My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever, Psalm 73:26. Hear “God Is” with Donald Lawrence and Tri-City Singers.
Our flesh and our hearts may fail. The Hebrew word for “flesh”, transliterated “she’er” (H7607 – Strong’s) denotes our flesh, our near relatives, our sustenance, or anything close that we lean on. The Hebrew word for fail, transliterated “kalah” (H3615) means to come to a complete end. What we lean on is destroyed or used up and done away with. Our hearts are consumed and utterly fail us.
But God is the strength of our hearts and our portion forever. The word “strength”, transliterated “tsuwr” (H6697) is literally a rock and cliff. It is a place of refuge. God is the refuge and rock for our hearts to run to. There, God renews us and gives our hearts courage.
The Hebrew word for “portion” transliterated “cheleq” (H2506) is an inheritance. It used to refer to the special portion that the Levites received from sacrifices or to the spoils won from wars. God is our refuge and the prize of all our adventures. The portion and prize of our lives is the eternal joy of having lived with and for God. The prize is God in our lives now. The prize is trusting God for who God promises to be to us.
Notice how God rearranges our lives when we go to our Rock. We usually lean on our flesh and our hearts in that order. We first think about our resources and what we can do for ourselves. Then we take confidence in that. You may have experienced the feeling of your heart going up or down depending on how much money or how many strong relationships you had available to you.
But God is the rock of our hearts and our portion forever. We can go to God first. When we feel consumed, we can immediately go to God for refuge and strength. It doesn’t take anything to get started with God. And even better, the truth that God plants in us when we make God our refuge lasts forever and lives with eternal power. God is our portion forever.
