The Lord is My Portion

In the midst of Psalm 119, David utters this statement: “The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep your words” (v. 57). (For a similar thought, see Ps. 16:5; 73:25; 142:5.)

I’m uncertain as to the reason behind David’s use of the word portion. It might be a reference to God’s distribution of the land of Canaan among the sons of Israel. God allotted a portion of the land to each one. And so, David might be using that concept to stress the fact that his portion (or inheritance) is God. But whatever the reason behind David’s use of the word, his point is clear—he had taken God as his happiness.

In many ways, this is the essence of what it means to be a Christian. Thomas Manton remarks, “Grace restores us to the inclinations of nature when it was innocent; therefore, the soul, that came from God, must center in God, and it cannot be quiet without Him” (Works, VII:111). In other words, when we’re born again, the Holy Spirit implants a new spiritual sense within us. As a result, we realize that God alone is all-sufficient (Gen. 15:1). He’s eternally and immutably good—the only good that can satisfy our souls. Again, Thomas Manton remarks, “God is satisfied with Himself and sufficient to His own happiness, therefore surely there is enough in Him to fill the creature. That which fills an ocean will fill a bucket” (Works, VII:112).

That being the case, here’s a question we must ask: Is God our portion? That question leads to another: How do we know? Now, I’m not interested in what we say. (After all, Judas was a follower of Christ by profession, but a follower of Satan by affection.) I’m far more interested in how we live. Take another look at David’s statement in Psalm 119:57, “The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep your words.” To put it another way, the fact that David had taken God as his portion was manifested in his desire to please Him. Conclusion: unless we’re concerned about pleasing God, we haven’t taken Him as our portion.

Quotable: “The soul is like a sponge, always thirsting, and seeking of something from without to be filled—a chaos of desires. Man was made to live in dependence” (Thomas Manton).