my very portion

This past weekend at church I noticed that a lot of the worship songs that we sang said something about the Lord being my portion. I guess I had always just heard this word "portion" used and never really thought about the meaning of it. We sang a song from Hillsong called "Made Me Glad" that says in it's chorus:

You are my shield
My strength my portion
Deliverer....

And then in another song that we sang called "Healer" the chorus says:

I believe You're my Healer
I believe You are All I Need
I believe You're my Portion...

In both songs it talks of Lord not only being our strength, our healer, our shield and our portion. I have to admit I was slightly confused. If I learned anything from vocab in middle school I specifically remember that portion meant a part of whole. And that seemed like a strange term to be labeling our Lord. I mean when I think about the Lord being a part of my life I always think of Him as a part of my whole life not just a portion. And when I think of wanting the Lord to fill me I want him to fill all of me not just a portion.

So what did I do? I turned to the Bible. Because I knew that whoever wrote these worship songs must know what they are talking about and wouldn't have just lightly called the Lord their portion. I had a hard time finding portion used in the Bible in any other sense then talking about a part of the whole. It talked often of the sacrifices offered up to God and that they would offer a portion of the best lamb or goat. I finally found a few verse that used it in a different way. In Psalms 73:26 it says,

"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

Again just as it was used in the songs. And in Psalm 119:57 it says,"

"You are my portion, O LORD; I have promised to obey your words."

Now that is in the NIV translation so I decided to look at it in The Message translation and it says:

"Because you have satisfied me, God, I promise to everything you say."

So I got to thinking maybe this portion they talk about is not saying a part of the whole, but that when the Lord acts as our portion he is, for lack of better words, just enough for me where I'm at and who I am. That at different points of my life I might need more or less, but he is always the portion that I need. Also when he is God to others he is "just the right" portion for them. It's almost like the story of Goldilocks. Papa Bear's portion was too hot, Mama Bear's was too cold, but Baby Bear's was just right. If Goldilocks had come the next day or even the day before she might have needed another portion, but that very day at that very time that was the portion she needed.

In this same way yesterday I might have needed a certain portion and even tomorrow I might need another portion, but today the Lord IS the very portion that I need. It is a good feeling knowing that though the portion I might need might change, God is an omnipresent and omniscient God so that no matter how much I change, He never will and because of that he will always be my portion.

So I pray:

Today, O Lord, be my portion.
Surround me and be what I need this very day,
this very hour, this very moment.
I trust in you alone and am content
in knowing that you will always be
my very portion.