May 24, 2022 – Reflections on “The Lord is My Portion!”

     The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; You hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. Psalm 16:5-6.

     Many years ago, my Mother spent hours re-searching and writing her family’s life history. On a single page, this verse is written: “The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.” I wasn’t sure just want that meant.

         Ten years before, my Dad and I went for a walk and after we had walked a short distance, he said, “I just want you to know that your inheritance from me will not be a lot. But I will give you my good name.” I had not considered that an inheritance, until I thought about how people loved his ability to tell stories, and how he taught us Bible Stories when we were growing up. I saw Moses, Abraham, Daniel, and Noah as real people, following God’s commands and believing in Him.

         Mother and Dad were married in 1928 and tried to raise a family beginning in 1929 in the deep economic depression. This was the era of ‘Make do’ or ‘Do without.’ They were thankful when the USPS hired Dad. They both grew up on farms and had a deep faith in God. The title of the book is The Lines are Fallen! It was a limited publishing. My daughter republished her Grandmother’s book. This follows the phrase– ‘but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and His might, and the wonders that He has done.’

         We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and His might, and the wonders that He has done. Psalm 78:4.

         God counts time as generations… before eternity. God’s Son, Jesus, came because of His love and became our pathway to God and to eternal life. If one generation is not taught about God and His Glory, that generation is lost.

          For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3: 14-21.

         When I found John 14:1-3, early in life, it became mine. “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, You may be also.” 

         That is when verse 5 became mine. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; You hold my lot. Choosing Jesus as my portion, I am choosing to receive the Fruit of the Holy Spirit and live for Him. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things, there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23.

         In this world, fear and lies are rampant, causing fear, dissent, and hate. Instead, let’s consider–this verse: And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Hebrews 10:24.

         The Fruit of the Spirit begins with Love, and then Joy, and then Peace. And all the other qualities of someone comes from the first– LOVE!

         Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong-doing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. I Corinthians 13:4-8.

         Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. I Peter 4:8.  “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35.

         This is Joy – Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. Psalm 126:5-6.

        Peace comes when we trust and believe in God, and we know our portion we choose is God and His Son Jesus. One night as my Dad lay in the hospital after his last heart attack, Mother rose from her chair and announced she would go home and sleep. “How can you sleep now, Mom?” She quoted this verse to me from Psalm 4:8. In peace, I will both lie down and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

          Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27. The author of Peace is choosing Jesus as my portion.

 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14. Mother ends her book with these words, “We have a rich inheritance. Guard it well, for we are relay runners, handing this baton to our children.”

         We press forward, learning new spiritual gifts to face all circumstances we encounter.