[Matthew Henry is greatly known for his magnificent commentary on the whole Bible. He
also wrote a book proposing A Method for Prayer, in between writing volumes of that
commentary. This series of articles is from that book.]
A Study by Matthew Henry (1662-1714)
How to Spend Every Day with God, pt. 4
“…On Thee do I wait all the day.”
(Psalm 25:5).
For Application.
First
.
Let
me
further
urge
upon
you
this
duty
of
waiting
upon
God
all
the
day,
in
some
more
particular
instances,
according
to
what
you
have
to
do
all
the
day
in
the
ordinary
business
of
it.
We
are
weak
and
forgetful,
and
need
to
be
put
in
mind
of
our
duty
in
general,
upon
every
occasion
for
the
doing
of
it;
and
therefore
I
choose
to be thus particular, that I may be your remembrancer.
1.
When
you
meet
with
your
families
in
the
morning,
wait
upon
God
for
a
blessing
upon
them,
and
attend
him
with
your
thanksgivings
for
the
mercies
you
and
yours
have
jointly
received
from
God
the
night
past:
you
and
yours
houses
must
serve
the
Lord,
must
wait
on
him.
See
it
owing
to
his
goodness,
who
is
the
founder
and
father
of
the
families
of
the
righteous,
that
you
are
together,
that
the
voice
of
rejoicing
and
salvation
is
in
your
tabernacles,
and
therefore
wait
upon
him
to
continue
you
together,
to
make
you
comforts
to
one
another,
to
enable
you
to
do
the
duty
of
every
relation,
and
to
lengthen
out
the
days
of
your
tranquility.
In
all
the
conversation
we
have
with
our
families,
the
provision
we
make
for
them,
and
the
orders
we
give
concerning
them,
we
must
wait
upon
God,
as
the
God
of
all
the
families
of
Israel,
(see
Jer.
21:1);
and
have
an
eye
to
Christ,
as
he
in
whom
all
the
families of the earth are blessed.
Every
member
of
the
family,
sharing
in
family
mercies,
must
wait
on
God
for
grace
to
contribute
to
family
duties.
Whatever
disagreeableness
there
may
be
in
any
family
relation,
instead
of
having
the
spirit
either
burdened
with
it,
or
provoked
by
it,
let
it
be
an
inducement
to
wait
on
God,
who
is
able
either
to
redress
the
grievance, or to balance it, and give grace to bear it.
2.
When
you
are
pursuing
the
education
of
your
children,
or
the
young
ones
under
your
charge,
wait
upon
God
for
his
grace
to
make
the
means
of
their
education
successful.
When
you
are
yourselves
giving
them
instruction
in
things
pertaining
either
to
life
or
godliness,
their
general
or
particular
calling,
when
you
are
sending
them
to
school
in
the
morning,
or
ordering
them
the
business
of
the
day,
wait
upon
God
to
give
them
an
understanding,
and
a
good
capacity
for
their
business:
Especially
their
main
business,
for
it
is
God
that
giveth
wisdom.
If
they
are
but
slow,
and
do
not
come
on
as
you
could
wish,
yet
wait
on
God
to
bring
them
forward,
and
to
give
them
his
grace
in
his
own
time;
and
while
you
are
patiently
waiting
on
him,
that
will
encourage
you
to
take
pains
with
them,
and
will
likewise
make you patient and gentle towards them.
And
let
children
and
young
people
wait
on
God
in
all
their
daily
endeavours,
to
fit
themselves
for
the
service
of
God
and
their
generation.
You
desire
to
be
comforts
to
your
relations,
to
be
good
for
something
in
this
world,
do
you
not?—Beg
of
God
then
a
wise
and
understanding
heart,
as
Solomon
did,
and
wait
upon
him
all
the
day
for
it,
that
you
may
be
still
increasing
in
wisdom,
as
you
do
in
stature,
and
in
favour with God and man.
3.
When
you
go
to
your
shops,
or
apply
yourselves
to
the
business
of
your
particular
calling,
wait
upon
God
for
his
presence
with
you.
Your
business
calls
for
your
constant
attendance
every
day,
and
all
the
day;
keep
thy
shop,
and
thy
shop
will
keep
thee;
but
let
your
attendance
on
God
in
your
callings
be
as
constant
as
your
attendance
on
your
callings.
Eye
God’s
providence
in
all
the
occurrences
of
them.
Open
shop
with
this
thought,
I
am
now
in
the
way
of
my
duty,
and
I
depend
upon
God
to
bless
me
in
it
.
When
you
are
waiting
for
customers,
wait
on
God
to
find
you
something
to
do
in
that
calling
to
which
he
hath
called
you.
Those
you
call
chance
customers,
you
should
rather
call
Providence
customers,
and
should
say
of
the
advantage you make by them,
the Lord my God brought it to me.
When
you
are
buying
and
selling,
see
God’s
eye
upon
you,
to
observe
whether
you
are
honest
and
just
in
your
dealings,
and
do
no
wrong
to
those
you
deal
with;
and
let
your
eye
then
be
up
to
him,
for
that
discretion
to
which
God
doth
instruct,
not
only
the
husbandman,
but
the
tradesman
(see
Isa.
28:26);
that
prudence
which
directs
the
way,
and
with
which
it
is
promised,
the
good
man
shall
order
his
affairs;
for
that
blessing
which
makes
rich,
and
adds
no
sorrow
with
it,
for
that
honest
profit which may be expected in the way of honest diligence.
4.
When
you
take
a
book
in
your
hands,
God’s
book,
or
any
other
useful
good
book,
wait
upon
God
for
his
grace
to
enable
you
to
make
a
good
use
of
it.
Some
of
you
spend
a
deal
of
time
every
day
in
reading,
and
I
hope
none
of
you
let
a
day
pass
without
reading
some
portion
of
scripture,
either
alone
or
with
your
families.
Take
heed
that
the
time
you
spend
in
reading
be
not
lost
time.
It
is
so,
if
you
read
that
which
is
idle,
and
vain,
and
unprofitable;
it
is
so,
if
you
read
that
which
is
good,
even
the
word
of
God
itself,
and
do
not
mind
it,
or
observe
it,
or
aim
to
make
it
of
any
advantage
to
you.
Wait
upon
God,
who
gives
you
those
helps
for
your
souls,
to
make
them
helpful
indeed
to
you.
The
Eunuch
did
so
when
he
was
reading
the
book
of
the
prophet
Isaiah
in
his
chariot;
and
God
presently
sent
him
one, who made him understand what he read.
You
read
perhaps
now
and
then
the
histories
of
former
times.
In
acquainting
yourselves
with
them,
you
must
have
an
eye
to
God,
and
to
that
wise
and
gracious
Providence
which
governed
the
world
before
we
were
born,
and
preserved
the
church
in
it,
and
therefore
may
be
still
depended
upon
to
do
all
for
the
best;
for
he
is Israel’s king of old.
5.
When
you
sit
down
to
your
tables,
wait
on
God.
See
his
hand
spreading
and
preparing
a
table
before
you
in
spite
of
your
enemies,
and
in
the
society
of
your
friends;
often
review
the
grant
which
God
made
to
our
first
father
Adam,
and
in
him
to
us,
of
the
products
of
the
earth
in
Gen.
1:29:
Behold
I
have
given
you
every
herb-
bearing
seed,
bread
corn
especially,
to
you
it
shall
be
for
meat
.
And
the
grant
he
afterwards
made
to
Noah,
our
second
father,
and
in
him
to
us,
in
Gen.
9:3:
Every
moving
thing
that
liveth
shall
be
meat
for
you,
even
as
the
green
herb
.
See
in
those
things
what a bountiful benefactor he is to mankind, and wait upon him accordingly.
6.
Desire
of
God
a
blessing
upon
what
you
give
in
charity,
that
it
may
be
comfortable
to
whom
it
is
given,
and
that,
though
what
you
are
able
to
give
is
but
a
little,
like
the
widow’s
two
mites,
yet
that,
by
God’s
blessing,
may
be
doubled,
and
made to go a great way, like the widow’s meal in the barrel, and oil in the cruise.
Depend
upon
God
to
make
up
to
you
what
you
lay
out
in
good
works,
and
to
recompense
it
abundantly
in
the
resurrection
of
the
just:
nay,
and
you
are
encouraged
to
wait
upon
him
for
a
return
of
it
even
in
this
life;
it
is
bread
cast
upon
the
waters,
which
you
shall
find
again
after
many
days;
and
you
shall
carefully
observe
the
providence
of
God,
whether
it
do
not
make
you
rich
amends
for
your
good
works,
according
to
the
promise,
that
you
may
understand
the
lovingkindness of the Lord, and his faithfulness to the word which he hath spoken.
7.
When
you
inquire
after
public
news,
in
that
wait
upon
God,
do
it
with
an
eye
to
him,
for
this
reason:
because
you
are
truly
concerned
for
the
interests
of
his
kingdom
in
the
world,
and
lay
them
near
your
hearts;
because
you
have
a
compassion
for
mankind,
for
the
lives
and
souls
of
men,
and
especially
of
God’s
people.
Ask
what
news,
not
as
the
Athenians,
only
to
satisfy
a
vain
curiosity,
and
to
pass
away
an
idle
hour
or
two,
but
that
you
may
know
how
to
direct
your
prayers
and
praises,
and
how
to
balance
your
hopes
and
fears;
and
may
gain
such
an
understanding of the times, as to learn what you and others ought to do.
8.
When
we
retire
into
solitude,
to
be
alone
walking
in
the
fields,
or
alone
reposing
ourselves
in
our
closets,
still
we
must
be
waiting
on
God,
still
we
must
keep
up
our
communion
with
him
when
we
are
communing
with
our
hearts.
When
we
are
alone,
we
must
not
be
alone,
but
the
Father
must
be
with
us,
and
we
with
him.
We
shall
find
temptations
even
in
solitude,
which
we
have
need
to
guard
against.
Satan
set
upon
our
Saviour
when
he
was
alone
in
the
wilderness,
but
there
also
we
have
an
opportunity,
if
we
but
know
how
to
improve
it,
for
that
devout,
that
divine
contemplation,
which
is
the
best
conversation,
so
that
we
may
never
be
less
alone
than
when
alone.
If
when
we
sit
alone,
and
keep
silent,
withdrawn
from
business
and
conversation,
we
have
but
the
art,
I
should
say
the
heart,
to
fill
up
those
vacant
minutes
with
pious
meditations
of
God
and
divine
things,
we
then
gather
up
the
fragments
of
time
which
remain,
that
nothing
may
be
lost,
and
so
are
we
found
waiting on God all the day.
Secondly.
Let
me
use
some
motives
to
persuade
you
thus
to
live
a
life
of
communion with God, by waiting on him all the day.
1.
Consider
the
eye
of
God
is
always
upon
you.
When
we
are
with
our
superiors,
and
observe
them
to
look
upon
us,
that
causes
us
to
look
upon
them;
and
shall
we
not
then
look
up
to
God,
whose
eyes
always
behold,
and
whose
eye-lids
try
the
children
of
men.
He
sees
all
the
motions
of
our
hearts,
and
sees
with
pleasure
the
motions
of
our
hearts
towards
him,
which
should
engage
us
to
set
him
always
before us.
The
servant,
though
he
be
careless
at
other
times,
yet
when
he
is
under
his
master’s
eye,
will
wait
in
his
place,
and
keep
close
to
his
business.
We
need
no
more
to
engage
us
to
diligence,
than
to
do
our
work
with
eye-service
while
our
master
looks
on; and because he ever doth so, then we shall never look off.
2.
The
God
you
are
to
wait
on
is
one
with
whom
you
have
to
do.
All
things,
even
the
thoughts
and
intents
of
the
heart,
are
naked
and
open
unto
the
eyes
of
him
with
whom
we
have
to
do
(see
Heb.
4:13);
with
whom
we
have
business
or
word
,
who
hath
something
to
say
to
us,
and
to
whom
we
have
something
to
say;
or,
as
some
read
it,
to
whom
for
us
there
is
an
account;
there
is
a
reckoning,
a
running
account
between
us
and
him.
And
we
must,
every
one
of
us,
shortly
give
account
of
ourselves
to
him,
and
of
everything
done
in
the
body,
and
therefore
are
concerned
to
wait
on
him,
that
all
may
be
made
even
daily
between
us
and
him
in
the
blood
of
Christ,
which
balanceth
the
account.
If
we
consider
how
much
we
have
to
do
with
God
every
day,
we would be more diligent and constant in our attendance on him.
3.
The
God
we
are
to
wait
upon
continually
waits
to
be
gracious
to
us;
he
is
always
doing
us
good,
presents
us
with
the
blessings
of
his
goodness,
daily
loads
us
with
his
benefits,
and
slips
no
opportunity
of
showing
his
care
for
us
when
we
are
in
danger:
his
bounty
to
us
when
we
are
in
want,
and
his
tenderness
for
us
when
we
are
in
sorrow.
His
good
providence
awaits
on
us
all
the
day,
to
preserve
our
going
out
and
coming
in
(see
Isa.
30:18),
to
give
us
relief
and
succour
in
due
season,
to
be
seen
in
the
mount
of
the
Lord.
Nay,
his
good
grace
waits
on
us
all
the
day,
to
help
us
in
every
time
of
need,
to
be
strength
to
us
according
as
the
day
is,
and
all
the
occurrences
of
the
day.
Is
God
thus
forward
to
do
us
good,
and
shall
we
be
backward and remiss in doing him service?
4.
If
we
attend
upon
God,
his
holy
angels
shall
have
a
charge
to
attend
upon
us.
They
are
all
appointed
to
be
ministering
spirits,
to
minister
for
the
good
of
them
that
shall
be
heirs
of
salvation,
and
more
good
offices
they
do
us
every
day
than
we
are
aware
of.
What
an
honour,
what
a
privilege
is
it
to
be
waited
on
by
holy
angels,
to
be
borne
up
in
their
arms,
to
be
surrounded
by
their
tents!
What
a
security
is
the
ministration
of
those
good
spirits
against
the
malice
of
evil
spirits!
This
honour
have all they that wait on God all the day.
5.
This
life
of
communion
with
God,
and
constant
attendance
upon
him,
is
a
heaven
upon
earth.
It
is
doing
the
work
of
heaven,
and
the
will
of
God,
as
they
do
it
that
are
in
heaven,
whose
business
it
is
always
to
behold
the
face
of
our
Father.
It
is
an
earnest
of
the
blessedness
of
heaven;
it
is
a
preparative
for
it,
and
a
preludium
to
it;
it
is
having
our
conversation
in
heaven,
from
whence
we
look
for
the
Saviour.
Looking
for
him
as
our
Saviour,
we
look
to
him
as
our
director,
and
by
this
we
make
it
appear
that
our
hearts
are
there,
which
will
give
us
good
ground
to
expect
that we shall be there shortly.
Thirdly
,
let
me
close
with
some
directions,
what
you
must
do
that
you
may
thus
wait on God all the day.
1.
See
much
of
God
in
every
creature
:
of
his
wisdom
and
power
in
the
making
and
placing
of
it,
and
of
his
goodness
and
serviceableness
to
us.
Look
about
you,
and
see
what
a
variety
of
wonders,
what
an
abundance
of
comforts
you
are
surrounded
with,
and
let
them
all
lead
you
to
him,
who
is
the
fountain
of
being,
and
the
giver
of
all
good;
all
our
springs
are
in
him,
and
from
him
are
all
our
streams.
This
will
engage
us
to
wait
on
him,
since
every
creature
is
that
to
us
which
he
makes
it
to
be.
Thus
the
same
things
which
draw
a
carnal
heart
from
God,
will
lead
a
gracious
soul
to
him;
and
since
all
his
works
praise
him,
his
saints
will
from
hence
take
continual
occasion to bless him.
It
was
(they
say)
the
custom
of
the
pious
Jews
of
old,
whatever
delight
they
took
in
any
creature,
to
give
to
God
the
glory
of
it.
When
they
smelled
a
flower,
they
said,
“Blessed
be
he
that
made
this
flower
sweet.”
If
they
ate
a
morsel
of
bread,
they
said,
“Blessed
be
he
that
appointed
bread
to
strengthen
man’s
heart.”
If
thus
we
taste
in
everything
that
the
Lord
is
gracious,
and
suck
all
satisfaction
from
the
breasts
of
his
bounty,
we
shall
thereby
be
engaged
constantly
to
depend
on
him,
as
the
child
is
said to hang on the mother’s breast.
2.
See
every
creature
to
be
nothing
without
God
.
The
more
we
discern
of
the
vanity
and
emptiness
of
the
world,
and
all
our
enjoyments
in
it,
and
their
utter
insufficiency
to
make
us
happy,
the
closer
we
shall
cleave
to
God,
and
the
more
intimately
we
shall
converse
with
him,
that
we
may
find
that
satisfaction
in
the
Father
of
spirits,
which
we
have
in
vain
sought
for
in
the
things
of
sense.
What
folly
is
it
to
make
our
court
to
the
creatures,
and
to
dance
attendance
at
their
door,
whence
we
are
sure
to
be
sent
away
empty,
when
we
have
the
Creator
himself
to
go
to,
who
is
rich
in
mercy
to
all
that
call
upon
him,
is
full,
and
free,
and
faithful.
What
can
we
expect
from
lying
vanities?
Why
then
should
we
observe
them,
and
neglect
our
own
mercies?
Why
should
we
trust
to
broken
reeds,
when
we
have
a
rock
of
ages
to
be
the
foundation
of
our
hopes?
And
why
should
we
draw
from
broken
cisterns,
when
we
have the God of all consolation to be the foundation of our joys?
3.
Live
by
faith
in
the
Lord
Jesus
Christ
.
We
cannot
with
any
confidence
wait
upon
God
but
in
and
through
a
Mediator,
for
it
is
by
his
Son
that
God
speaks
to
us,
and
hears
from
us.
All
that
passeth
between
a
just
God
and
poor
sinners,
must
pass
through
the
hands
of
that
blessed
daysman,
who
has
laid
his
hand
upon
them
both;
every
prayer
passeth
from
us
to
God,
and
every
mercy
from
God
to
us
by
that
hand.
It
is
in
the
face
of
the
Anointed
that
God
looks
upon
us;
and
in
the
face
of
Jesus
Christ
that
we
behold
the
glory
and
grace
of
God
shining;
it
is
by
Christ
that
we
have
access
to
God,
and
success
with
him
in
prayer,
and
therefore
we
must
make
mention
of
his
righteousness,
even
of
his
only.
And
in
that
habitual
attendance
we
must
be
all
the
day
living
upon
God;
we
must
have
a
constant
dependence
on
him,
who
always
appears
in
the
presence
of
God
for
us,
always
gives attendance to be ready to introduce us.
4.
Look
upon
every
day
as
those
who
know
not
but
it
may
be
your
last
day
.
At
such
an
hour
as
we
think
not
the
Son
of
man
comes,
and
therefore
we
cannot
any
morning
be
sure
that
we
shall
live
until
night.
We
hear
of
many
lately
that
have
been
snatched
away
very
suddenly.
What
manner
of
persons
therefore
ought
we
to
be
in
all
holy
conversation
and
godliness?
Though
we
cannot
say,
we
ought
to
live
as
if
we
were
sure
this
day
would
be
our
last;
yet
it
is
certain,
we
ought
to
live
as
those
who
do
not
know
but
that
it
may
be
so;
and
the
rather,
because
we
know
the
day
of
the
Lord
will
come
first
or
last;
and
therefore
we
are
concerned
to
wait
on
him.
For
on whom should poor dying creatures wait, but on a living God.
Death
will
bring
us
all
to
God,
to
be
judged
by
him;
it
will
bring
all
the
saints
to
him
to
the
vision
and
fruition
of
him;
and
one
we
are
hastening
to,
and
hope
to
be
forever
with,
we
are
concerned
to
wait
upon,
and
to
cultivate
an
acquaintance
with.
If
we
thought
more
of
death,
we
would
converse
more
with
God.
Our
dying
daily,
is
a
good
reason
for
our
worshipping
daily;
and
therefore
wherever
we
are,
we
are
concerned
to
keep
near
to
God,
because
we
know
not
where
death
will
meet
us;
this
will
alter
the
property
of
death.
Enoch,
that
walked
with
God,
was
translated
that
he
should
not
see
death;
and
this
will
furnish
us
with
that
which
will
stand
us
instead
on
the
other
side
of
death
and
the
grave.
If
we
continue
waiting
on
God
every
day,
and
all
the
day
long,
we
shall
grow
more
experienced,
and
consequently
more
expert
in
the
great
mystery
of
communion
with
God;
and
thus
our
last
days
will
become
our
best
days,
our
last
works
our
best
works,
and
our
last
comforts
our
sweetest
comforts.
In
consideration
of
which
take
the
prophet’s
advice,
“Turn
thou
to
thy
God;
keep
mercy
and
judgment,
and
wait
on
thy
God
continually”
(Hos.
12:6).
[This concludes this study by Matthew Henry.]
This
article
is
taken
from:
Henry,
Matthew.
A
Method
for
Prayer
.
Glasgow:
D.
Mackenzie,
1834.
(Originally
published
in
1710).
A
PDF
file
of
this
book
can
be
downloaded, free of charge, at:
http://www.ClassicChristianLibrary.com
© 1994-2017, Scott Sperling
[Matthew Henry is greatly known for his magnificent
commentary on the whole Bible. He also wrote a book
proposing A Method for Prayer, in between writing
volumes of that commentary. This series of articles is from
that book.]
A Study by Matthew Henry (1662-1714)
How to Spend Every Day with God, pt.
4
“…On Thee do I wait all the day.”
(Psalm 25:5).
For Application.
First
.
Let
me
further
urge
upon
you
this
duty
of
waiting
upon
God
all
the
day,
in
some
more
particular
instances,
according
to
what
you
have
to
do
all
the
day
in
the
ordinary
business
of
it.
We
are
weak
and
forgetful,
and
need
to
be
put
in
mind
of
our
duty
in
general,
upon
every
occasion
for
the
doing
of
it;
and
therefore
I
choose
to
be
thus
particular,
that
I
may
be
your remembrancer.
1.
When
you
meet
with
your
families
in
the
morning,
wait
upon
God
for
a
blessing
upon
them,
and
attend
him
with
your
thanksgivings
for
the
mercies
you
and
yours
have
jointly
received
from
God
the
night
past:
you
and
yours
houses
must
serve
the
Lord,
must
wait
on
him.
See
it
owing
to
his
goodness,
who
is
the
founder
and
father
of
the
families
of
the
righteous,
that
you
are
together,
that
the
voice
of
rejoicing
and
salvation
is
in
your
tabernacles,
and
therefore
wait
upon
him
to
continue
you
together,
to
make
you
comforts
to
one
another,
to
enable
you
to
do
the
duty
of
every
relation,
and
to
lengthen
out
the
days
of
your
tranquility.
In
all
the
conversation
we
have
with
our
families,
the
provision
we
make
for
them,
and
the
orders
we
give
concerning
them,
we
must
wait
upon
God,
as
the
God
of
all
the
families
of
Israel,
(see
Jer.
21:1);
and
have
an
eye
to
Christ,
as
he
in
whom
all
the
families of the earth are blessed.
Every
member
of
the
family,
sharing
in
family
mercies,
must
wait
on
God
for
grace
to
contribute
to
family
duties.
Whatever
disagreeableness
there
may
be
in
any
family
relation,
instead
of
having
the
spirit
either
burdened
with
it,
or
provoked
by
it,
let
it
be
an
inducement
to
wait
on
God,
who
is
able
either
to
redress
the
grievance,
or
to
balance
it,
and
give
grace
to bear it.
2.
When
you
are
pursuing
the
education
of
your
children,
or
the
young
ones
under
your
charge,
wait
upon
God
for
his
grace
to
make
the
means
of
their
education
successful.
When
you
are
yourselves
giving
them
instruction
in
things
pertaining
either
to
life
or
godliness,
their
general
or
particular
calling,
when
you
are
sending
them
to
school
in
the
morning,
or
ordering
them
the
business
of
the
day,
wait
upon
God
to
give
them
an
understanding,
and
a
good
capacity
for
their
business:
Especially
their
main
business,
for
it
is
God
that
giveth
wisdom.
If
they
are
but
slow,
and
do
not
come
on
as
you
could
wish,
yet
wait
on
God
to
bring
them
forward,
and
to
give
them
his
grace
in
his
own
time;
and
while
you
are
patiently
waiting
on
him,
that
will
encourage
you
to
take
pains
with
them,
and
will
likewise make you patient and gentle towards them.
And
let
children
and
young
people
wait
on
God
in
all
their
daily
endeavours,
to
fit
themselves
for
the
service
of
God
and
their
generation.
You
desire
to
be
comforts
to
your
relations,
to
be
good
for
something
in
this
world,
do
you
not?—Beg
of
God
then
a
wise
and
understanding
heart,
as
Solomon
did,
and
wait
upon
him
all
the
day
for
it,
that
you
may
be
still
increasing
in
wisdom,
as
you
do
in
stature,
and
in
favour
with
God and man.
3.
When
you
go
to
your
shops,
or
apply
yourselves
to
the
business
of
your
particular
calling,
wait
upon
God
for
his
presence
with
you.
Your
business
calls
for
your
constant
attendance
every
day,
and
all
the
day;
keep
thy
shop,
and
thy
shop
will
keep
thee;
but
let
your
attendance
on
God
in
your
callings
be
as
constant
as
your
attendance
on
your
callings.
Eye
God’s
providence
in
all
the
occurrences
of
them.
Open
shop
with
this
thought,
I
am
now
in
the
way
of
my
duty,
and
I
depend
upon
God
to
bless
me
in
it
.
When
you
are
waiting
for
customers,
wait
on
God
to
find
you
something
to
do
in
that
calling
to
which
he
hath
called
you.
Those
you
call
chance
customers,
you
should
rather
call
Providence
customers,
and
should
say
of
the
advantage
you
make
by
them,
the
Lord
my
God
brought
it to me.
When
you
are
buying
and
selling,
see
God’s
eye
upon
you,
to
observe
whether
you
are
honest
and
just
in
your
dealings,
and
do
no
wrong
to
those
you
deal
with;
and
let
your
eye
then
be
up
to
him,
for
that
discretion
to
which
God
doth
instruct,
not
only
the
husbandman,
but
the
tradesman
(see
Isa.
28:26);
that
prudence
which
directs
the
way,
and
with
which
it
is
promised,
the
good
man
shall
order
his
affairs;
for
that
blessing
which
makes
rich,
and
adds
no
sorrow
with
it,
for
that
honest
profit
which
may
be
expected
in
the
way of honest diligence.
4.
When
you
take
a
book
in
your
hands,
God’s
book,
or
any
other
useful
good
book,
wait
upon
God
for
his
grace
to
enable
you
to
make
a
good
use
of
it.
Some
of
you
spend
a
deal
of
time
every
day
in
reading,
and
I
hope
none
of
you
let
a
day
pass
without
reading
some
portion
of
scripture,
either
alone
or
with
your
families.
Take
heed
that
the
time
you
spend
in
reading
be
not
lost
time.
It
is
so,
if
you
read
that
which
is
idle,
and
vain,
and
unprofitable;
it
is
so,
if
you
read
that
which
is
good,
even
the
word
of
God
itself,
and
do
not
mind
it,
or
observe
it,
or
aim
to
make
it
of
any
advantage
to
you.
Wait
upon
God,
who
gives
you
those
helps
for
your
souls,
to
make
them
helpful
indeed
to
you.
The
Eunuch
did
so
when
he
was
reading
the
book
of
the
prophet
Isaiah
in
his
chariot;
and
God
presently
sent
him one, who made him understand what he read.
You
read
perhaps
now
and
then
the
histories
of
former
times.
In
acquainting
yourselves
with
them,
you
must
have
an
eye
to
God,
and
to
that
wise
and
gracious
Providence
which
governed
the
world
before
we
were
born,
and
preserved
the
church
in
it,
and
therefore
may
be
still
depended
upon
to
do
all
for
the
best; for he is Israel’s king of old.
5.
When
you
sit
down
to
your
tables,
wait
on
God.
See
his
hand
spreading
and
preparing
a
table
before
you
in
spite
of
your
enemies,
and
in
the
society
of
your
friends;
often
review
the
grant
which
God
made
to
our
first
father
Adam,
and
in
him
to
us,
of
the
products
of
the
earth
in
Gen.
1:29:
Behold
I
have
given
you
every
herb-
bearing
seed,
bread
corn
especially,
to
you
it
shall
be
for
meat
.
And
the
grant
he
afterwards
made
to
Noah,
our
second
father,
and
in
him
to
us,
in
Gen.
9:3:
Every
moving
thing
that
liveth
shall
be
meat
for
you,
even
as
the
green
herb
.
See
in
those
things
what
a
bountiful
benefactor
he
is
to
mankind,
and
wait
upon
him
accordingly.
6.
Desire
of
God
a
blessing
upon
what
you
give
in
charity,
that
it
may
be
comfortable
to
whom
it
is
given,
and
that,
though
what
you
are
able
to
give
is
but
a
little,
like
the
widow’s
two
mites,
yet
that,
by
God’s
blessing,
may
be
doubled,
and
made
to
go
a
great
way,
like
the
widow’s
meal
in
the
barrel,
and
oil
in
the
cruise.
Depend
upon
God
to
make
up
to
you
what
you
lay
out
in
good
works,
and
to
recompense
it
abundantly
in
the
resurrection
of
the
just:
nay,
and
you
are
encouraged
to
wait
upon
him
for
a
return
of
it
even
in
this
life;
it
is
bread
cast
upon
the
waters,
which
you
shall
find
again
after
many
days;
and
you
shall
carefully
observe
the
providence
of
God,
whether
it
do
not
make
you
rich
amends
for
your
good
works,
according
to
the
promise,
that
you
may
understand
the
lovingkindness
of
the
Lord,
and
his
faithfulness
to
the
word which he hath spoken.
7.
When
you
inquire
after
public
news,
in
that
wait
upon
God,
do
it
with
an
eye
to
him,
for
this
reason:
because
you
are
truly
concerned
for
the
interests
of
his
kingdom
in
the
world,
and
lay
them
near
your
hearts;
because
you
have
a
compassion
for
mankind,
for
the
lives
and
souls
of
men,
and
especially
of
God’s
people.
Ask
what
news,
not
as
the
Athenians,
only
to
satisfy
a
vain
curiosity,
and
to
pass
away
an
idle
hour
or
two,
but
that
you
may
know
how
to
direct
your
prayers
and
praises,
and
how
to
balance
your
hopes
and
fears;
and
may
gain
such
an
understanding
of
the
times,
as
to
learn what you and others ought to do.
8.
When
we
retire
into
solitude,
to
be
alone
walking
in
the
fields,
or
alone
reposing
ourselves
in
our
closets,
still
we
must
be
waiting
on
God,
still
we
must
keep
up
our
communion
with
him
when
we
are
communing
with
our
hearts.
When
we
are
alone,
we
must
not
be
alone,
but
the
Father
must
be
with
us,
and
we
with
him.
We
shall
find
temptations
even
in
solitude,
which
we
have
need
to
guard
against.
Satan
set
upon
our
Saviour
when
he
was
alone
in
the
wilderness,
but
there
also
we
have
an
opportunity,
if
we
but
know
how
to
improve
it,
for
that
devout,
that
divine
contemplation,
which
is
the
best
conversation,
so
that
we
may
never
be
less
alone
than
when
alone.
If
when
we
sit
alone,
and
keep
silent,
withdrawn
from
business
and
conversation,
we
have
but
the
art,
I
should
say
the
heart,
to
fill
up
those
vacant
minutes
with
pious
meditations
of
God
and
divine
things,
we
then
gather
up
the
fragments
of
time
which
remain,
that
nothing
may
be
lost,
and
so
are
we
found
waiting
on
God
all
the day.
Secondly.
Let
me
use
some
motives
to
persuade
you
thus
to
live
a
life
of
communion
with
God,
by
waiting
on him all the day.
1.
Consider
the
eye
of
God
is
always
upon
you.
When
we
are
with
our
superiors,
and
observe
them
to
look
upon
us,
that
causes
us
to
look
upon
them;
and
shall
we
not
then
look
up
to
God,
whose
eyes
always
behold,
and
whose
eye-lids
try
the
children
of
men.
He
sees
all
the
motions
of
our
hearts,
and
sees
with
pleasure
the
motions
of
our
hearts
towards
him,
which
should engage us to set him always before us.
The
servant,
though
he
be
careless
at
other
times,
yet
when
he
is
under
his
master’s
eye,
will
wait
in
his
place,
and
keep
close
to
his
business.
We
need
no
more
to
engage
us
to
diligence,
than
to
do
our
work
with
eye-service
while
our
master
looks
on;
and
because
he
ever doth so, then we shall never look off.
2.
The
God
you
are
to
wait
on
is
one
with
whom
you
have
to
do.
All
things,
even
the
thoughts
and
intents
of
the
heart,
are
naked
and
open
unto
the
eyes
of
him
with
whom
we
have
to
do
(see
Heb.
4:13);
with
whom
we
have
business
or
word
,
who
hath
something
to
say
to
us,
and
to
whom
we
have
something
to
say;
or,
as
some
read
it,
to
whom
for
us
there
is
an
account;
there
is
a
reckoning,
a
running
account
between
us
and
him.
And
we
must,
every
one
of
us,
shortly
give
account
of
ourselves
to
him,
and
of
everything
done
in
the
body,
and
therefore
are
concerned
to
wait
on
him,
that
all
may
be
made
even
daily
between
us
and
him
in
the
blood
of
Christ,
which
balanceth
the
account.
If
we
consider
how
much
we
have
to
do
with
God
every
day,
we
would
be
more
diligent
and
constant
in
our
attendance on him.
3.
The
God
we
are
to
wait
upon
continually
waits
to
be
gracious
to
us;
he
is
always
doing
us
good,
presents
us
with
the
blessings
of
his
goodness,
daily
loads
us
with
his
benefits,
and
slips
no
opportunity
of
showing
his
care
for
us
when
we
are
in
danger:
his
bounty
to
us
when
we
are
in
want,
and
his
tenderness
for
us
when
we
are
in
sorrow.
His
good
providence
awaits
on
us
all
the
day,
to
preserve
our
going
out
and
coming
in
(see
Isa.
30:18),
to
give
us
relief
and
succour
in
due
season,
to
be
seen
in
the
mount
of
the
Lord.
Nay,
his
good
grace
waits
on
us
all
the
day,
to
help
us
in
every
time
of
need,
to
be
strength
to
us
according
as
the
day
is,
and
all
the
occurrences
of
the
day.
Is
God
thus
forward
to
do
us
good,
and
shall
we
be
backward
and
remiss
in
doing him service?
4.
If
we
attend
upon
God,
his
holy
angels
shall
have
a
charge
to
attend
upon
us.
They
are
all
appointed
to
be
ministering
spirits,
to
minister
for
the
good
of
them
that
shall
be
heirs
of
salvation,
and
more
good
offices
they
do
us
every
day
than
we
are
aware
of.
What
an
honour,
what
a
privilege
is
it
to
be
waited
on
by
holy
angels,
to
be
borne
up
in
their
arms,
to
be
surrounded
by
their
tents!
What
a
security
is
the
ministration
of
those
good
spirits
against
the
malice
of
evil
spirits!
This honour have all they that wait on God all the day.
5.
This
life
of
communion
with
God,
and
constant
attendance
upon
him,
is
a
heaven
upon
earth.
It
is
doing
the
work
of
heaven,
and
the
will
of
God,
as
they
do
it
that
are
in
heaven,
whose
business
it
is
always
to
behold
the
face
of
our
Father.
It
is
an
earnest
of
the
blessedness
of
heaven;
it
is
a
preparative
for
it,
and
a
preludium
to
it;
it
is
having
our
conversation
in
heaven,
from
whence
we
look
for
the
Saviour.
Looking
for
him
as
our
Saviour,
we
look
to
him
as
our
director,
and
by
this
we
make
it
appear
that
our
hearts
are
there,
which
will
give
us
good
ground
to
expect
that
we shall be there shortly.
Thirdly
,
let
me
close
with
some
directions,
what
you
must do that you may thus wait on God all the day.
1.
See
much
of
God
in
every
creature
:
of
his
wisdom
and
power
in
the
making
and
placing
of
it,
and
of
his
goodness
and
serviceableness
to
us.
Look
about
you,
and
see
what
a
variety
of
wonders,
what
an
abundance
of
comforts
you
are
surrounded
with,
and
let
them
all
lead
you
to
him,
who
is
the
fountain
of
being,
and
the
giver
of
all
good;
all
our
springs
are
in
him,
and
from
him
are
all
our
streams.
This
will
engage
us
to
wait
on
him,
since
every
creature
is
that
to
us
which
he
makes
it
to
be.
Thus
the
same
things
which
draw
a
carnal
heart
from
God,
will
lead
a
gracious
soul
to
him;
and
since
all
his
works
praise
him,
his
saints
will
from
hence take continual occasion to bless him.
It
was
(they
say)
the
custom
of
the
pious
Jews
of
old,
whatever
delight
they
took
in
any
creature,
to
give
to
God
the
glory
of
it.
When
they
smelled
a
flower,
they
said,
“Blessed
be
he
that
made
this
flower
sweet.”
If
they
ate
a
morsel
of
bread,
they
said,
“Blessed
be
he
that
appointed
bread
to
strengthen
man’s
heart.”
If
thus
we
taste
in
everything
that
the
Lord
is
gracious,
and
suck
all
satisfaction
from
the
breasts
of
his
bounty,
we
shall
thereby
be
engaged
constantly
to
depend
on
him, as the child is said to hang on the mother’s breast.
2.
See
every
creature
to
be
nothing
without
God
.
The
more
we
discern
of
the
vanity
and
emptiness
of
the
world,
and
all
our
enjoyments
in
it,
and
their
utter
insufficiency
to
make
us
happy,
the
closer
we
shall
cleave
to
God,
and
the
more
intimately
we
shall
converse
with
him,
that
we
may
find
that
satisfaction
in
the
Father
of
spirits,
which
we
have
in
vain
sought
for
in
the
things
of
sense.
What
folly
is
it
to
make
our
court
to
the
creatures,
and
to
dance
attendance
at
their
door,
whence
we
are
sure
to
be
sent
away
empty,
when
we
have
the
Creator
himself
to
go
to,
who
is
rich
in
mercy
to
all
that
call
upon
him,
is
full,
and
free,
and
faithful.
What
can
we
expect
from
lying
vanities?
Why
then
should
we
observe
them,
and
neglect
our
own
mercies?
Why
should
we
trust
to
broken
reeds,
when
we
have
a
rock
of
ages
to
be
the
foundation
of
our
hopes?
And
why
should
we
draw
from
broken
cisterns,
when
we
have
the
God
of
all
consolation
to
be
the foundation of our joys?
3.
Live
by
faith
in
the
Lord
Jesus
Christ
.
We
cannot
with
any
confidence
wait
upon
God
but
in
and
through
a
Mediator,
for
it
is
by
his
Son
that
God
speaks
to
us,
and
hears
from
us.
All
that
passeth
between
a
just
God
and
poor
sinners,
must
pass
through
the
hands
of
that
blessed
daysman,
who
has
laid
his
hand
upon
them
both;
every
prayer
passeth
from
us
to
God,
and
every
mercy
from
God
to
us
by
that
hand.
It
is
in
the
face
of
the
Anointed
that
God
looks
upon
us;
and
in
the
face
of
Jesus
Christ
that
we
behold
the
glory
and
grace
of
God
shining;
it
is
by
Christ
that
we
have
access
to
God,
and
success
with
him
in
prayer,
and
therefore
we
must
make
mention
of
his
righteousness,
even
of
his
only.
And
in
that
habitual
attendance
we
must
be
all
the
day
living
upon
God;
we
must
have
a
constant
dependence
on
him,
who
always
appears
in
the
presence
of
God
for
us,
always
gives
attendance
to
be
ready
to
introduce
us.
4.
Look
upon
every
day
as
those
who
know
not
but
it
may
be
your
last
day
.
At
such
an
hour
as
we
think
not
the
Son
of
man
comes,
and
therefore
we
cannot
any
morning
be
sure
that
we
shall
live
until
night.
We
hear
of
many
lately
that
have
been
snatched
away
very
suddenly.
What
manner
of
persons
therefore
ought
we
to
be
in
all
holy
conversation
and
godliness?
Though
we
cannot
say,
we
ought
to
live
as
if
we
were
sure
this
day
would
be
our
last;
yet
it
is
certain,
we
ought
to
live
as
those
who
do
not
know
but
that
it
may
be
so;
and
the
rather,
because
we
know
the
day
of
the
Lord
will
come
first
or
last;
and
therefore
we
are
concerned
to
wait
on
him.
For
on
whom
should
poor
dying
creatures wait, but on a living God.
Death
will
bring
us
all
to
God,
to
be
judged
by
him;
it
will
bring
all
the
saints
to
him
to
the
vision
and
fruition
of
him;
and
one
we
are
hastening
to,
and
hope
to
be
forever
with,
we
are
concerned
to
wait
upon,
and
to
cultivate
an
acquaintance
with.
If
we
thought
more
of
death,
we
would
converse
more
with
God.
Our
dying
daily,
is
a
good
reason
for
our
worshipping
daily;
and
therefore
wherever
we
are,
we
are
concerned
to
keep
near
to
God,
because
we
know
not
where
death
will
meet
us;
this
will
alter
the
property
of
death.
Enoch,
that
walked
with
God,
was
translated
that
he
should
not
see
death;
and
this
will
furnish
us
with
that
which
will
stand
us
instead
on
the
other
side
of
death
and
the
grave.
If
we
continue
waiting
on
God
every
day,
and
all
the
day
long,
we
shall
grow
more
experienced,
and
consequently
more
expert
in
the
great
mystery
of
communion
with
God;
and
thus
our
last
days
will
become
our
best
days,
our
last
works
our
best
works,
and
our
last
comforts
our
sweetest
comforts.
In
consideration
of
which
take
the
prophet’s
advice,
“Turn
thou
to
thy
God;
keep
mercy
and
judgment,
and
wait
on
thy
God
continually”
(Hos.
12:6).
[This concludes this study by Matthew Henry.]
This
article
is
taken
from:
Henry,
Matthew.
A
Method
for
Prayer
.
Glasgow:
D.
Mackenzie,
1834.
(Originally
published
in
1710).
A
PDF
file
of
this
book
can
be
downloaded, free of charge, at:
http://www.ClassicChristianLibrary.com
