Portion Perfection

“I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.” (Ps 142:5 AV)

 A portion is exactly what we need and all that we need.  There are several things mentioned as our portion in this life.  Judgment is called a portion from the LORD to the wicked in Job 27:13.  The LORD is the portion of the inheritance to the righteous in Psalm 16:5.  In Psalm 73:26, the LORD is our everlasting portion.  The word of God is our portion in Ps 119:57.  To enjoy profit is our portion from labor in Ecc.2:10.  And in Ecc 9:9, our spouses are considered our portion in this life.  There are resources God supplies for our health and happiness.  These portions are meted out according to His divine plan and hand.  In the above passage, God is our portion for refuge.  In other passages, the LORD is our portion for another need of life.  When God told Adam it was not good that man should be alone, He created a portion for Adam in this life which God Himself could not meet.  She was a help, meet for Adam.  Portions are predetermined and allotted.  Portions are not relative.  They are absolute.  Portions are exactly what we need.  No more and no less.

I know a bit about portions.  Having been raised in a family of eleven children, and having a father who loathed both leftovers and throwing away food, my Mom needed a doctorate level degree to figure out how much food to make at any given meal.  She knew just how many potatoes to boil, how much corn to thaw, and just how much bread and butter was placed on the table.  When we were done, all the serving dishes were completely empty and none of us was starving.  However, this precise movement of the universe could not happen unless Mom watched each and every child pile his or her plate.  “That will be enough” was heard multiple times.  Even mile was doled out.  One glass per meal.  If we were still thirsty, water was readily available.  One roll.  On pate of butter.  One spoon of corn.  Two spoons of potatoes.  And about one to two ounces of meat.  That was it.  When dessert came, it was no different.  One scoop of ice cream.  On scoop of Jello and, we had to eat it or we got a spanking.  The only way we could get more is if we went out and bought our own food.

We can approach life as we do eating.  We look at the package and read the carbohydrates or calories according to the packaging’s determination of what a portion would be.  Then we decide whether that is truly a portion.  Who eats just two Oreos anyway?  We look at the carbohydrates and do our own figuring.  After all, that cereal is really good for me.  Just because it has a lot of carbs doesn’t mean I should starve, should it?  When it comes to life, we are not content with the portion on the package.  We want more.  Or, like the prep I drank a few months back, we want a whole lot less.  Our wise and benevolent God has determined exactly what we need.  No more, no less.  I like what Agur says in Proverbs.   “Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.” (Pr 30:7-9 AV)  When it comes to our most needful portion, it is the LORD Himself.  As long as we have Him, then all other needs are secondary.  This is our comfort and this is our patience.