Keeping My Eyes On God’s Portion For Me

Psalm 16:5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

This morning I got angry. You have to understand that I do not get angry often. I don’t like the feeling of being angry. It makes some people feel more powerful. It just makes me feel out of control and wrong.

I had made sure I would not be late for work, even going outside early to crank up the ancient truck my husband had me driving lately. There are patches of ice outside and I was going to be very careful driving and give myself extra time. I was less than a mile away when my husband called me to say that he had all of his plumbing tools to fix the church’s water heater and broken water pipes IN THE TRUCK, and I needed to come home.

He scraped some ice off of the windshield of another freezing cold car, but it iced back over as I was driving. I couldn’t see where I was going and had to pull over to the side of the road the best that I could. People were honking at me, and since the heater only works when the car is moving, it continued to blow icy air on me and the windshield. Useless.

I got very angry. I spoke sharply to my husband because I hate being late to work. It reflects very badly on me. But it was more important for me to turn around and get him his tools to fix the church than it was for me to be on time. I just hate people thinking I’m a slacker and don’t respect the work hours.

But even as I was feeling this anger, this morning’s scripture came floating to my mind. “Lord, you’ve assigned me my portion and my cup. You have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” The desire to praise Him rose up in me as I felt the Holy Spirit instructing me to let this go. As long as I kept my eyes on Him, I really couldn’t be shaken.

Remembering all that the Lord has given us provides the perspective we need to let go of temporal annoyances. Remembering that we have a roof over our heads, food on our plates, and good enough health to not be in the hospital, things we take for granted, should turn our eyes back to our Provider in thanksgiving. If you are being shaken by things that will pass away, make the decision to turn your gaze upon the eternal face of Jesus and thank Him for all He has given to you.