OUR BLESSED PORTION

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.”

Lamentations 3:24

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

We all have needs.

It’s a truth we will always live with but here’s another truth that so often conflicts and complicates the other one.

For we all have wants as well as needs. We all have desires that go well beyond the fundamental things that we need to survive and if we’re not careful, our wants can transcend our needs, leading to us of a place of dissatisfaction with life.

In other words, we can want and want and want until we never find ourselves fulfilled.

It can easily happen and indeed does happen to people all the time. In fact, I think the unchecked longing for more and more things is at the root of coveting and we know that the Lord has warned us against such a life attitude.

So how can we prevent ourselves from falling into this sinful life trap, a trap where we see our wants take over and dominate who we are and the things we pursue?

The answer is simple. We need to turn to the only One we need in life, the One who will always give us just what we need in perfect quantity. We need to turn to the Lord who is our portion.

The Israelite voice speaking in our scripture verse in Lamentations certainly got this. Look here at their words again:

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

Now, I think it’s important to preface these words with remembering the situation they were born out of. Keep in mind that the Israelites were in the midst of a seventy year exile, the penalty imposed on them by God for their sinful worshiping of false gods and idols in direct disobedience to what He had commanded.

They had lost everything as a result of God’s judgment. They had lost their homes. They had lost their possessions. They had lost their freedom. And they had lost their pride and dignity.

But there was one thing that they didn’t lose, one thing that no one could take from them because it came from within. You see, no one could take their faith away, specifically, their faith in the Lord.

Perhaps we don’t realize that God is all we need until we lose everything else and only have Him. When that happens, we discover that in Him, we have all we could ever ask for, all we could ever need.

So what do we find in the Lord? What makes Him our blessed portion?

We can turn to the scriptures for the answers:

1. He is our refuge in times of trouble.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1

God knows our needs before we ever call on Him in times of trouble. He will protect us, He will provide for us, and He will give us the strength we need to make it through any circumstances. No one else can do this for us. No one.

2. He is our great Deliverer.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior. 2 Samuel 22:2-3

When we are in the midst of hardship or difficulty, God is the only one we need to seek to bring us through. He was there to deliver His people from the oppression of Egypt. He was there to deliver His people through forty days of harsh exodus through the wilderness as they traveled to Canaan. And He would deliver His people from their seventy year captivity in Babylon. He promised as much and as we know from the scriptures, He made good on His promise. He always does.

What do you need deliverance from in life?

Turn to God and you will find it.

3. He is our Helper.  

The Lord is with me; He is my helper. Psalm 118:7

No one is with us always except for God. He is omnipresent, a very fancy word which simply means He is everywhere at all times. We are never out of His presence and so He is intimately aware of all that we need at any given time. Given this, He is always ready to help us in accordance with His will and way. He knows what is best for us and all we need to do is trust Him to help us through whatever life brings our way. He will never guide us wrong and that leads to item 4.

4. He is our leader.

God is with us; He is our leader. 2 Chronicles 13:12

Go back to biblical times and you will find that the Israelites were often like sheep needing a shepherd to lead them. This is why they needed God so badly because He always provided them with the direction they needed. All they had to do was follow Him in obedience.

Today, we are no different than the people we are studying who lived more than 2,000 years before us. We are still in need of a leader who will always direct us in the right way to go and God is still that leader.

5. He is faithful.

He is the faithful God. Deuteronomy 7:9

No one will stand by you through thick and thin like God will. No one.

In fact, He will even remain faithful to us when we have been unfaithful to Him. Point in case is the Israelites and their story. They blatantly disrespected and dishonored God by worshiping other gods, turning their backs on the Lord who had always been loyal to them. But did God completely shut off His people. No, He disciplined them and then He made the way clear for them to be freed from exile and return home.

In other words, He stayed faithful to His people even when they were unfaithful to Him. He’s the only source of perfect faithfulness in our lives.

6. He saved us through His Son.

The Lord is my strength and my defense; He has become my salvation. Exodus 15:2

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2

God so loved us that He did not wish for us to perish, something that was a certainty because of our sins.

How did He resolve this and thus become the author of our salvation?

He sent His only Son Jesus to die in our place, a substitutional, atoning sacrifice to pay the price we deserved.

With this, we can see where God was not just concerned with meeting our needs in this present, worldly life but also for eternity if we simply place our faith in His Son as Savior.

He is our Refuge, our Provider, our Deliverer, our Helper, our Leader, and our faithful God who saves us through His Son.

He is the Lord God Almighty and He is, and will always be, our blessed portion, ever giving us just what we need when we need it.

Amen

In Christ,

Mark
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