Mensa Otabil - The Lord Is My Portion
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This week we’ve been talking about God’s provision. God provides for us, and we’ve discussed different scenarios in which God provides for us: when there is scarcity, when there is lack, and when there is a crisis around us. God has a way of providing for His children. He’s a faithful God, and if you trust in Him, it may be a difficult season, but He will pull through. You’ll come through and emerge with a testimony. You have to learn to walk and live the way God wants us to.
We look at Jeremiah and his statements in the book of Lamentations, chapter 3, verse 24. It says, «The Lord is my portion,» says my soul; «therefore I hope in Him.» The book of Lamentations is interesting because it contains many complaints and Jeremiah wailing about the problems of his people and speaking about all the ills going on in his society. That’s why it’s called Lamentations. But right there, in all those statements, is this beautiful declaration from Jeremiah the prophet: «The Lord is my portion; therefore I hope in Him.»
If there is anything we want to say in this season, it is to declare, «The Lord is my portion, and therefore I hope in Him.» Jeremiah was both a prophet and a priest; he was from the Levitical tribe. In Israel, the Levitical tribe or the Levites did not have any natural heritage. They didn’t have land or tribal territories; God was their portion. God was all that they had. While all the other tribes had places to live and places to call their own, the Levites didn’t have a place to call their own, and God says, «Because I am your portion.»
Jeremiah is repeating this truth. Many times in life, you’ll find that in distribution you may not receive what others have. You may have been bypassed, or nobody really thinks much of you. They don’t think there is much hope for you; they don’t think you have talent or ability. People bypass you all the time. You may not come from a rich family, and as we go through life, we can feel that life has bypassed us. But Jeremiah says, «While all of these things are true, God is my portion.» In other words, if God is for me, God is what I have. The truth is when we have God, we have everything.
So people may not have given you your portion, but God is your portion, and He has given you what nobody else can give you. As Christians, that’s where we stand: the Lord is our portion. The Lord is the part that we have. We may not have all that the world has, but we have the Lord. Jeremiah says, «Because the Lord is my portion, I hope in the Lord.» I’m not going to trust people because they are not my portion. I’m not going to trust a wealth system because that is not my portion.
There are people who don’t trust in God; all they trust are physical and material things. But I have something deeper: the Lord is my portion; therefore, I trust in the Lord. So when the world is changing all around me, when foundations are shifting, when pillars are being broken, and when nations are in crisis and turmoil, I can still say I have hope because the Lord is my portion. As far as God has not been moved, I will not be moved. As far as God has not been sidelined, I will not be sidelined. So long as God is on my side, I have everything I need.
As you prepare to enter a new week, I want you to know the Lord is your portion. Hope in Him, trust in Him, and He will pull you through and bring you through. Let’s pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, You are all that I have. In You, I receive all that my soul desires. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.»