DAILY DEVOTIONAL – June 2, 2020
“Portion Control“
Prayer: Lord Jesus, we have nothing if not You. Bless our time in Your Word. Amen.
Scripture: Psalm 16
Keep me safe, my God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing.”
3 I say of the holy people who are in the land,
“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.
I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods
or take up their names on my lips.
5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Devotional – “Portion Control”
Especially in today’s fast paced and technological society, we desperately aspire after two things; on-demand convenience and comfort. We want to be able to have immediate access to what we want with the push of a button and have it all within seconds. Here are some interesting facts for you. Wanna take a guess at how long the average length of a red light is nation wide? 120 seconds. How about the line at the grocery store? How long do you think the average wait time is nationally in the grocery store line? Just under 5 minutes. Of course there are always exceptions to these averages…like waiting in line at the DMV…but the point here is that, if you’re anything like me, most of the time we get impatient it’s not because things are taking nearly as long as we might think.
You know, we must also admit that when things in this life are going smoothly, when we hit all the green lights, when the checkout line is empty, when it seems everything is in its proper place and there are no outstanding problems or worries on the outside, we tend to think all is well with us spiritually, on the inside as well. If the job is well and boss is happy, if the books are balanced and finances are happy, if the home is calm and spouse is happy…God must be happy. But if things start to unravel, if the red lights seem to seek us out and every person in the checkout line ahead of us has a book of coupons to scan and is paying with all the loose change they have collected in the past year, the first place we look with a giant, frustrated question mark over our head, is up to the sky, “God, what did I do? Why is this happening to me?”
As David says in our Psalm in verse 5, “The Lord is my portion and my cup; you hold my lot.” Our portion is not in the calm tides of life. Our refuge is not taken in a balanced checkbook, or a clean bill of health or the success of the things we aspire in. Many times, though, it is those things that make the “laundry list” we fill our prayers with. Certainly, there is every reason to thank the Lord for the temporal blessings He lavishes upon us, as David said, “The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed I have a beautiful inheritance.” And David did. David inherited the Promised Land…not only his own ancestral plot of land, but also his seat on the throne as King of Israel; an entire nation under his command, and all of it given to him by the grace of God as David was chosen from the most unlikely of places and as a most unlikely candidate for king.
Likewise God has no doubt blessed us with incredible blessings in this life and this world. Even a modest life here in the US affords us more luxuries than some of the wealthiest people in David’s time could have ever fathomed. However, what happens when a storm hits, a literal storm or a storm in our lives, and wipes it all out? What happens when there is no work? When the money is running out? When a spouse or child gets ill and the outcome uncertain? Has God revoked our inheritance? Are we no longer as “favored” by God? Have we done something wrong?
No, no and no! David’s praise of the Lord as his portion, his refuge and cup is ultimately rooted in the eternal inheritance David knew he had through the gracious promised and coming Messiah, and God’s faithfulness to provide that Savior. “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the paths of life; in your presence there is fulness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forever more.” Though David was appreciative, as we are, of the temporal blessings of God, David knew the true path to life was the path to being in the presence of God. Jesus said that no one comes to the Father except through Him, and after the Holy Spirit was given to the apostles at Pentecost, in the very first sermon preached, Peter recalls this very Psalm and declares it to be fulfilled as a prophecy of Jesus as the Messiah who died for our sins, rose again and ascended to the right hand of the Father. Our eternal inheritance is found in the same promise that David believed in; the promise of Jesus. As Jesus also promised in the Gospel of John, “I go to prepare a place for you, and if I prepare a place for you I will come back to take you there with me.”
Peter beautifully speaks about our eternal inheritance in his first epistle in the New Testament. “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by Godʼs power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” – 1 Peter 1:3-7
When our time comes to go home and be with our Lord Jesus in the presence of God, or if we are so blessed to still be alive when that imminent day of our Lord’s return in judgement arrives, the only thing we take with us into eternity is the new resurrected and perfect bodies Christ will give us. Everything else, all of the things we tend to hold so tightly to in this life will perish, leaving only Christ as our eternal portion. He is now and will be all that we need to be complete and happy and fully satisfied.
There is no shame in wanting to provide a comfortable life for ourselves or for our families in this life, however, this Psalm reminds us that there is no plot of land or portion that this life can serve us that will ultimately satisfy our true heart’s desire. Only Jesus Christ satisfies. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:20-22, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in Jesus. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. 21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee of our inheritance.”
This week in your prayers, make sure this Psalm makes the “laundry list”. Refuse to be bogged down by what we know are the troubles of an earthly life, a life that is but a vapor in the ultimate eternity which has been won for us. Proclaim victoriously over the tops of your troubles the salvation and eternal inheritance that is in fact yours; an inheritance that has been given to you as a gracious gift of God, freely by faith in Christ who gave up everything, even His very life, so you and I could be heirs of the Kingdom of God. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” – Hebrews 10:23.
Enjoy the rest of your day friends, and remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
