Thoughts for the Day

The Lord is my portion;
I promise to keep your words.
I implore your favour with all my heart;
be gracious to me according to your promise.
When I think of your ways,
I turn my feet to your decrees;
I hurry and do not delay
to keep your commandments.
Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me,
I do not forget your law.
At midnight I rise to praise you,
because of your righteous ordinances.
I am a companion of all who fear you,
of those who keep your precepts.
The earth, O Lord, is full of your steadfast love;
teach me your statutes.

You have dealt well with your servant,
O Lord, according to your word.
Teach me good judgement and knowledge,
for I believe in your commandments.
Before I was humbled I went astray,
but now I keep your word.
You are good and do good;
teach me your statutes...
It is good for me that I was humbled,
so that I might learn your statutes.
The law of your mouth is better to me
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

I have always had a sweet tooth, so looking at verse 57 of Psalm 119 with the word "portion" in it, my mind immediately conjured up pictures of cakes, tarts and puddings. There were five of us in our family and my mother could pretty much divide anything into five equal sections, so there was never any danger of getting a large or very small portion! Incidentally, did you know there are hundreds of sites on the internet telling you how to cut a cake into x, y, or z portions?

But we're not looking at cakes today, but at what it might mean to say that the "Lord is my portion"? Psalm 119 (the longest psalm in the Hebrew scriptures) is, as we have seen many times before, all about God's Law, and the synonyms for law are many even in this one passage. We have "commandments", "precepts", "decrees", "ordinances", and "statutes", and we could probably also add "words" and "ways" to this list. Like the Levites, who were given no land by God when they entered Canaan, but were to be those who looked after all things to do with the worship of God in the Tabernacle and later the Temple, the writer is saying effectively that he is content with his portion - with the blessings he receives from God himself through his study of the Law, or as we might say, the study of scripture.

If God is our portion in life, what else do we need? He will satisfy our soul and meet our every need as He sees fit. For the psalmist his belief that God has given him all that he needs means he once more turns to God in worship and in study of His word. He closes this section of the psalm with the wonderful words "The law of your mouth is better to me
than thousands of gold and silver pieces."

Lord God,
You are our portion.
With You we can live and grow
and mature as Your children.
You satisfy us even before we know
what we want or need.
You grant us Your blessings each day,
and You call us to trust in You
so that even when we encounter hardship,
we can still say
"I am content with You as my portion!"
Amen.