My portion, for ever
“My flesh & my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.” Psalm 73:26
I have been reading about Jehoshaphat’s reign as king of Judah and have come to 2 Chronicles 20 where news of enemy armies marching towards their direction grabbed the king’s attention. These weren’t just ordinary armies, these were the Moabites and the Ammonites, and a few other -ites, and it struck fear, or as the NIV says the king was alarmed.
But despite the trepidation he must have felt, the Bible tells us he RESOLVED to enquire of God, and have declared what must have been the OT version of a national day of prayer, and families across the nation came together, young and old gathered as one to seek God.
My mind’s eye pictured the scene to be of the king, stood on a platform, surrounded by his subjects whose faces are drawn, whose eyes were wide with uncertainty. The wives, their heads leaning on their husbands’ shoulder, the old holding on to the young. The air must have been thick with the unspoken sense of grief for what’s going to happen next.
What followed next was a moving prayer by king Jehoshaphat in front of everyone from his nation. It’s a simple prayer, almost child-like in its structure, that of a son asking his father to give him something that’s already been promised. It’s Jehoshaphat’s intimate knowing of God, his verbal recollection of what’s already been done, and his, dare I say, almost petulant demand that God does as promised because the whole country depends solely on Him, recognising that they have no power to defeat the advancing army.
What followed next was the literal depiction of the line “my weapon is a melody”. Read the rest of the story and marvel at what God can do in the middle of impossible circumstances!
However, what really challenged me here was Jehoshaphat’s reaction, and his succeeding prayer (it’s so hard to type his name without simultaneously spelling it s-l-o-w-l-y in my head!). Is enquiring of the Lord, asking Him directly, my first port of call when faced with advancing unmeetable deadlines? Is seeking His voice my first reaction to challenging situations thrown my way? Do I take the time to declare a personal day of prayer, to fine tune my attention to his response? I fear the answer is no.
Today, my challenge is to write my own version of Jehoshaphat’s prayer- a recollection of God’s faithful acts to me over the years, from generation to generation; a remembrance of the promises I received; and a petition for the biggest challenge/s I am facing yet.
Psalm 73 tells us of Asaph’s struggle with his doubts, his despair that the wicked flourish while the righteous languish. He verbalises the injustice of it all, the unimaginable unfairness of life, but realises that everything is put back in perspective as soon as he “entered the sanctuary of God”.
Jehoshaphat’s story tells us that praise is a weapon, and Asaph’s psalm reminds us that praise realigns our perspectives. How comforting to know that these are both at our disposal at any time, at any place. Truly, God is our portion, and He is ours forever.
