57 You are my portion, O LORD; I have promised to obey your words. 58 I have sought your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. 59 I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes. 60 I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.
1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. 6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. 7 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah 8 Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. 10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” 11 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
23 Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. 24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made 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 have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
5 I cry to you, O LORD; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” 6 Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. 7 Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
“When you have God for your portion, you have more than everything else put together. In Him every need is met, whether in life or in death. With God for your portion you are rich indeed, for He will supply your need, comfort your heart, relieve your grief, guide your steps, walk with you in the dark valley, and then take you home to enjoy Him as your portion forever. ‘I have enough,’ said Esau; this is the best thing a worldly man can say, but Jacob replied in essence, ‘I have everything,’ which is a note too high for carnal minds.” C. H. Spurgeon revised by Alistair Begg
“The strength of every saint lies in the Lord of hosts. God can overcome His enemies without our hands, but we cannot so much as defend ourselves without His arm.” William Gurnall
“The Lord is our all-sufficient portion. God fills Himself; and if God is all-sufficient in Himself, He must be all-sufficient for us. It is not easy to satisfy man’s desires. When he dreams that he is satisfied, instantly he wakes to the perception that there is still something more, and his longings remain unfulfilled. But for the believer all that we can wish for is to be found in our divine portion, so that we ask, ‘Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.’1 We can then delight ourselves in the Lord who allows us to drink of the river of His pleasures.” C. H. Spurgeon revised by Alistair Begg
“God is the happiness of man because of His suitableness to the soul. A hungry man finds his stomach craving. Give him music or honor and he is hungry still. These are not suitable to his appetite. Give him food and his craving is over. So it is with a man’s soul. Give it honor, profits, and the pleasures of the world, and these cannot abate its desire; it craves still. These do not answer the soul’s nature, and therefore cannot answer its needs. Set God before it just once, and let it feed on Him; it is satisfied, and its inordinate, dogged appetite after the world is cured. Tasting this manna tramples on the onions of Egypt. God is the true happiness of the soul because He is an eternal good. As the sun never sets, so the soul that rests in God has an eternal Sabbath. Outward mercies, in which most place their happiness, are like floods that swell high and make a great noise, but are quickly over. The blessed God is like the spring that bubbles forth and runs over forever. This all-sufficient, suitable, and eternal God is the saint’s peculiar portion, and therefore causes infinite satisfaction.” George Swinnock
“We think riches and honors are necessary and we must have our estates and lay up large portions for our children. But in the day of adversity, when death looks us in the face and God causes the horror of the grave, the dread of the last judgment, and the terrors of eternity to pass before us, then we put our mouths in the dust and sigh; ‘O how I have been mistaken! I have fed upon ashes, and my deceived heart has turned me aside.’ We can now see how the pardon of sin, an interest in Christ, a sense of God’s love, and the assurance of glory, are the only indispensables. Christ alone is the One thing necessary, and all others are but ‘maybes’ at best. All the world has is but loss and dung in comparison with the excellence of the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord.” Thomas Case
“God’s love for us is higher and deeper and broader and longer than anyone can imagine. He loves us with an everlasting love and He rejoices over us with singing. He leads us with cords of kindness and we rest secure between His all-sufficient shoulders, finding repose in His shadow. His eye is ever on us for our good and His glory never one surpassing the other. His way is the best way even though oftentimes extraordinarily, breath takingly difficult. In love, He meets our needs - not necessarily our wants - as He is always in the process of conforming us into the image of His Son AND He uses everything in our life towards that end as Jesus was to be the first among many brothers. This is taking hold of life that is truly life. How are we to respond to this great love? The psalmist rightly proclaims: ‘25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.’ Psalms 73:25-26 (NIV).” BHY
“If the world’s darlings enjoy many good things, they lack all without Christ. God is all good things, and every good thing. He is self-sufficient, alone-sufficient, and all-sufficient. If God were your portion, you would find in Him whatsoever your heart could desire, and tend to your happiness. Are you ambitious? He is a crown of glory. Are you covetous? He is unsearchable riches and righteousness. Do you desire pleasure? He is rivers of pleasures and fullness of joy. Are you hungry? He is a feast of wine on the lees and the fat things full of marrow. Are you weary? He is rest, a shadow from the heat, and a shelter from the storm. Are you weak? He is everlasting strength. Are you doubting? He is marvellous in counsel. Are you in darkness? He is the Sun of righteousness. Are you sick? He is the God of your health. Are you sorrowful? He is the God of all consolations. Whatever your calamity, He can remove it. Whatever your necessity, He can relieve it. He is silver, gold, honor, delight, food, raiment, house, land, peace, wisdom, power, beauty, father, mother, wife, husband, mercy, love, grace, glory, and infinitely more than all these. There are all sorts of delights in Him. He is the tree of life bearing all manner of fruits, and a variety of all comforts. See God, and you see all. Enjoy God, and enjoy all.” George Swinnock
“The world is our passage, not our portion.” Matthew Henry
“Jesus knows the human heart. He made it, and then he took one himself when he became man. He knows, as both God and man, how to furnish courage to a fearful heart. He knows how to parcel joy to a sad heart. He is adept, and proven, at giving strength, in perfect portion, to a weak heart; peace to an anxious heart; forgiveness to a guilty heart; and wholeness to a broken heart. And how does he choose, over and over again, to do so? He speaks. What would he have us do when our hearts are wilting? Rehear his words.” David Mathis