Yahweh: Your Portion - Your Cup - Your Lot - Your Beautiful Inheritance

Yahweh: Your Portion - Your Cup - Your Lot - Your Beautiful Inheritance

Church Family: Because of the work of Jesus Christ, you have an inheritance that is the greatest inheritance on earth and in heaven. What is your inheritance? Your inheritance is Yahweh Himself and His endless blessings. David uses four metaphors to describe your inheritance in Christ in Psalm 16:5-6, “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.”

In Christ, Yahweh is your chosen portion. Just like the Levites in the Old Testament who had no inheritance of land, their inheritance was Yahweh alone (Num. 18:20). David uses this to describe your great inheritance in Christ. You get God! God is your portion. While a land inheritance may produce earthly wealth, a God inheritance produces eternal wealth while you are still living on this earth. God is your provider of every resource that you need. He is your portion, your inheritance. When God is your inheritance there is no reason to count on any greater inheritance.
 
In Christ, Yahweh is your cup. Throughout Scripture, “cup” is a symbol of destiny. In Christ you get a new cup of destiny. As a child of Yahweh who is in heaven, you inherit because of your joint heirship with Jesus, a cup that is filled with all the riches of God. Your old shallow cup of sorrows is poured out and replaced with a deep cup of God’s love that cannot ever be emptied. In fact your new cup of blessing is one that is always overflowing with the goodness of God and His mercies that are new everyday as you get to dwell in the house of the LORD forever (Ps. 23:5-6).

In Christ, Yahweh holds your lot. Casting a lot is like rolling dice or drawing straws today. Throughout Scripture, Israel’s conquered lands of Canaan were divided among the Israelites by lot (Josh, 18-19; Ezek. 45:1; 47:22). The sin of Jonah was determined to be the source of the storm threatening the ship by casting lots (Jonah 1:7). Casting lots was closely connected with Israelite temple practice and with assigning temple duties. The high priest was selected by lots at the time of David (1 Chron. 24:31); the selection of Matthias as an apostle by casting lots (Acts 1:26). But wait, we are told very clearly that the casting of lots is not just blind chance. The lot that is cast is the very decision of the Lord, not chance (Prov. 16:33). David is praising God that his lot in life, all that happens, is the Lord’s decision, not by chance. Our lives in Christ are in God’s sovereign strong hand and not tossed to and fro by the world. God holds your lot and He controls every lot that is cast in your life.

In Christ, Yahweh makes the lines of life fall into pleasant places. In the OT lines/cords were used for surveying and measuring land. The way the cord fell is the way the land was separated and allotted. David is praising God for exactly how God makes the measuring lines of life fall in his life. God's measuring lines have fallen in David's life exactly how God wanted them to so that David would be the man of God that he is.
 
Because of the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, your portion/inheritance is Yahweh. Because Yahweh is your portion, He has poured you a cup of blessing, Himself, you get God. Since God pours you a cup of Himself, He holds your destiny. He will always hold every lot that is cast and every measuring line that falls in your life. All of this is your "beautiful inheritance."

See you Sunday, with a full cup: Steve