“The Lord is my portion;
I promise to keep your words.” Psalm 119.57
We’re entering a new stanza in our trek through this splendid psalm, and what a start we have with the poet’s opening exclamation. The original language here could be translated, “The Lord, my portion!” It’s a joyous cry as the psalmists finds his portion, his sustenance, in God.
Spurgeon says it this way: “The poet is lost in wonder while he sees that the great and glorious God is all his own! Well might he be so, for there is no possession like Jehovah himself.” Have you recognized God as your portion, as all that you need, as your sustenance?
Notice again, as we’ve seen several times in this psalm, that the poet’s recognition of God’s care and providence leads him to faithful obedience. This is the type of faith, the type of recognition of God’s care and providence, that Daniel and his friends must have known in refusing the king’s food. We too can know this joy and comfort in looking to the Lord—and to him alone—as our portion, and that recognition should guide us in keeping God’s Word.
Where do you find your sustenance? In what ways are you seeking your portion from things other than God? How have you seen your joy increase when you’ve trusted in the Lord and his kind providence?
Our Father in heaven, you are our sustenance, your are our portion. May we ever trust in you and your generous love for us. May finding our portion in you lead us to devotion and resolve to keep your words. Amen.