“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him” (Lamentations 3:24).
Cheleq is Hebrew for “portion, tract, territory.” In other words, God can be our inheritance, our allotment, if we invite him to be Lord of our lives. But we often forget this, even as believers. Why is that?
What Does 'God Is My Portion' Mean?
An allotment is an amount of something (food, water, land), which has been divided between people or is rationed out to a person incrementally. As co-heirs with Christ, his people receive a home in heaven for all eternity and are blessed by having received his presence by the Holy Spirit.
We are equally loved by him and purchased at the same cost by him: the blood of Christ. One payment for all sinners, for all time, but only for those who become part of the family.
By this inheritance, we are all fully equipped to do what we were put on this earth to do: know God, glorify his name, and have a relationship with him. But we forget that he can be our portion and instead choose other treasures which “moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19).
Seeking Other Portions
The portions we often seem to want, particularly in Western society, include our “fair share” of beauty, skills, and money. We want esteem, love, and comfort. We seek safety, good health, and autonomy. People want a comfortable home, good looks, and annual holidays abroad or camping trips away from the everyday grind.
These are worldly portions, idols we often describe as “needs.” While none of them is bad in its own right, when we worship them as idols, we imagine that our lack of these things is unfair. Our needs are not being met.
The idea that God promises wealth and good health to his people and that this is our portion right now comes from the Prosperity Gospel. This false gospel tells us that sin keeps us from receiving our portion in its fullness. Better worship yields rewards straight from heaven.
The Prosperity Gospel does not teach the actual gospel: that Christ is our reward. “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). Wealth and perfect health are not required in order for us to serve the Lord. Even if we have them, although we ought to be grateful, this is still not our portion.
A Biblical Portion: God Is My Portion
Christians are known by the way they love one another (John 13:35), not by material benefits. Jesus had “no place to lay his head” (Luke 9:58). He was not comfortable or wealthy. Isaiah 53:2 tells us that Jesus “had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.”
The writer of Lamentations calls himself “the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light” (Lamentations 3:1-2).
Christ explained that “if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Lamentations 3:29 tells the one who seeks God to “put his mouth in the dust — there may yet be hope.”
Sacrifice, humility, suffering, and obedience to the Lord are part of our inheritance.
In spite of his suffering, however, the writer of Lamentations places his hope in the Lord, thinking ahead to eternity. “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him” (v.25). The goodness he waits for is “salvation” (v.26), which is our allotment.
Desires Out of Alignment
Wealth, safety, significance, and attractiveness perhaps seem more attainable and immediate, and though fleeting, Christians often look to them for peace and forget to ask the Lord for the desires of his heart (Psalm 37:4). We forget not only that we can ask for this portion, but that this is where we will find our peace in spite of the hardship he might permit.
One benefit of God’s generous bequest to the Christian is the peace that outlasts every superficial and temporary gift. Psalm 37:4 promises that if we “delight in the Lord” he will give us our desires. This means that he will inform our hearts as to what we should long for, not that he will give us everything we want.
Our desires will change when we are changed by Christ. In order to be given new hearts, we must delight in God himself. A changed heart wants to submit to God’s purposes, and those bitter longings slowly pass.
“Enjoying God is a biblical command,” explains Sam Storms, “and it is also that for which God made us. Enjoying God glorifies God because it shows how valuable God is in our estimation.”
He goes on to say that when we delight in the Lord, we can live sacrificially, resist temptation, and maintain our faith when we are pressed to reject Jesus. When we forget that God is our portion, we forget to ask God to implant his desires into our hearts. We stop hearing from the Lord.
Jesus taught that “when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (John 16:13). The Spirit of truth is Christ’s own Spirit living in us. He is our authority.
A Christian does not believe in looking within to his or her own strength or wisdom in order to live life according to self-directed purpose; the Christian seeks God’s authority, purpose, and leading. The Christian chooses obedience to God, which leads to sanctification and peace.
But we reject obedience and scoff at sanctification, which implies that we are sinners, also a rejected notion in society.
Portion and Pain
Our portion is available, but we cannot access it without obedience. This means prioritizing prayer, which is a gift bought by Christ. We can pray directly to the Father thanks to the Son’s sacrifice, so prayer is a gift. One essential element of prayer, of our portion, is confession and repentance.
Sanctification hurts, but only the Lord’s intense refinement of us will make us more like Jesus so that we will enjoy the Lord as we are commanded to do. We cannot feel that joy when we are filled with shame or pride over unrepented sin or sin we have not even identified. Part of our inheritance is the responsibility of inviting God to examine our hearts and to crucify our sin,
How do we see God — as a dry and joyless leader; a pucker-faced and dour schoolmaster? Or as a fond parent; a Father both lavish in love and reliable justice? How we see the Lord determines whether or not we want the portion he has to offer.
Our Portion Is Both
We are co-heirs with Christ; princes and princesses of a Kingdom, under the authority of King Jesus. Royalty in God’s Kingdom involves privilege and responsibility. He is, was, and always will be our authority.
We reject or forget about our portion when we only long for the up-side of inheritance — God’s love and favor — and forget or deny that God’s love is incomplete without his perfect justice. We start to pursue a false god, one who is safe and ineffective, more like the honorary monarch of a commonwealth than a real leader.
Following the King, like following a commander into battle, feels unsafe. God so loved the world that he sent his son to die (John 3:16). This is love: that one would die for his friend (John 15:13). We do not want to die, especially if we feel ill-equipped to fight for the Kingdom.
We forget that, by our inheritance, which is the full armor of God (Ephesians 6), we are equipped to resist temptation and to spread the gospel. No power can take away Christ’s presence right now and for eternity.
Lest We Forget God Is Our Portion
A popular quote by Corrie Ten Boom illustrates the trustworthiness of God to be our portion, even in the most dire circumstance.
As Ten Boom’s father told her, “our wise Father in heaven knows when we’re going to need things [...]. Don’t run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need-just in time.”
He is always ready to give us our portion if we are willing to let him tell us what portion we really need.
For further reading:
Does God’s Love Really Endure Forever?
What Does it Mean That the Lord Is My Strength and Shield?
What Does God Mean by ‘My Grace Is Sufficient for You’?
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/fizkes
This article is part of our larger resource library of popular Bible verse phrases and quotes. We want to provide easy to read articles that answer your questions about the meaning, origin, and history of specific verses within Scripture's context. It is our hope that these will help you better understand the meaning and purpose of God's Word in relation to your life today.
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