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I. GOD IS THE PORTION OF EVERY ONE OF HIS PEOPLE.

1. What may be said of God as the portion of His people? He is —

(1)  A most suitable portion to them.

(2)  An all-sufficient portion.

(3)  An infinite portion.

(4)  As the portion of His people, He is most safe and secure to them.

(5)  He is an eternal, durable portion.

(6)  As the result of all this, He is a satisfying portion: What we can never be weary of, or desire to change.

2. Every one of God's people has a special interest in Him as his. How He comes to be so? There is a mutual claim, and 'tis brought about by something on each side; on God's part and on theirs.

(1) On God's part, it is owing to His own love resolving to raise them to the highest happiness. This He has done from all eternity (Psalm 103:17; Ephesians 1:3, 4). To make way for this, His Son is given to die for them. God expressly makes over Himself in the covenant of grace to be theirs, saying, I am God All-Sufficient, and your God: And to every individual believer, I am, and will be Thine: One whom thou hast an interest in, and may'st call thy own.

(2) On His people's part, they accept of Him as such; having their minds enlightened by HIS Spirit to discern what a portion God is, how much preferable to all others, and their wills sweetly bowed to choose and close with Him.

II. THE SOUL THAT HAS THE LORD FOR HIS PORTION HAS ABUNDANT ENCOURAGEMENT TO HOPE IN HIM.

1. Under an affecting sense of the Church's sufferings.

2. When low and despised in the world, exercised with pressing necessities and straits, the soul that can say, The Lord is my portion, may take encouragement to hope in Him.

3. When walking in darkness, and seeing no light, the soul that can say, The Lord is my portion, has encouragement still to hope in Him.

4. When buffeted by Satan, the soul that has the Lord for his portion has reason also to hope in Him.

5. The people of God are not exempted from afflictions: But when these are their lot their interest in God is sufficient for their support.

6. The righteous must die as well as others: but, under the apprehensions of this, the interest he hath in God is a solid ground of hope.

III. PRAYER AND PATIENCE ARE TO BE THE COMPANIONS OF HOPE IN THE PEOPLE OF GOD, TO BOTH WHICH THEY HAVE A POWERFUL ARGUMENT IN HIS GOODNESS.

1. The people of God are a generation that seek Him.

2. Everyone that seeks God aright has his soul engaged in the work.

3. They whose souls are engaged in seeking God, will and ought to wait for Him.

4. The goodness of God is a powerful argument to engage His people to seek to Him, and wait for Him.

IV. NO SERVANT OF GOD SHALL BE A LOSER BY HIM; BUT EVERY ONE OF THEM BE LED TO OWN AT LAST THAT IT IS GOOD TO HOPE AND QUIETLY WAIT FOR HIS SALVATION.

1. What is included in the salvation waited for?

(1)  A salvation from every kind and degree of evil; sin, temptation, the troubles of this world, and future everlasting miseries (Revelation 21:3, 4).

(2)  A being put into a possession of all good.

2. Consider it under its engaging title, the salvation of the Lord.

(1)  It is a salvation worthy of him (Hebrews 11:16).

(2)  It is designed, prepared, and promised by Him.

(3)  It is a salvation that will consist in the enjoyment of God; dwelling in His presence under the light of His countenance, the freest communications of His love and goodness, filling the soul with that fulness of joy, which nothing short of possession can acquaint us with.

3. What is implied in hoping, and patiently waiting for it?

(1)  Having the heart fixed by faith on the salvation of God as real, though out of sight.

(2)  A firm persuasion, that the salvation of God will come at last, though for a time deferred.

(3)  Expecting God's salvation in His time; depending upon His wisdom to choose the fittest season, and His faithfulness to remember us when that season comes.

(4)  Serious care to he found ready whenever called to enter upon the salvation of God we have been waiting for.

4. In what respects may it be said to be good, thus to hope and quietly wait for the salvation of God?

(1)  As it redounds to God's glory; as it is a testimony to His power and grace, as what bears us up during our stay in this world, and fully provides for our complete blessedness.

(2)  As it may encourage others to put in for a share in the salvation of God; by the hope of which we are borne up amidst the difficulties of the present state, and enabled patiently to wait for the salvation of God in a better.

(3)  As it will be comfortable to ourselves, disposing us to meet the will of God in a becoming manner.Application —

1. Does every one of God's people say from His soul the Lord is my portion? Hence learn that real religion is an inward thing; and the power of it lies in what passes between Heaven and the heart, in transactions that only God and the soul can be witnesses to.

2. Does every one that comes into the number of the people of God say from his soul, The Lord is my portion? Of what importance is it to inquire what is the language, the sense, of my soul?

3. How great and amiable is the change that grace hath made on every saint, in leading him to take up the language of the text as his own, The Lord is my portion; and thereupon to hope, and quietly wait. for his salvation.

4. If you have chosen God for your portion, living and dying, hope in Him as such.

5. But how may it be known when this is said in truth?

(1) Where any say in truth, The Lord is my portion, they have been so far sensible of His worth, and their own need of Him, as to be incapable of being satisfied without Him, or taking up with anything else?

(2) The soul that has said, the Lord is his portion, has entered into covenant with Him.

(3) Where the soul says, The Lord is my portion, it loves Him, above all, or with a superlative affection.

(4) The soul that saith, The Lord is my portion, values communion with Him more than any sensible enjoyment.

(5) The soul that saith, The Lord is my portion, cannot but delight and rejoice, so far as apprehended to be so, and is greatly thankful for the direction and grace that inclined and enabled him to make the happy choice which he would not now exchange for all the world.

(6) The soul that saith, The Lord is my portion, feels the greatest grief for the apprehended loss of Him, or when in the dark as to an interest in Him.

(7) The soul that saith, The Lord is my portion, will, by prayer and supplication, frequently go to Him, and be more earnest for His favour and grace than for any lower good.

(8) The soul that saith, the Lord is his portion, will make Him the ground of his trust and triumph, when outward comforts may be withdrawn or denied (Habakkuk 3:17, 18).

(9) Where the soul saith, The Lord is my portion, there will he a care to please and serve Him with the inward man, and a fear to offend Him, even in the thoughts, or things that do not come under the eye of the world.

(10) The soul that says, The Lord is my portion, is breathing after that world and state where it shall have the full enjoyment of Him; and frequently, with pleasure, taken up in the believing thoughts and hopes of it; as its chief felicity will then begin, when this world is to be forever left, and all lower sensual delights at an end.

(D. Wilcox.)

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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.