The Sustaining Power of Hope in God
John Laidlaw, D. D. Lamentations 3:24-26 The LORD is my portion, said my soul; therefore will I hope in him.… A crew of fifteen men once left a burning ship in mid-Pacific. They were thousands of miles from land. They left the ship so hastily that they had no time to take oars, or sail, or any other tackle or gear with which to produce motion. They were only able to snatch at some food and water. They lived for six weeks in that boat, and the last three-and-twenty days they dreamed every night of feasting, and woke every morning to the same starving comrades, vacant waters — for they passed no ships — and desolate sky. Yet these men never lost their courage, because they perceived from the outset that their boat was in the current of an equatorial ocean, a current which those who knew the geography of the sea were aware would slowly but surely carry them at last to land, which it did. Sometimes the patience of hope in the Christian life has to be exercised in that way. No oar and no sail; no strength and no light; for many days neither sun nor moon nor stars appearing, but only the magnet of faith pointing steadily to the Rock of Ages, and the current of eternal nature of Him who is what He is, bearing us on to the promised land. (John Laidlaw, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. WEB: Yahweh is my portion, says my soul; therefore will I hope in him.