YOU ARE MY PORTION OH LORD!

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The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. (Psalms 16:5)

Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. (Psalms 73:25-26)

I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living. (Psalms 142:5)

The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. (Lamentations 3:24)

Portion: A part assigned; an allotment; a dividend. (Webster's 1828 dictionary)

The Lord is my allotment, my inheritance, my assigned part, my dividend. How easy it is to say that yet, we don't really discover that fully until we are at the end of all else in this world, and we see the things we have in life that bring pleasure, happiness, comfort, prosperity, for what they really are. They are fleeting, and we can have them one day and lose them the next. How futile it is to live for them. How foolish to spend one's life striving to have all these things, to think that our own hands and hard work alone has brought them, and that the same can keep them. If God hadn't given even unbelievers the life, the strength, and the means, they would have nothing, yet they don't give thanks to God. That's expected of the world - those who don't believe in God, but how sad it is when His own children still think their portion is what they can have in this world and God is their "genie" in a bottle they must learn to rub the right way to get those things.

The trials and losses we experience in this life have a strong affect on us to cause us to realize what our true portion is as His children. It causes us to let go more and more of what we have in this world, trusting only in Him. He knows, of course, what we need in this world to live, and what is necessary for our well-being. Yet He knows also that He alone can be our true portion, and how we lose out on realizing that when these things take His place in our lives as that.

What does it mean that the Lord is our portion? As a wonderful sister in our church always says, "What does that look like?" I found this little quote from Jonathan Edwards sent through Grace Gems this morning that touched my heart.

"The LORD is the portion of my inheritance!" Psalm 16:5 The redeemed have all their good in God. God Himself is the great good which they are brought to the possession and enjoyment of by redemption. He is the highest good, and the sum of all that good which Christ purchased. God Himself is the inheritance of the saints; He is the portion of their souls. God Himself is their wealth and treasure, their food, their life, their dwelling place, their ornament and diadem, and their everlasting honor and glory! "Whom have I in heaven but You? And I have no delight or desire on earth besides You!" Psalm 73:25

The glorious excellencies and beauty of God will be what will forever entertain the minds of the saints. The love of God will be their everlasting feast. The redeemed will indeed enjoy other things; they will enjoy the angels, and will enjoy one another. But that which they shall enjoy in the angels, or each other, or in anything else whatsoever, which will yield them delight and happiness--will be what will be seen of God in them!

"You are my portion, O LORD!" Psalm 119:57

All that we enjoy here in this earth is all the more enjoyed truly when we see God as our portion. When we are once freed from them as our portion, and God becomes truly seen as our portion, other things take their rightful place in our lives. We can enjoy them and we can let them go. We can still have peace and joy in Him when they are taken from us. We can truly love one another without making selfish demands on one another to be something for us they cannot be. We can love unselfishly without trying to make another human being what only God can be to us. When God is our portion, we are free. Though we suffer loss, and yes, we will feel the loss in our fleshly bodies of those things our bodies need for comfort, health, and wellness, we will still find ourselves free in Christ knowing we have an inheritance waiting for us, that we have His presence never to leave us or forsake us, and that we have Him forever. We know that even the worst this world can do to us cannot harm us or take away our portion with Christ. If we suffer with Him we will also reign with Him.

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Romans 8:17-18)

I've been reading a blog written by a woman who is dying of cancer called Mundane Faithfulness. Everyone should have the opportunity to be with someone at the end of their journey with Jesus in this world. Each day as she fades more from this life, she is finding more and more what her "portion" is and to cherish the love God has given her, and to show it in as many ways as she has left to show it to those around her, and also to receive it from them. When my own sister was dying of cancer, I also learned to see how God had brought her to see He Himself as her portion. We don't have to be on our death beds before we see this. We can look to Him right now and say, "You alone, dear Lord, are my portion. This is the truth. Help me daily to see that and to trust that, and to live that." God is faithful. If we truly want to know Him in our lives as our portion, He will help us to see it and to know Him as such and to walk in that wonderful light and love and everything else in our lives will have new meaning. Our motives for all we do and every decision we make will be changed. Our prayer life will change. Our relationships will change. By abiding in Him as our portion, the fruit of our lives will change. It will be good fruit...the fruit of the Spirit.

Don't wait until tragedy or sickness strikes and you are reduced to having nothing left of which to cling to in this world to turn to Him as your portion. Look to Him now and learn to trust Him as your portion even now. He is a God Who rewards those who diligently seek Him.

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

If you don't feel that "diligence" or motivation to seek Him, and life is filled with distractions that pull you away from that, ask Him for it. Don't wait to feel it. Just ask Him. He knows how weak we are, and He knows how easily life can throw distractions and things our way that seem so important, so immediate, so pressing on us. Funny how when there is a tragedy, or sickness comes, we can easily put all else aside and will deal with that one thing. But there is no greater tragedy, or sickness, or loss in our lives than a loss of our relationship and fellowship with God. There is nothing more immediate that we must deal with when we see that it is suffering greatly because of our busyness or the cares of this life. The first step is to come to Him in repentance, asking Him to lead you to His fountain of living waters, to stir up again in you that desire and hunger and thirst for Him, and that He would enable you to find Him as your daily portion and life.

He is only truly our joy, when He is our portion in this life now.

Dear Father, help us to see the truth of this world around us, the truth about ourselves, and the truth about You. Help us to see the portion You have allotted for Your children, and the treasures they are missing, and teach us to claim our true portion in You! Help us in every situation to pray, "Lord reveal Yourself to me as my portion in this and reveal Your glory in it." I ask this in Jesus name, through His blood, and by His grace, amen.

If you are not sure you have eternal life, if you want to know more about salvation through Jesus Christ, and how you can be sure, you can read more about it here.