The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him. (Lamentations 3:24)
If you are anything like me, today’s passage presents a profound comfort . . . but also a personal challenge. To know that the Lord is our portion is to know more than enough to deal with any of the present challenges that we face in the midst of this pandemic—and I am well aware that some of these challenges are severe, even to the point of threatening the earthly existence of some of you. You see, unlike any and all of our earthly portions, such as our prosperity, our professions, and our pleasures, which can be filled to the brim today and utterly emptied by tomorrow, the Lord is a portion who never runs out. Sip from the Fount of every blessing morning, noon, and night, and the next day you have no less to sip, just as the widow in Zarephath had no less to offer Elijah each day when the flour did not run out and the oil did not run dry in the midst of a famine in the land (1 Kings 17:16).
To wait for the Lord can sometimes feel like a challenge of gargantuan proportions. As we are sequestered in our homes day after day, waiting for the Lord to bring us to the other side of the spread of this virus, as we see the numbers of the sick and dying continuing to rise, waiting can feel like trudging through a bleak and barren wilderness. And it is during these difficult times that we must remember that our portion is the Lord Himself, not the good things He has given us. We must remember that the greatest gift we have ever been given is the Gift-Giver Himself.
Beloved, as you look back over your life, do you not see how God has taken all of your struggles and sorrows and sufferings and worked them for your good and His glory? Now, it may be that the wound is still too fresh and too deep, and God’s “good” in not yet in view. Let me urge you to be patient and wait for Him; in due time, He will make good on His promise to work all things together for the good of those who love Him, regardless of the personal price you have paid through His painful providence.
His presence is your portion and He has promised never to leave you nor forsake you. Let that truth lift you above the waves of challenge today and every day until you cross the Jordan and are received by your Portion into your eternal rest.
You are in my prayers and in my heart.
Purpose and Passion,
Pastor Tommy
Grace for the Race 