My Portion Forever

 

Psalm 73:23-26

Nevertheless, I am continually with you;

   you hold my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel,

   and afterward you will receive me to glory.

Whom have I in heaven but you?

   And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail,

   but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

This psalm’s aim is to encourage and strengthen God’s followers when life is crumbling around them, even though they are being obedient to God. Meanwhile, wicked people all around seem to do great, even though they have rejected God and are doing whatever they want. It reminds us that regardless of a person’s circumstances today, the faithful and the unbeliever are on two separate paths. 

It doesn’t matter how good the view is on the path, if the path is going away from God and its end is eternal suffering. In the same way, if your path goes through dark, scary sections, but is the path to eternal life with God, and if he is always near you as you walk, you can have strength to keep taking one step at a time. This is true for believers in Christ.

The psalm pictures this as God continually holding my right hand, speaking his good guidance into my ear as I walk. My favorite part is the last verse because it isn’t trying to sugar-coat life, this isn’t just a feel-good, “everything is going to be alright” song. The author admits that our flesh and our heart may fail.

Heart here, in Hebrew, means your inner person, including your mind and will and soul. So, there may be times when everything on our inside fails and everything on our outside, our physical bodies, fails. What could possibly keep us going when that happens, and not just trudging forward bitterly, but walking with humble thankfulness?

Well, we still believe that God is there walking with us toward an eternity with him. He is our strength when we don’t have any and our portion forever. My portion forever – why does that change my perspective on my life? Here’s a silly picture that helps me and I hope will help you, too.

Let’s say you sit down to dinner at a banquet. The servers are bringing out the meals and you see the person on your right get a large plate with the world’s finest nigiri sushi, some expertly seared and cooked rib eye, and all the fixings. The person next to them has a huge bowl of various ice creams melting over a thick brownie and drizzled with caramel and hot fudge. As your plate is lowered in front of you, your mouth watering, you see a small pile of mushy, overcooked peas and sliced liver. What do you feel? I would feel loss, anger, and unfairness well up within me. But then you notice something concealed under the unappetizing veggies. You move them aside with your fork and uncover the Hope Diamond, currently valued at around $300 million dollars. 

With guarded hope, you ask the server if he’s sure this is your plate. “Yes, we are handed a plate carefully prepared for each person,” he replies. “That is your portion.” In growing shock and wonder you look from side to side. There’s no denying that the steak, sushi, and dessert still look mouth-watering, and you’ll only eat the peas and liver if you have to. But the anger about what you’ve been served has melted away and is replaced with joy and thankfulness, along with a sense of being unworthy of being given such a generous portion, which will change your life forever.

This is why the psalmist can unabashedly speak of unfairness and tragic loss in this life without losing hope. He knows that God himself is the strength of his heart and his portion forever. If Jesus is both your Lord and Savior, the same is true for you. So as you stare down at what you've been served for life today, don't forget to look under the veggies and find hope there.