“The Lord My Portion” – FBC Morning Light (6/26/2023)

Well, a good Monday morning to you. I hope you had a good weekend this past Lord's Day, especially able to get together with God's people and worship the

Lord and learn something from his word. Well, today we're reading in our Bible reading plan in First Chronicles 11 and 12,

Romans chapter nine, and in Psalm 119, verses 57 to 64.

I'm going to focus on that passage in Psalm 119 here in just a moment. But I wanted to mention to you that after this week, after Friday, beginning next week, and for about four weeks,

I'm going to kind of have a suspending of the morning devotionals. I started doing these in,

I think it was in April of 2020. So it was like just after the pandemic hit.

We were doing some lockdown stuff like everybody else. We didn't do that very long, but we did it long enough that I felt like I wanted to encourage our church family on a daily basis.

So I started doing these devotionals. It may even have been in March. And I've been doing them ever since.

I don't think there's been any week that I've missed doing these since March or maybe early

April of 2020. So I'm going to take a little hiatus from this for about a month, and we'll be back at it in the month of August.

Just wanted you to be aware of that. Well, today, Psalm 119, verse 57 begins with a statement by David, and we read it a few times in the

Psalms, where he says, you are my portion, O Lord. I thought it was an interesting word and wondered, what is it communicating?

You are my portion. And so I looked it up, did a little study on it. And the word actually means you are my allotment.

You are my tract. So think about the inheritance of the different tribes in the land of Israel, and each of the tribes got their territory.

That was their portion. That was their allotment. Well, David says, you are my, you,

O Lord, are my allotment. You are my tract. You are my portion. In other words, it's almost as if he's saying, it is in you that I live and I dwell.

And when you realize that as a follower of Christ, and as one whose faith is in the

God of the Bible, and that he is your portion, that really affects so much of your life.

And if you look at the rest, it affects all of your life, but it affects how you live that life. So look at the rest of these eight verses, and I just want us to see the implications that David expresses for the fact that the

Lord is his allotment. It's his portion. He right away says,

I have said that I would keep your words because I'm dwelling within you.

I dwell in you. You are my tract. You are my inheritance. You are my allotment.

You are my portion. Then I have said, I would keep your words. I will obey you.

I will do what you want me to do. I'll live the way you want me to live. Now, in the

New Testament, the concept is that you are in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus is your portion.

He is your allotment. Is that the consequent sentiment of our heart, and commitment of our heart, that I will do,

O Lord Christ, what you would have me to do. I will keep your words.

He goes on to say, I entreated your favor with my whole heart because I dwell within you.

You are my portion. I want your favor. I want to live in such a way that is pleasing to you.

He says in verse 59, I thought about my ways. I meditated on my paths.

I thought about my ways, and I turned my feet to your testimonies. In other words, in contrast to the mantra of our age,

David is not saying, I set my feet in the course that I wanted to go.

I determined my way. I determined the goal that I wanted to achieve.

Nobody says. He says, I pondered my path. I pondered where I was headed, and I evaluated.

It's like he's saying, I evaluated my path, and contrasted it, or compared it with what you would have me to do.

I adjusted my feet according to your testimonies, according to the way you want me to live, according to where you want me to go, the destination that you would have in mind for me.

And then in verse 62, he says, at midnight, I will rise to give thanks to you because of your righteous judgments.

He has a heart of gratitude for what God has decreed, and how

God has established his life, and determined that his life is to be lived, and the scope of his responsibility, and his service for God.

He says, I wake up at midnight, and I am just so thankful for your righteous judgments in my behalf.

And then he says in verse 63, I'm a companion of all those who fear you, and those who keep your precepts.

Living in Christ, being in Christ, with Christ Jesus as your portion, that should have an impact on who are our closest companions.

Who do we rub shoulders with, and have fellowship with the most?

Is it God's people, other believers? Or do we find them to be sort of ancillary to our lives, and we really enjoy spending most of our time with those who aren't

God's people? I think that should be something to stop and think.

And consider, I'm in Christ Jesus, and my brothers and sisters in Christ, in my church fellowship, in my church family, in the

Christian community, they are the ones that I should have the closest companionship with. This is what

David communicates, because you are my portion, I'm a companion of those who fear you, and those who keep your precepts.

So, in these eight verses, there's really some food for thought, isn't there? Some things to think about, and realize that the fact that we are in Christ, and that Christ is our portion, it should make a big difference in how we live today.

May it do so. And so, our Father, I pray that this, we would just meditate on this thought today, that you,

O Lord, are our portion. We pray it in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well listen,