‘Waiting on God’ by Andrew Murray: Review by Chad Harrington

The main message of this book is that we live in a hurried culture, but God calls us to wait on him. Waiting on God means not operating based on our human understanding, but waiting for him to move in our lives and direct our actions. Andrew Murray’s book Waiting on God invites us to learn why and how to wait on God. As we do, we’ll encounter him in fresh ways.

This is a review of Andrew Murray’s book Waiting on God. By the end, you’ll know the main message of the book, my three main takeaways, and how you could use this book in your discipleship groups.

My Three Biggest Takeaways from Waiting on God

1. Waiting on God finds deeply scriptural precedent.

I wasn’t familiar with the importance and prevalence of waiting on God in Scripture before reading this book. But it’s all over Scripture, especially the Psalms. The psalmists write:

• Psalm 62:1 (NKJV): “Truly my soul silently waits for God; from Him comes my salvation.”
• Psalm 25:4–5 (a personal favorite of mine): “Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.”
• Psalm 130:5–6 (another personal favorite): “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.”

But it’s not just the Psalms. Murray quotes from Genesis, Isaiah, and Lamentations:

• Genesis 49:18 (NKJV):

“I have waited for your salvation, O LORD!”

• Isaiah 8:17: “I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in him.”
• Isaiah 26:8–9: “Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.”
  Isaiah 30:18: “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!”
• Lamentations 3:25–26: “The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.”

One comes from the well-known passage of Isaiah 40:30–31:

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Murray works through New Testament passages as well. My favorite verse about waiting in the New Testament, which is the focus of one of Murray’s latter chapters in the book, comes from Acts 1:4–5:

Wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

As I mention in my blog about the Great Commission, many Christians go on mission without waiting for the power of God.

2. King David offers a great example of waiting on the Lord.

While this statement is not in Waiting on God, David wrote many Psalms that express this principle, and part of the benefit of this book is that it opens our eyes to the concept of waiting so we can see this paradigm throughout Scripture, not just where the word “wait” is used. It’s an incredible principle.

Time and time again in 1 and 2 Samuel, King David asks the Lord what to do in the face of great challenges. He doesn’t assume the answer but waits on the Lord’s special direction, despite all circumstances:

• We know, in front of Goliath, he doesn’t go with Saul’s armor like everyone expected but uses smooth stones in battle. (1 Sam. 17)
• He’s in the cave at En Gedi where he could kill Saul, but he doesn’t “lift [his] hand against . . . the anointed of the Lord” (1 Sam. 24:6).
• In three different battle scenarios, he asks the Lord if he should go into battle and if he’ll be successful (1 Sam. 30:8; 2 Sam. 5:19; 5:23–24). My favorite battle scene is the last one, when he had just heard from the Lord a general affirmation to attack the Philistines, then soon afterwards—at least in the flow of the text—the same enemy approaches the people of God. Yet David inquires of the Lord again. This time, though, God answers him not with a mere yes but with a specific battle plan:

Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in the front of the balsam trees. As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move quickly, because that will mean the Lord has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army. (2 Sam. 5:23–24)

I love that he had a conversational relationship with the Lord where he waits on God’s answer, and God’s voice was the source of his success as King.

3. We must wait on God for a vibrant life with God.

At the end of the day, this book offers incredible value by just offering a devotional on the importance of waiting on God. The premise is that without waiting on the Lord as a vital framework for how we function in life, we will not have a vibrant relationship with God. Instead of just moving forward with what we think is best, we wait on God, what he wants, and what he does. That’s what waiting on God is fundamentally about.

How to Use Waiting on God with Your Group

I suggest doing a one-month study with your group. The links to the book below break down this book into 31 short chapters, which is perfect for a 31-day devotional. So plan on spending four or five weeks with your group studying this book, and get started! Consider starting on the first day of the month and finishing on the last day of the month for continuity and ease.

Vital Information about Waiting on God

• Chapter Count? 31 chapters
• Weeks of Study? 4–5 weeks
• Recommended size of group? 3–12 people
• Age of target audience? Adult
• Gender specific? No
• Reader difficulty? 5 out of 10
• Appropriate for New Believers? Yes
• What level of maturity does this assume? Any level, so long as they are hungry and open.

Housekeeping on Waiting on God

• Discussion questions in the book? No
• Homework required? No
• Video series available? No

Theology of Waiting on God

• Theological red flags? No
• Denominationally specific content? No
• Author’s preferred Bible translation? NKJV
• Publisher? Igniting Prayer Action, 2020 (updated in modern English from the originally published version of 1896)

What Can Waiting on God Accomplish for Your Group?

This book will provide for the group:

• A daily devotional experience for a month
• Opportunities for better understanding God’s heart
• Development in patience
• Better discernment of God’s timing and movements
• Understanding of how God can unlock doors that previously seemed locked

Recommended Purchase Links for Waiting on God

Keep this tool free by using our affiliate links!

• Free Audiobook on YouTube here (public domain, Librivox).
• Buy on Christianbook here.
• Buy on Amazon here.

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