The Lord is My Portion

We can learn a great deal in the school lunch line. You can strike up a conversation with a friend, meet a stranger, or stand awkwardly silent as you wait for the line to advance. As the line advances, different thoughts start to enter your mind. What’s for lunch? Will it taste good? Will it all taste like chicken? At this point, food is slapped on your plate. You look down. You look up…as if to say, “What is this?  Is this all you’ve got?” A quick nod tells you that IS all they have, and you now have your portion of it – time to move on for everyone else to get their portion, as well.  The word portion is used for the amount of something that we get or are given – whether, as in the lunch line, we see it as good or bad.  This word is also used in a biblical context, but what does it mean?

 First, portion is not always viewed in a positive light.  In the “Parable of the Lost Son,” the impatient son exclaims, “Father, give the portion of goods that falls to me.” We all know how this ends. The man comes home broke and begs just to eat pig slop. Therefore, the word “portion” is not entirely a holy thought, yet God’s portion can be. 

 We hear it in our times of grief and hurt. People say, “Well, God will never give you more than you can handle.”  Though this exact phrase is nowhere in the Bible, its sentiments are valid.  Paul writes, “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Just as God was faithful to Jesus during His life on earth, He will be faithful to us during our time here as well. 

 David is successful in making God and His “portion” personal when he says, “You are the portion.” This thought interestingly changes when he writes, “But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”  What does all this mean? God is EVERYTHING and the ONLY THING we need at all times. Nothing more, nothing less. 

 What does “The Lord is my portion” mean to us today? 

1. God is all we need. We need nothing else. No overflowing bank accounts. No nice cars. No extravagant clothes. He’s it. He desires to be worshipped for it, too!

2. God is who we need.  We don’t need Batman, Spiderman, or the Incredible Hulk. We need God, and God alone. He is sufficient for all of life’s troubles. 

3. God is what we need. For every one of life’s problems and/or issues, God is the answer. Doubting? God. Dying? God. Depression? God. 

 In the midst of life’s troubles, hang on. Better yet, open up your eyes, and know God is there. He’s all you need. He was Adam’s portion. He was David’s portion. He was Jesus’ portion. He was Paul’s portion. He’s our portion.