Psalm 119:57-64

There are few better thoughts in all of Scripture than to know God as one’s “portion” (v57).  Our portion is, of course, our “lot in life” so to speak.  It is what will be ours in this lifetime.  

Most people measure their “portion” according to money, pleasure or fame.  But most people also are not satisfied.  You can hear it in their complaints and see it in their endless seeking after another dollar, a bigger kick, or another promotion.  

A “portion” was what God said He would be for the Levites (Num. 18:20).  All the other tribes received land and cities of their own.  The Levites got God for their inheritance.  

Now some might think the Levites had a hard life, always dependent on God for their needs.  But anyone who thinks that way doesn’t understand the last verse of this stanza: “The earth, O Lord, is full of Your mercy” (v64).  In fact, a person can have nothing better than to have God as their portion.  

The trials of our lives are designed to reveal whether or not God is our portion.  In the book of Lamentations, where Jeremiah recorded his utter discouragement at the loss of all that was dear to him, God brought him to see that he still had all he needed because God was his portion (Lam. 3:22-24).  

So it is in this stanza of Psalm 119: it is revealed that the Psalmist’s portion was God.  The middle verses (58-63) describe the lifestyle of one who is finding his satisfaction in God.

·        58: he brings his petitions to God with his whole heart (i.e. he has no other heart-desire to find answers in any other portion).

·        59: he orders his daily path to follow after God.

·        60: he wastes no time in obeying God’s word.

·        61: when beset by circumstances, he stays the course laid out in God’s word.

·        62: in the odd hours his thoughts are of the Lord.

·        63: he encourages himself by fellowship with those who also seek God as their portion.

Who or what is your portion?  Are you putting your trust in your own value? or your possessions? or the next thrill?  Or can you say that your Portion fills the earth with His mercy?