Portion Control

The secret to dieting, they tell me, is portion control. You can eat a wide variety of things as long as you limit your portion. Well ... okay.

In Lamentations we read, "The LORD is my portion." (Lam 3:24) Well, that's nice. Just what does it mean?

Lamentations is a collection of laments from the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah spent the book of Jeremiah warning the people of God of impending doom and Lamentations is Jeremiah's "post game wrap up" -- the aftermath. Jerusalem has fallen, Babylon has wiped them out, Jeremiah is one of the remnant, and Jeremiah is weeping over the utter destruction. It is a thoroughly bleak lament.

In the third chapter he complains largely about God. God has afflicted him. God has shut out his prayer (Lam 3:8). God has torn him to pieces like a bear (Lam 3:10-11). God has ground his teeth down on gravel (Lam 3:16). "My endurance has perished," he says, "so has my hope from the LORD." (Lam 3:18) And then,

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in Him." (Lam 3:21-24)

Jeremiah doesn't foresee things getting better. At least, not in his lifetime. Jeremiah doesn't expect his fortunes to change. He doesn't anticipate a "happy ending." He isn't waiting for a good turn of events. All of his complaints are still in play. But, he comforts himself -- has hope -- with this: "The LORD is my portion."

That's where I want to live. That's the "portion control" I want to exercise. I want more of Jesus. I want to enjoy pleasant things because I have Jesus and I want to endure catastrophe with joy because I have Jesus. I want to set aside the lies of the world that promise me comfort and pleasure if I just pursue this, that, or the other thing and find my perfect joy just in the LORD, my portion. I want to cease struggling and just know that He is God (Psa 46:10). In the midst of politics and pandemic, unrest and hate, upheaval and confusion, I want to have my hope in God as my portion rather than "better things" that, in fact, are not better. I suppose I'll have to come to a better understanding of the magnitude of God before I can arrive at the place Jeremiah did where that's all I need. I wonder if I'll need to hit rock bottom like he did. If so, let it come, because the LORD is my portion.