Livin Lively

By Peggy Lively

           I read several verses in the “Daily Light” devotional book (New King James Version) that described the Lord as our portion. I have read these verses before, but had not really thought about what the word “portion” meant in this context. So I began to search a little further. Here are some of the verses:

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

“You are my portion, O Lord; I have said that I would keep Your words.” (Psalm 119:57)

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” (Lamentations 3:24)

“I cried out to You, O Lord: I said, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.’” (Psalm 142:5)

            When I think of “portion,” I think of food serving sizes (large or small portions), or a share of something- only part of the whole. However, these definitions didn’t seem to make sense to me when speaking of the Lord as my portion.

            So I continued to look up definitions and other verses to see if I could find some other explanation. I found one more definition of portion that seemed to make the connection for me. This definition described portion as, “the part of an estate that goes to an heir or a next of kin. “ More simply stated, it is an inheritance. As I read this definition, I remembered some of the other verses that contained the word portion:

“O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good inheritance.” (Psalm 16:5-6)

^“Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren; the Lord is his inheritance, just as the Lord your God promised him.” (Deuteronomy 10:9)

            This made sense to me. The Lord is our inheritance; in receiving Him, He has given us eternal life. To take this idea a step further, Hebrews reminds us that, “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.” (Hebrews 9:16-17)

            In order for us to receive our inheritance (a Savior and eternal life), someone had to die to put it into effect. That may seem a little tricky, but it means that Jesus had to die so that we could receive Him as our Savior, our portion, our inheritance.

            Isn’t that interesting? When I hear the word portion, I won’t think of food sizes anymore… Yes, I have a good inheritance.

“I am your portion and your inheritance.” Numbers 18:20