But God Is

Today's Bible Reading: PSALM 50, 73-74

Psalm 73:26

My flesh and my heart may fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Eventually everyone has meltdown moments. Others had experienced them and we must expect them. We must be prepared for the inevitable. We must anticipate times when our mental and physical health will cave causing our strength to subside and our emotions to explode. We must look out for these moments when we lose it and collapse in midst of our crisis. Then we will say like the psalmist our flesh and our heart have failed us. We will see that we are not capable and confident to control our crisis. We will plead for help.

We all encounter this condition. We all have moments when our strength is zapped and our emotions are spent. These heartaches and hard times are unavoidable. The mightiest of saints succumb to this condition. They too crumble in crisis. When we are overwhelmed by outward trouble or brought low by internal spiritual struggles we discover that our faith is not fail proof. It is here that we discover that managing these moments requires more than we can give. We need help from on high.

Fortunately the psalmist doesn’t leave us in despair and disillusionment, but directs us to where we can find comfort in our crisis. He helps us to see that we can go to our God when we don’t see how we can go on. He guides us to realize that we can cry out to Him when we are all cried out. He shows us that although we will fail, our God never fails. He writes, but God. These are two of the most compelling and comforting words in our text and throughout the Bible for that matter. The “but what about” of our struggles are met by the “but God” of our text; our moments when our flesh and heart fail, are met by the faithfulness of an unfailing God.

Notice how our failing flesh and heart finds hope in the strength and support of our Savior. The psalmist declares “God is the strength of my heart”. We have no strength to continue, so His strength undergirds us so we can carry on. When we are emotionally drained and depleted He comes alongside us to encourage and enable us to keep going. It is our heart that needs to be strengthened and when our heart becomes strong our frail flesh is fortified. When our inner man is strengthened then our outer man finds support to continue.

He is the “portion” we need to pull us through our problem. Our struggles leave us with a sense of loss. We are in need and can’t seem figure out a way to meet our need. The psalmist points us to the provision of the Lord. He says that He is “my portion forever.” This phrase relates to the distribution of resources assigned to each family member as an inheritance. This “family money” preserves and provides for the family in the loss of their loved one. It is support relegated to this realm. It is only for the present. We can’t take it with us into eternity. But the Lord is the provider for this life and the next. His “portion” is for now and “forever”. He provides then and He provides now. My flesh and heart may fail, but I can confidently confess that the Lord is “the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Today thank the Lord that He is the strength of your heart and your portion forever. Praise Him that he has made provision for those times when your flesh and heart fail. Ask Him to help you put your confidence in Him when confounded by crisis. Make it a point to memorize this simple verse so that you can recall it in times of trouble.