The Strength of My Heart

Psalm 73:23–26, “Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”

Psalm 73 begins with a struggle.

Asaph looks at the prosperity of the wicked and admits that his own feet had almost slipped. He could not understand why those who ignored God seemed to prosper while he struggled.

Then he entered the sanctuary of God, and his perspective changed.

By the time we reach these verses, Asaph is no longer concentrating on what everyone else has.

He is looking at what he has.

He has God.

“Thou hast holden me by my right hand.”

God had been holding him even while his faith was struggling.

“Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel.”

God had not stopped leading him.

Then Asaph reaches this beautiful conclusion:
“My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”

Everything we depend upon in this life can eventually fail.

Our strength can fail.

Our health can fail.

Our plans can fail.

People can disappoint us.

Possessions can disappear.

But God remains.

To call God our portion means that He is our inheritance, our treasure, the One in whom our deepest satisfaction is found.

Sometimes God allows the things we lean upon to become weak enough that we remember who has been holding us all along.

When our strength fails, His does not.

Act Today: Consider something you have been depending upon for security or satisfaction. Thank God for that blessing, but remind your heart that it is not your portion. Pray David’s—rather, Asaph’s—words: “God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”