Portion
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Often, it has been said, "if your house was burning down, what would you take first?". Well, in our lives there is that which we prize and consider to be important. In our spiritual lives, it is no different: David could write in the Psalms, "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: Thou maintainest my lot." (Psalm 16:5) He also wrote, "(v.23) Nevertheless I am continually with thee: Thou hast holden me by Thy right hand. (v.24) Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. (v.25) Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. (v.26) My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever (Psalm 73:23-26).

Jacob's two wives, Rachel and Leah, inquired, "Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?" (Genesis 31:14). Later Jacob (Israel) could say to his son Joseph, "Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. Moreover, I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren..." (Genesis 49:21,22) How wonderful that the Lord could say thru Moses, "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the LORD's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance." (Deuteronomy 32:8-9)

There are those, "men of the world, which have their portion in this life" (Psalm 17:14). But Daniel wisely, "Purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank..." (Daniel 1:8). God does on occasion give us natural blessings. "Behold, that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion. Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God" (Ecclesiastes 5:18-19).

Nehemiah had the right attitude in instructing, "Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto the LORD..." (Nehemiah 8:10). It is recorded of the godly woman in the Proverbs, "She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meart to her household, and a portion to her maidens" (Proverbs 31:15). May we be as the faithful steward, "whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season. Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing" (Luke 12:42-43). "...they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them" (Isaiah 61:7). May only the Lord and His ways be our portion!