81. My soul fainteth for thy salvation. He wished for no deliverance but that which came from God: his one desire was for thy salvation. But for that divine deliverance he was eager to the last degree—up to the full measure of his strength, yea, and beyond it till he fainted. So strong was his desire that it produced prostration of spirit. He grew weary with waiting, faint with watching, sick with urgent need. Thus the sincerity and the eagerness of his desires were proved. Nothing else could satisfy him but deliverance wrought out by the hand of God. But I hope in thy word. Therefore he felt that salvation would come, for God cannot break his promise, nor disappoint the hope which his own Word has excited: the fulfillment of his Word is near when our hope is firm and our desire fervent. Hope alone can keep the soul from fainting by using the smelling-bottle of the promise. Ye hope does not quench desire for a speedy answer to prayer; it increases our importunity, for it both stimulates ardor and sustains the heart under delays. To faint for salvation, and to be kept from utterly failing by the hope of it, is the frequent experience of the Christian. Hope sustains when desire exhausts. While the grace of desire throws us down, the grace of hope lifts us up again.
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