"The Lord is my portion" |
| Written by Craig Wilson |
How Much of God do You Desire?Psalm 119:57-64
That is a different saying, not one that you hear very frequently. What does he mean when he declares that the “Lord is my portion”? A portion is something that you lay claim to. Think in terms of food, we lay claim to the last piece of pizza, we claim that portion for ourselves. That is what he is doing, he is claiming for himself the Lord. Think about that he lays claim to the Creator of the universe as his portion. Of all the things that he could claim, or that he could have had desire for what was it that he desired the most? His greatest desire was for the Lord. This is not a new theme of the Psalm throughout the Psalm he reveals the pursuit of God as his greatest desire. How great was his desire? It was so great that he promised to “keep your words”. His desire for the Lord's presence was so great that he makes a promise to obey God's Word, to live according to God's ways. His desire for God was such that it spurred him into action. His desire was such that he acted to lay claim to what was available to him. The measure of our desire is demonstrated by that actions we are willing to take.
Here we have the action he took. The word 'entreat' means to seek, or sought. He actively sought the Lord's favor. He actively sought God's blessing. He actively sought, he actively pursued God's favor. How can you and I do the same? First of all we have to begin to acquire a knowledge of God as He has revealed himself through the Scriptures. That means that we must read the Scriptures because that is where He has revealed Himself to us. Knowledge can lead to desire. It's hard to really desire what you are ignorant of. For instance Apple unveiled their latest toy – the Ipad. Shortly after the announcement people were already placing orders for something that's not even available yet. All of the sudden they had a desire for something that they had lived all their lives without. What was one of the factors that created that desire? It was their new found knowledge. In much the same way if our desire for God is weak, it may be that our knowledge of Him is too weak. But knowledge alone isn't enough. We must act on that desire. The verse that kept coming to my mind as I was thinking about this was “Taste and see that the Lord is good”. How many times (too many probably) have you tasted something and said “Boy, that was good I think I'll have some more!” We've all done that. Once we get a little taste of God, it increases our desire for more. The Psalmist so desired God that he sought the presence of God with all of his heart. He sought God's presence with a singular, undivided heart. God's presence became the priority of his life. If God is going to become the priority of our lives that means that we are going to have adjust our lives to that priority. We are going to have to make adjustments to our day to spend time with God. We are going to have make some adjustments to how our time is spent so that we can pursue the very best, so that we too can lay claim to the Lord as our portion.
These opening verses deal with our relationship with God. In order for us to experience, to enjoy the full pleasure of the presence of God we must bring our life in life with God's word. In other words you can't live your way and experience God's favor at the same time. That is the essence of our rebelliousness. We want to live the way we want to live without anyone telling us what to do. If you and I adopt that attitude we can be sure that living the way we want to will in the end only bring us pain instead of pleasure. We think we know best, but was does the Scriptures say?
Perhaps you have heard it said that 'The unexamined life is the life not worth living'. The Psalmist took the time to examine his life, to examine his ways. When he took the time to think on his ways meaning that he took some time to evaluate his manner of life and then he took his findings and he compared them to what he found in the Scriptures and he soon discovered that the way he was living was not the way the God had told him to live. So what did he do? He made an 'in flight' correction. He adjusted his ways so that they matched God's ways. Think of taking a trip. Have you ever been sure you're going the right way, you were absolutely sure you were headed in the wrong direction only to find out perhaps too late that you didn't really know the right way to do. Why are google maps, mapquest and gps so popular? Because by nature we don't know the right way to go. We have always had to look for guidance outside of our selves. I read a book recently called “The Glory of the Sea” that chronicled America's exploration of the Pacific Ocean. On this expedition they pushed so far south that they were the first Americans to ever set foot in Antarctica. The expedition lasted four years and here is the amazing thing, for much of the journey there were sailing blind, they were in uncharted waters, they had no maps. How do sailors find their way without a map? You know what they do? They look up! They look to the stars, they look to something outside of themselves to provide them with guidance. All of us find ourselves in the strange waters of life. We need help in navigating through the seas of life. We are we going to find that help? Just like the sailors we too must look up! We must look outside of ourselves for guidance. That is what the Psalmist does, he examined his own life and realized that he was headed in the wrong direction and so he looked outside of himself for guidance. He said “I turned my feet to your commandments”, I made a course direction. How long did it take him to make the correction in his life? He made it as quickly as he could. He said “I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments.” All of us need to remember that delayed obedience is in reality no obedience at all. Delayed obedience is disobedience.
It's tempting for us to view the people in the Bible as if they lived in some kind of bubble. But as we learned about the Psalmist from his previous comments it's obvious that he didn't live in some kind of protective bubble isolated from the problems of life. His pursuit of God, his obedience to God took place in a fallen world. Again we see his focus, his commitment on obeying God, his focus in his pursuit of God. Even though “the cords of the wicked ensnare me.” The idea here is that the wicked were doing all that they could to keep him from obeying God, they were trying to restrain him in his pursuit of God. That hasn't changed today, still the unbelieving world will do all that it can to try and keep us from obeying God, to try and keep us from making God a priority in our lives. But thankfully in the case of the Psalmist they weren't successful. Despite their efforts and attempts what was he able to do? He said I do not forget your law! God even in the midst of the distractions and the trials I'm going to keep my focus, I'm going to keep you as the priority of my life. We need to ask ourselves, what does it take to derail me spiritually? Do hard times cause me to forget God's laws? Sometimes it's not the bad things that knock me off course, sometimes it can be the good things, sometimes it can be success, success at school, success on the job that subtly becomes our priority, that subtly becomes the thing that let's our relationship with Christ slide just ever so much. The danger is if we don't recognize that, after time just a little bit of sliding has turned into a huge gap. Our actions in many ways are a reflection of how much we value God. If we truly believe that God, that Christ is of infinite worth, then our commitment to him should be unshakeable. If we believe that God is a priceless treasure then nothing should stop us in our pursuit of him. Thankfully God is more committed to us than we are to him! Here in the words of the Psalmist there is an echo of the words of Paul in Romans 8:38-39
This two way commitment is a work of grace in my life. What you and I need to do is pray and ask for God's grace to enable us to have the same kind of commitment that the Psalmist had, an unshakeable, unstoppable commitment.
While others were sleeping he was rising to praise the Lord. In the time of the Psalmist midnight was considered to be the middle of the night. Hence the term “midnight'. Here in the middle of the night he gets up and he spends time in praise. This seems to be a pattern for him, in verse 55 he said
His days and nights are filled with God's word. His days and nights are filled with thoughts of God. How many of us can say the same? We probably fall asleep to the sounds of the TV or a DVD, or maybe music. Perhaps we need to go on a fast, to change our routine, to change what we go to sleep by. The Psalmist is specific in his praise. He gets up in the middle of the night to praise God for His righteous rules. When was the last time that you and I praised someone for the rules they have created ? He is praising God for his righteous judgments. He has found something right in this world and he praises God for it. He is not worried or anxious, he is not fearful and fretting. He is focused on what God has done, he is focused on what God has done, he is focused on the blessings that God has blessed him with and he is so thankful for them that he can's sleep. Most people stay awake at night with worry which is sin – but he was awake at night because he was amazed by what God has done and what God has given to him. Spurgeon said “A thankful heart is such a blessing that it drives out fear and makes room for praise.”
Each week as I study this Psalm the more my admiration grows for the one who wrote it. I think that he is an extraordinary individual. What makes him extraordinary?
When it came to himself he took responsibility in his relationship to God, he was the one who took responsibility. But what about his relationship with others? It's obvious that he had high standards for himself and those standards extended to his relationships with other people, to those that he choose for his companions, for his friends.
He has just described people who have similar goals and similar pursuits as he does. We become like those we choose to associate with. Quite possibly he has chosen those who are farther along in their spiritual growth and development. Why would he choose them? Simply because they were the kind of people that he wanted to be like. He wanted to fear God so he choose to hang around people who also feared God. He wanted to obey God so he chose to associate himself with those whose live demonstrated that they too lived lives of obedience. Unfortunately very few people give much thought to who their friends are. They never consider what might be the negatives and the positives that are inherent in any relationship. The Psalmist was a very discerning person, he was discerning about himself and discerning about others.
If the Bible is true, then that statement is true. If God cannot lie, then that statement is true. The question is, when you and I survey the world around us, do we believe that statement? Do we believe that this world with all of it's violence, all of it's sin, all of it's misery, do we believe that it is filled with God's steadfast love? All the things that I just mentioned are sure evidences of sin in the world. But where are the evidences of God's steadfast love?
Of course the greatest demonstration of God's love is in the incarnation of Christ. |