Lamentations 3:21-26

(All Scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated)

The featured Scripture is Lamentations 3:21 through 26:

     This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. [It is of] 
     the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compas-
     sions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your 
     faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, there-
     fore I hope in Him. The LORD is good to those who wait for 
     Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should 
     hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

“‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, therefore I hope in Him.” (Lamentations 3:24). My portion is what is designated for ME! What is designated for me?

• For the Christian, the one who has accepted Jesus as Savior, we have the Holy Spirit permanently residing in us! (see I Corinthians 3:16; Galatians 4:6). And the Spirit is so much like the Lord Jesus (but in spirit form) that it can be said of the believer, “…Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27).

• Jesus said in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” I want the abundance of the fruit of the Spirit in my life: “…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22, 23 – English Standard Version )

• In John 5:24, the Lord said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word, and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”

• In Philippians 4:19, Paul writes, “…my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory, by Christ Jesus.”

In summary, II Peter 1:3 through 5 says it best (Lexham English Bible):

     May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge 
     of God and of Jesus our Lord, because His divine power has 
     bestowed on us all things that are necessary for life and 
     godliness, through the knowledge of the One who called us 
     by His own glory and excellence of character, through 
     which things He has bestowed on us His precious and very 
     great promises, so that through these you may become 
     sharers of the divine nature after escaping from the 
     corruption that is in the world because of evil desire...

“The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.” (Lamentations 3:25). I did a search of the word wait, and its derivatives found in the King James Version (waiting, wateth, waited). I found fifty instances that applied to waiting on the Lord! Here are five more from the Old Testament:

• Psalm 25:4, 5 – “Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.”

• Psalm 27:14 – “Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He will strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD.”

• Psalm 40:1-4 (Good News Bible):

       I waited patiently for the LORD's help; then He listened 
       to me and heard my cry. He pulled me out of a dangerous 
       pit, out of the deadly quicksand. He set me safely on a 
       rock and made me secure. He taught me to sing a new song, 
       a song of praise to our God. Many who see this will take 
       warning and will put their trust in the LORD. Happy are 
       those who trust the LORD.... 

• Psalm 130:5 – “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word do I hope.”

• Isaiah 40:31 – “…those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

And what do the Scriptures say about “…the soul who seeks Him…”?

• II Chronicles 7:14:

       If My people, who are called by My name, will humble 
       themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from 
       their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and 
       will forgive their sin and heal their land.

• Psalm 27:8 – “When You said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, LORD, I will seek.”

• Jeremiah 29:13, 14 – “…you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD….”

• Luke 12:29-31 (English Standard Version):

       ...do not seek what you are to eat and...drink, nor 
       be worried. For all the nations of the world seek 
       after these things, and your Father knows that you 
       need them. Instead, seek His kingdom, and these 
       things will be added to you.

This Light in the midst of Darkness passage ends with this admonition: “It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.” Remember, Jeremiah wrote
these six verses…

• …after being warned by God that he would have a hard time as a prophet!

• …after experiencing rejection…

     ✡   by his own family (they even wanted to kill him).

     ✡   by the people of Judah.

     ✡   by the leaders of the kingdom...

         ➔   the king and his counselors.

         ➔   the false prophets with whom the king sur-
              rounded himself.

         ➔   who even attempted to kill him.

• …after witnessing the devastation of the temple, the city of Jerusalem, and the whole country of Judah by the marauding Babylonian army…

…Jeremiah could still say, “It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.”

I want that kind of faith, that kind of hope, that kind of patience,
as I wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD!
Do you?

I will close with one of my favorite verses, one that I think is very appropriate, and that I committed to memory long ago, Proverbs 3:5 and 6:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He shall direct your paths.