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Today's Devotional

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him”—Lamentations 3:24 (NASB).

When God parceled out the land of Canaan among the tribes of Israel, he made an exception in the tribe of Levi, to whom he said, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them,” assigning as his reason, “I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites” [Numbers 18:20]. The gospel teaching of this is obvious and significant. As the Lord’s true priesthood, this world is not our portion, nor earth our rest.

It may have required some painful discipline, and no small measure of faith, on the part of the devout Levite, as he gazed upon the fertile meadows, the watered plains, and the vine-clad hills of the Promised Land, ere he was made willing to relinquish it all for him who is invisible; and it needs no little teaching and discipline of our God, and no little faith on our part, before we are led to give up the world, the creature, self, and all, for Christ—satisfied to have the Lord alone as our portion.

His love to us was so great, that when he could give no greater proof of that love, he gave HIMSELF. Nothing more could have expressed the yearnings of his heart, nothing less could have satisfied the desires of ours.

And oh, what a portion is God! All that he is and all that he has is ours. Every attribute of his being is over us, every perfection of his nature encircles us, every pulse of his heart beats for us, every glance of his eye smiles upon us. We dwell in God, and God dwells in us. It is not the world which is our portion, but he who made, upholds and governs the world. It is not the creature who is our portion, but the Lord of angels and the creator of men. And what a portion, O my soul, is Christ—A divine Christ, a redeeming Christ, a full Christ, a sympathizing, ever-present, ever precious, ever-loving Christ.

Believer in Jesus, make the most of your portion. It is all-sufficient for all your need. Hope in the Lord, hope in adversity, hope in trial, hope against hope, for God in Christ is your present and eternal portion. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul: “therefore I have HOPE in Him.”

About the author and the source

Earlier this year, we introduced Octavius Winslow (1808–1878) as the author of Morning and Evening Thoughts. He was an ardent evangelical preacher in the United States and Great Britain. His little book The Lord My Portion describes one relationship of Christ to the soul for each day of a month. This is condensed from the first of those.