Psalm 119:57
Thou art my portion, O Lord.
Look at thy possessions, O believer, and compare thy portion with the lot of thy fellowmen. Some of them have their portion in the field; they are rich, and their harvests yield them a golden increase; but what are harvests compared with thy God, who is the God of harvests? What are bursting granaries compared with Him, who is the Husbandman, and feeds thee with the bread of heaven? Some have their portion in the city; their wealth is abundant, and flows to them in constant streams, until they become a very reservoir of gold; but what is gold compared with thy God? Thou couldst not live on it; thy spiritual life could not be sustained by it. Put it on a troubled conscience, and could it allay its pangs? Apply it to a desponding heart, and see if it could stay a solitary groan, or give one grief the less? But thou hast God, and in Him thou hast more than gold or riches ever could buy. Some have their portion in that which most men love-applause and fame; but ask thyself, is not thy God more to thee than that? What if a myriad clarions should be loud in thine applause, would this prepare thee to pass the Jordan, or cheer thee in prospect of judgment? No, there are griefs in life which wealth cannot alleviate; and there is the deep need of a dying hour, for which no riches can provide. But when thou hast God for thy portion, thou hast more than all else put together. In Him every want is met, whether in life or in death. With God for thy portion thou art rich indeed, for He will supply thy need, comfort thy heart, assuage thy grief, guide thy steps, be with thee in the dark valley, and then take thee home, to enjoy Him as thy portion for ever. "I have enough," said Esau; this is the best thing a worldly man can say, but Jacob replies, "I have all things," which is a note too high for carnal minds.
2 comments:
In keeping with one of my favorite authors, Samuel Johnson; he writes in his Vanity of Human Wishes:
"...and crowds with crimes the records of mankind:
For gold his sword the hireling ruffian draw,
For Gold the hireling judge distorts the laws:
Wealth heap'd on wealth nor truth nor safety buys;
The dangers father as the treasures rise."
"The needy traveller, serene and gay,
Walks the wide heath, and sings his toil away.
Does envy seize thee? Crush th' upbraiding joy,
Increase his riches, and his peace destroy:..."
This poem is a sobering read and one that reminds the reader that living the simple life is a lot less complicated as some of us who scrimp and scrape sometimes believe it to be.
And consider the wealth of beauty and all she imparts? Perhaps an ordinary face is better hoped for?
"the teeming mother, anxious for her race,
Begs for each birth the fortune of a face:
Yet Vane could tell what ills from beauty spring;
And Sedley curs'd the form that pleas'd a king.
Ye nymphs of rosy lips and radiant eyes,
Whom Pleasure keeps too busy to be wise;
Whom joys with soft varieties invite,---
By day the frolick, and the dance by night;
Who frown with vanity, who smile with art,
And ask the latest fashion of the heart,
AWhat care, what rules, your heedless charms shall save,
Each nymph your rival, and each youth your slave?"
and as Spurgeon says: "But when thou hast God for thy portion, thou hast more than all else put together. In Him every want is met, whether in life or in death. With God for thy portion thou art rich indeed, for He will supply thy need, comfort thy heart, assuage thy grief, guide thy steps, be with thee in the dark valley, and then take thee home, to enjoy Him as thy portion for ever."
If someone is interested in reading all of Johnson's Vanity of Human Wishes it can be read here:
http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/johnson.html
Oh bother! I messed that one up. The first paragraph of my quotes should have concluded with:
"THE DANGERS *GATHER AS THE TREASURES RISE."
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