June 25 – Shining Like Gold

“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.” - Job 23:10-12 (NASB)

Again we look to garner from the Book of Job a promise of God's. Having been severely tested by Satan, who had God’s permission with limits, Job has become convinced that the trials which took everything he owned and his family – except his wife – were a test and not a punishment for evil or wickedness on his part. Job sensed that God was evading him. But Job believed that were God to show up He would, knowing the way of godliness Job followed,  have to declare him not guilty. Yet the Job perceived that when God finished testing him he would come forth “shining like gold. Even though Job could not sense the presence of God, he believed God was present and Job affirmed his commitment to God’s purpose in this test and his continued obedience to what God has commanded – which were the most important issues in his life. From this real-life example Job gives us, we too can be assured that when our trials become more than we think we can bear, if God is our hope and salvation, we will emerge through His graces and for His glory. 

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September 5 – Our Promised Portion

“The LORD is my portion; I have promised to keep Your words.” - Psalm 119:57” -  (NASB)

In the original language, verse 57 may be a broken sentence. The translators mended it by insertions, but even as it is without the fix it makes good sense. It would appear as an exclamation,—“My portion, O Lord!” As one nearly overcome with God’s goodness, the psalmist (likely David) is lost in wonder while he sees that the great and glorious God is all his own! This is understandable, for there is no possession we might have like the LORD himself. The sentence expresses joyous recognition and assumption,—“My portion, O LORD!” The idea of "a portion" springs from the lawful practice of the Levites when they were sacrificing animals brought to the Temple as offerings. They were given a portion of the meat that they might eat. In this way the priests were sustained since their work was fully within the compound of the Temple when they served.  For the psalmist and for us, God is a great and permanent portion, our heritage. It includes all, and more than all; it outlasts all; and yet no one chooses it for themselves until God has chosen and renewed their life by being born of God.

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July 31 – Fighting the Blues With Faith

“My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” - Psalm 73:26 (ESV)

Can’t we all agree that we have a weakness when it comes to holding the line on what we know and believe faithfully? Literally the verb in this verse is simply “fail,” not “may fail.” Asaph was enraptured by God. His testimony is, “I have failed! I am despairing! I am dejected! I am overcome with depression!” Then he fires a broadside against all this despondency: “But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” This is our promise for when the blues attack. Refuse to yield to their effects. Instead, battle our unbelief; respond with a strategic counterattack. It comes down to this if we trust the promises of God: when in ourselves we feel weak and unable to cope; when we are physically spent and have lost heart, that is the time to not yield to whatever the reason is for our despondency. We trust God and not ourselves. We have hope because God is our strength and our portion forever. These testimonies in the Bible are for our use to fight the unbelief of despondency. And, we fight with the blast of faith in God’s promises. 

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June 2 – We Have No Other

“You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. ” – Psalm 73:24-25 (ESV)

Let’s take a moment and consider the first promise. We are guided by God and He does so according to His counsel which is without fault and prefect in wisdom. Understanding these verses really requires reading them in context with the whole psalm. He faces temptation and nearly slips into the evils of envious arrogance (v. 2-3). The author is in conflict inwardly (vs. 14-15) Embarrassed as to how to act, he finds deliverance from his dilemma (v.16). He ends up with this declaration. The Psalmist acknowledges that it is God who guides us and it is also God who sees to us being received in glory. He thus declares his allegiance to God. We truly have no one besides God who will guarantee, and assure our eternal future in heaven. Another promise is here in the next verse (v. 26) that God is the strength of our heart and His portion is our best possession. Hence, there is nothing on earth that should capture our desire besides God.  Let’s not buck against this but instead, with Asaph, the Psalms author, let’s make the Lord God our refuge and testify of all His works (v. 28).

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April 3 – Considering Our Portion, Have Hope

““The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”” Lamentations 3:24 (ESV)

Need a bit of hope in the circumstances of life the days?  Have the “things of earth” pressed in on your heart and soul and are they deflecting your spirit from the Lord God and His promises?  There is a source where hope can be found.  Hope comes from knowing and trusting in what is true.  When we consider the mercies, compassions, and faithfulness of God we find our portion of our inheritance is Almighty God.  He is our LORD and He is who we have received as our portion.  (Numbers 8:20; Psalm 16:5).  Can we envision anything that is more blessed than receiving a portion of God, or God as our spiritual inheritance?  It is the Lord that we have in life and in death. He is our portion in time and to eternity. All He is, and all He has, is ours in Christ. Considering that we are heirs of Him, shall enjoy Him forever, and we shall never be used up, we affirm that God is a large and full portion that is indescribably rich and great, satisfies our soul, and will last forever.  Therefore, we have hope that will never disappoint us.  

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March 28 – Whom Have We But God?

“My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”   Psalm 73:26 (NASB)

The verse we have selected was written by Asaph* and it is a remarkably honest in its words regarding our tendency to falter in our walk with God in this life.  It is true that living a Christian life is not an easy path.  But God is our path-maker and our guide.  In this verse the psalmist reminds us how the Lord was with him helping him through his life.  We believe that our Lord is also with us helping us in our Christian life.  We can recognize and admit as this psalmist does that there are times when things around us seem to be too much for us to handle.  Our troubles and failures cause us to question how we might make it through the day.  Those are the times we need to remember that our God has promised to be with us to help us and to strengthen our hearts.  As we put our trust in the Lord at times like this He will always be faithful.  We may fail but He never will for God will bring us all the way through.  We too can praise God for He is indeed the strength of our heart and He is all we ever need.  

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* Asaph the Psalmist

April 8 – Our Portion, Our Possession

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations 3:24 (ESV)

The writings in the book of Lamentations were most likely by the prophet Jeremiah. He wrote them during the dark days after the City of Jerusalem had been conquered by the Babylonians who left the city in ruins. Those were long sad days for the writer.  With so much around him all destroyed the writer knew that he still had the Lord with him.  This truth was a great comfort to him and he was determined to always trust the Lord. We need to be reminded that no matter what happens around us we still have the Lord.  When we read that He is our portion it means that He belongs to us just as anything does that might have come to us during a distribution of items.  Yes the Lord is ours no matter what happens. We have the promise that He will never leave us and will never desert us no matter what happens.  Trust that promise today and every day.  

February 17

“I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”” Lamentations 3:24 (NIV)

This is a wonderful and very comforting truth in today’s verse. Our God has made Himself available to us. We can depend on His response to us when we turn to Him. And this relationship is very personal. Our verse says that the Lord is our portion. He has made Himself available to us so that we can think of him as ours – as belonging to us. We have received our portion and that is all we need. When we think this way we are not presuming something. This is really not our idea originally. God originated this idea and He is the one who wants us to consider our relationship in that way. And, if that is true then we will look to Him expectantly. So let us say with the words of our verse what Jeremiah said, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”