- Name 66 of 70My Portion
- HebrewChelqi
- In plain wordsMy share, my inheritance
- Where to find itPsalm 73:26, Asaph's song after nearly slipping
My portion is a name for God that means "my share." It comes from Psalm 73:26, where Asaph wrote God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever
. The Hebrew word is cheleq, the share of land or goods that came to you when an inheritance was divided. Asaph was saying that God Himself was the part of life he would keep when everything else was gone.
A worship leader who almost slipped
Asaph was not an ordinary worshiper. He was a Levite and one of the chief musicians King David appointed to lead singing (1 Chronicles 15:16 to 17). Twelve psalms carry his name, and Psalm 73 opens the largest group of them (Psalms 73 to 83) with a confession.
But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Psalm 73:2-3
"Well nigh" means very nearly. Asaph had been watching people who ignored God and mocked Him, and they seemed to have everything: health, money, an easy life. Meanwhile he was trying to live right and getting hit with trouble every morning. At his lowest point he said Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain
(Psalm 73:13). In plain words: "Being good was a waste of time."
It is surprising to find that sentence in the Bible, coming from a worship leader. But Asaph was honest. He tried to think it through, and he says it was too painful for me
. Then one visit changed his view:
Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
Psalm 73:17
The sanctuary is the holy place where God was worshiped. In God's presence, Asaph stopped looking at a snapshot and saw the whole story. The people he envied were standing on slippery ground. Their good times would end, and their share of life stopped at the grave.
Cheleq: the share that came by lot
The Hebrew word cheleq means a portion, a part or an allotment. It comes from the verb chalaq, to divide or hand out. Strong's dictionary connects that verb with smooth stones, because smooth stones were used like dice when casting lots to divide land fairly.
That background matters, because when Israel entered Canaan under Joshua, the land was divided by lot. Each tribe got its own region, and each family got its farm. Your portion was your future: food, income and something to pass down to your children.
One tribe was left out of the land division on purpose. The tribe of Levi was set apart to serve at God's house, and God told Aaron, the first high priest:
And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.
Numbers 18:20
Imagine being a Levite on the day the lots were drawn. Your cousins in other tribes receive fields and vineyards. You receive God. The Levites did get towns to live in and a share of the offerings, but no tribal land. Their real inheritance was the LORD.
Now remember that Asaph was a Levite. He grew up in the tribe that had God instead of land. When he envied rich people, he was forgetting his own family's story. In Psalm 73 he finally owns it for himself.
There is one more detail in verse 26. The word translated "strength" is tsur, which usually means rock. So Asaph is really saying "God is the rock of my heart." The heart may fail, but the rock stays put.
Key KJV verses on God as my portion
Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
Psalm 73:25-26
Asaph admits his body and his heart will wear out someday. He does not pretend otherwise. But God will outlast both, and that makes Him a portion that never runs out.
The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
Psalm 16:5
David uses the same picture. His "lot" is his share in life, and he says God keeps it safe.
The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
Lamentations 3:24
This line was written after Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, when nearly every family had lost its land. The writer found he still had the one portion no army could take.
I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.
Psalm 142:5
The heading of this psalm places David in a cave, most likely while he was hiding from King Saul, with no home and no land. Even there he called God his portion.
Choosing your portion
Everybody has a portion, whether they use the word or not. It is the thing you count as your share of life, the thing you would point to if someone asked what you have to show for yourself. For some it is a car, grades, a sports record, a bank account, a house or a reputation. Those can be good. The problem is that all of them stay behind when your flesh and heart fail, as Asaph said they will.
Envy is the trap Asaph almost fell into, and it is easy to fall into now. Scroll through a phone for ten minutes and you can see the best moments of a hundred people's lives. Your own life starts to look small. Asaph's cure was not to look harder at other people. It was to go into God's presence and remember what he already had.
- Notice who you have been comparing yourself to lately, and pray for them instead.
- Answer Asaph's question honestly: if you lost everything else, would God be enough?
- When you feel cheated, read Psalm 73 from start to finish. It moves from bitterness to peace.
- Memorize verse 26 and say it on the days you feel weak.
My Portion is name 66 of the 70 in the book. The next name pictures God as water that never runs dry: The Fountain of Living Waters. You can also go back to The Health of My Countenance or see all the names of God in the Bible.
