is God not willing, or is He not able, to let His light and His presence so
shine through you that you can walk all the day with God nearer to you than
anything in nature? Praise God for the assurance; He can do it. And why
does He not do it? Why so seldom, and why in such feeble measure? There is
but one answer: you do not let Him. You are so occupied and filled with
other things, religious things, preaching and praying, studying and
working, so occupied with your religion, that you do not give God the time
to make Himself known, and to enter in and to take possession. Oh, brother,
listen to the word of the man who knew God so well, and begin to say: "My
soul, wait thou only upon God."

I might show that this is the very glory of the Creator, the very life
Christ brought into the world, the life He lived, and the very life Christ
wants to lift us up to in its entire dependence on the Father. The very
secret of the Christ-life is this: such a consciousness of God's presence
that whether it was Judas, who came to betray Him, or Caiaphas, who
condemned Him unjustly, or Pilate, who gave Him up to be crucified, the
presence of the Father was upon Him, and within Him, and around Him, and
man could not touch His spirit. And that is what God wants to be to you and
to me. Does not all your anxious restlessness, and futile effort, prove
that you have not let God do His work? God is drawing you to Himself.
This is not your own wish, and the stirring of your own heart, but the
everlasting Divine magnet is drawing you. These restless yearnings and
thirstings, remember, are the work of God. Come and be still, and wait upon
God. He will reveal Himself.

And how am I to wait on God? In answer I would say: first of all, in prayer
take more time to be still before God without saying one word. What is, in
prayer, the most important thing? That I catch the ear of Him to whom I
speak. We are not ready to offer our petition until we are fully conscious