21 Days of Prayer in Psalm 119 (Day #8)

"My Portion"
Read Psalm 119:57-64

As our service was canceled this morning due to freezing rain and the resulting travel woes, I am continuing to post these daily readings and comments with prayer on Facebook and on my Honest 2 God blog on the Psalms.

Each day we are reading a successive passage of eight verses from Psalm 119. Almost every verse mentions the Word of God by one of several synonyms. So, in this psalm, we don’t look for the differences between these different terms (Word, Way, Law, Testimonies, Precepts, Commandments, Statutes, Rules, etc.) but look for the similarities. One other note, Psalm 119 is what is called an acrostic psalm. It is made up of 22 separate sections (of eight verses each) starting with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This means that all eight verses in the first section start with the Hebrew letter aleph, the next eight verses all start with beth, and so on. Today is the letter heth.

There is much in this section that I was going to teach today, but for this post, I will focus on the first two verses, 57-58.

The Lord is my portion;
    I promise to keep your words.

I entreat your favor with all my heart;
    be gracious to me according to your promise.

In verse 57, the psalmist’s concept of “portion” has a deep history in Israel. The Hebrew word is commonly used for “portion, share, part, territory,” but in meaning “portion” points to their inheritance, that which has been given to them by the Lord. And what is it that has been given? It is nothing less than the Lord himself. Nothing could be greater, or more undeserved, than the relational presence of the Lord in our lives.

(See Psalm 16:5; 73:26; Lam.3:24)

This acknowledgment of the Lord as his “portion” leads the psalmist to vow to keep the word of God—why? First, such obedience is the response of love to the given love of God; second, it is the Word itself that declares the Lord to be his portion. Hence, he would want to guard and cherish the word that itself is the guarantee of his inheritance.

Verse 58 testifies that the psalmist seeks God’s favor/grace with all his heart. God wants what is best for us but do we seek his grace with all our hearts? Do we ask this like we mean it? Do we ask it like we mean it? Too often we don’t feel our needs as intensely as we should for we minimize our own sin and exaggerate our own goodness. The truth is that we need God’s grace more than we know. It is as we come to the conviction of our own need that we will begin to seek his favor wholeheartedly. The sooner the better, since he longs to bestow it upon us. 

It is his promise, should we confess our need!

O Lord, I thank you that you didn’t choose to satisfy me with riches and other things, popularity and position, worldly power, hosts of angels, or libraries of knowledge. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you are my portion! You are my only hope which is a very good thing for in Christ all your promises are “Yes” and Amen! (2 Cor. 2:20-22)