OUR GREATEST PORTION

 “THOU art my portion, O LORD: I have said that I would keep thy words,” Psalms 119:57. Reader, in the Bible times, whenever an army defeated another at war, the losing enemy was looted, plundered or spoiled; at times they were stripped of the armour in which they had trusted. And then an exciting time came for the victors, when they had to divide the spoils of war among themselves; choosing what portion to take and possess from the booty of such plundering; from cattle, sheep, clothing, silver, gold and whatever treasures were there; a very exciting time indeed, considering that the victors would have risked their very lives to get those treasures.

The author of Psalms 119, from which I have taken the verse on which I have based this brief article, is King  David, the son of that Ephrathite whose name was Jesse. He fought many battles and won many wars.

In fact as a ‘stripling’ or adolescent boy, he once single-handedly won a battle for Israel against the Philistines; that is when he downed Goliath the giant with a sling. And it is significant that when Goliath was on the ground, this David ‘ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut of his head therewith’ (1 Samuel 17:51). So David knew and understood the taste of victory and the joyous moment of choosing one’s share from all the possessions of the enemy.

As David composed this psalm he must have looked around himself and saw many things; he must have imagined what he could grab as his ‘portion’ or share in his life, if he had to; the thing that he desired most; the thing of the greatest value to him; his greatest treasure. And David was king reader, and must have been surrounded by silver and gold, beautiful women and various precious things of this world. This sense of choice must have brought back the excitement of choosing from the spoils of war. And in that elated mood David declared; “Thou art my portion, O LORD,” out of all things of this world, you are my share; my greatest treasure!

I remember that as children at home, when we saw lovely things like cars, we would claim them. And once one of us claimed it first, it was his or hers and the rest were excluded. If someone else tried to claim it, it was a serious matter. And David here was approaching God like a child; he saw God as his alone. And Jesus may have had people like David in mind when he said; “Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Unless we get converted, it is difficult to make God our choice in life.

Reader, Jesus also said; “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it” (Matthew 13:44-45).Reader, King David felt that in God he had the greatest possession; so can we. Talking for myself reader, our God can provide us with that need which no one can ever provide; that need at the moment of our death. He is our greatest heavenly treasure.

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