My Portion
Women often add an accessory, such as a bracelet, to what they’re wearing. Men do too—a tie clip, a school pin, or even a baseball cap. We might add an accessory to our car—fuzzy dice hanging from the rear-view mirror (if you like that sort of thing). Sadly, that’s how many people approach God. He’s nothing more than an accessory—an optional add-on. This is a far cry from the psalmist’s experience: “You are my portion, O LORD” (Psalm 119:57). The term “portion” comes from the distribution of the land of Canaan to the Israelites upon entering Canaan, and it serves to convey the reality that God alone is the psalmist’s inheritance. He “sees that the great and glorious God is all his own” (Charles Spurgeon).
Elsewhere, the psalmist tells us that he’s fully pleased that God is his portion: “O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup: You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a goodly inheritance” (Psalm 16:5-6). When God is the object of our delight, we’re at ease. We drink of the “fountain of living waters” (Jeremiah 2:13). When we take Him as our portion, we find in Him all we could ever want: an eternal and spiritual good, suitable to our every need. This is the sum and substance of all the promises: “I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jeremiah 31:33). This promise is what Christ has purchased for us: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).
The greatest delusion is to think that we can be happy without God. Everyone is searching for the axis mundi—the connection between heaven and earth. Some have looked for it in pyramids, ziggurats, or totem poles. Others have looked for it in Mount Olympus, Mount Kailash, or even the Temple Mount. In reality, however, the axis mundi isn’t a place where we reach up to God. It’s a person (Christ) who reaches down to us.
When God is ours in Christ, His power is ours to protect us; His wisdom to direct us; His mercy to pity us; His grace to pardon us; His love to refresh us; His joy to satisfy us; His justice to accept us as righteous in Christ; His faithfulness to fulfill His promises to us; and His majesty to make us glorious forever. God cannot give us anything greater than Himself. He inhabits eternity—to whom a thousand years are but a moment. He’s boundless in His being, omnipotent in His power, unsearchable in His wisdom, inconceivable in His grace, and infinite in all His perfections.
“The Christian knows no change with regard to God.… If God loved me yesterday, He loves me today. I am neither better nor worse in God than I ever was. Let prospects be blighted, let hopes be blasted, let joy be withered, let mildews destroy everything. I have lost nothing of what I have in God” (Charles Spurgeon).
God gives us heavenly treasures and eternal pleasures (Psalm 16:11; Luke 12:33). He gives us the crown of glory that will never fade away (1 Peter 5:4). He gives us a renewed universe in which righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:13). He gives us eternity without pain, sorrow, or death (Revelation 21:4). He gives us the beatific vision, whereby we behold His glory in Christ Jesus (Matthew 5:8). On top of everything, God gives us Himself.
This blog was originally posted on Ramblings.