November 19

Where there is no hope there is no strength. "And I said, My strenght and my hope is perished from the Lord" (Lamentations 3:18). God protected and provided for Israel in the wilderness, but as soon as they used up their Egyptian supplies they resented both Moses and God. Why? Their hope was grounded in human help.

Moses climbed the mountain and was out of the Israelite's sight for only a few days; yet they had to have a golden calf. They thought they would never see him again and gave him up for lost. God wants His servants to wait for what He means to give them, but few stay with Him because most are short-spirited.

You know what Naomi said to her daughter: "If I should have an husband also tonight, and should also bear sons; would ye tarry for them till they were grown? Would ye stay for them from having husbands?" (Ruth 1:12-13). The promise has salvation in its womb; but will the unbeliever wait until the promise ripens and this happiness has grown up? No, he would rather mate with any base lust which pays him in some present pleasure than wait a long time, even if it is for heaven itself.

Tamar played the harlot because her promised husband was not given as soon as she wanted him (Genesis 38). Today many souls throw themselves into the embrace of the adulterous world because the comfort and joy of the promise is temporarily withheld, and God wants them to wait for their reward. "Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world" (2 Timothy 4:10). Only the soul which has this divine hope will patiently wait for the good of the promise. Now, in handling this service of hope God often waits a long time before fulfilling a promise; secondly, it is our duty to wait; and thirdly, hope enables us to wait.

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