest an most heavenly rejoicing, for this rising of the Sun of righteousness, to be under the warmest and most vivifying beams of His infinite love.

9. Let me meditate of this day, as the time afforded for largest spiritual advantages, no day being so eminent for me and my soul as this day.

10. Let me meditate of this day as that happy season wherein the ordinances of Christ do run in fuller, higher, and stronger current. More is offered me on this great soul-mart day than on other common market-days, other weekday opportunities; it is the day whereby in some respects I have far better ordinances, the public; in communion with Christ, in the midst, among those that are gathered together in His name. And then by public I have better advantages for the private, to perform them better. Private duties having a better time and better helps, I must thereby be minded of my better performance.

11. It is the eminent day of meeting with God in His upper walks of more solemn ordinances.

12. The day of days for our best speaking with our God, and of highest familiarity with Him.

13. It is the great time of our hearing from God, and having Him most eminently speak to us. There are no hearings from God like this day's hearings, no such voice, no such efficacy can be expected as on this day.

14. It is the day wherein God sits out, and is most to be seen- the great day of seeing God's goings in the sanctuary, seeing His power and His glory, Psalm 63:2. No such day for this as the Lord's own day.

15. A day of feeding more on the "feast of fat things full of marrow," Isaiah 25:6. Of being brought into the King's banqueting-house, having the banner of Christ's love spread more amply over us than at other times, it being the day wherein the highest flamings-up of His unspeakable love appeared, in that He not only died, but rose again from the dead, without which all His other labor and sufferings had been lost, and our souls been lost also.

16. It is a day dropped down from heaven, may serve to give a taste of the Sabbath and day kept there, and to set a copy for us here to write after, in our holy restings and actings, attended with heavenly refreshings. God that made all things, when He had finished His work, He then rested on the seventh day, and with His example of resting, gave the precept of sanctifying the seventh-day to the church of the New Testament, as some think, which therefore they say is called the Lord's day, Revelation 1:10, as the ordinance of the supper is called the Lord's supper, as instituted by Him.

17. It is the day of resting the body from labor, or respiting the mind from worldly thoughts and cares, and of refreshing the spirit with heavenly manna, which rains down now on this day more plentifully, and with water of life, that runs more abundantly in the pure channels of holy ordinances.

18. Meditated on it should be, as the season of the best reciprocations, mutual actings between earth and heaven, wherein the soul has the advantage of acting higher and more vigorously, to glorify and please God, and wherein God commands the blessing more, and affords assistances more usually than or any other days, as experience proves.

19. It is a time to come from sweeter and fuller communion with God in Christ (whose blessed day it is), to come with our faces shining and hearts flaming, made better to be on earth, fitter to live in heaven: and hereupon,

20. To leave upon the spirit a more eager longing fully to enjoy the Lord of the Sabbath, and have time turned wholly into eternity.

These or such-like meditations may be suitable and quickening for improving the great opportunity of this day of Christ, and we cannot think too much or too seriously for this great occasion.


Nathanael Ranew
Solitude Improved By Divine Meditation, pp. 80-83