Our Lord Jesus Christ singled out Mary of Bethany when He said, Mary has chosen that good part which will not be taken away from her. Focus on that for just a moment. Mary has chosen that good part which will not be taken away from her. That good part which will not be taken away from her. The same choice The same fork in the road at which Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, made the right choice, that same choice is at your doorstep every day. That same choice is put before your feet day in and day out. And the psalmist in our passage this morning says that he has made the choice to take Yahweh, the living God, the God whose name means I am who I am, as his portion, his part, his choice. Now, I don't want to stir up all the zealous Texans in the room by talking about the Sooners for a moment. But I'll be forgiven for talking for the north of the Red River just a moment, that place. And it's been wonderful to have my mom, who's an Okie by birth, and my sister, Sharon, here with us this week. And I'm reminded of the Sooners, how in 1889, there were parts of Oklahoma territory that were being made available for whoever could get there and stake a claim. And the Sooners were those, and maybe you can take this and run with it next time you're in a debate with them, were those who went in illegally. The Sooners were those who crept in before the deadline and laid down very quietly in the dry stream beds and waited for 12.01 or waited for the day when the lane was going to be opened up And because they had various ways of accessing the land, the Sooners popped up right when the time was given and said, this is mine. I put my flag on here. I'm staking my claim. This is mine. And they were called the Sooners. They should be called the Two Sooners because they weren't supposed to be doing that. But they were saying something about their values, weren't they, that they were willing to camp out amongst the fire ants and the armadillos and the sweat and say, I am so zealous to make this mine that I'm going to put it ahead of my comfort. And we all have something that we say that about, something that our hearts are after, that our hearts are eager for. And for many people, it is land. Land is very basic in our understanding of what it means to be people. We have a sense of place. We have a, I belong. That's my home. That's my turf. That's mine. But we extend that to other possessions as well. Land is just one. And you watch this in operation with toddlers because very early on, they learn to say mine. And if you're in a family with multiple children and there are only so many pieces of pie and perhaps the pie is not cut yet, And there's always this internal debate about who gets to cut the pie. And, you know, you can practice this psychology of saying, now, junior, whatever size you cut for your sister is also the size you'll get. You know, your piece of the pie is going to be the same. Or, you know, maybe you're doling out cookies and you say, one for you, two for me, one for you, five for me. We have this attitude of, what's mine? It's mine. I stake my claim on that. And our hearts were made to be fixed on something, to be resting on something as what we are really after, what we're really about. The old word for that in the Old Testament is a kind of a plain word in English, and it's this word portion. I hope that you'll do a little mental work with me and dive into what this word means, because the psalmist, believe David, makes this his choice. And really, when he says portion, what he means is your heart's desire, what your heart is really after, what your heart is really dreaming of. If you would look with me in Psalm 119, we're looking at the stanza that begins with the Hebrew letter Chet, and it's Psalm 119, verses 57 through 64. If you'll turn there with me. Psalm 119, verses 57 through 64. The psalmist is staking his claim. Verse 57. You are my portion, O Lord. I have said that I would keep your words. I entreated your favor with my whole heart. Be merciful to me according to your word. I thought about my ways and turned my feet to your testimonies. I made haste and did not delay to keep your commandments. The cords of the wicked have bound me, but I've not forgotten your law at midnight. I will rise to give thanks to you because of your righteous judgments. I am a companion of all who fear you and of those who keep your precepts. The earth, O Lord, is full of your mercy. Teach me your statutes. What is Psalm 119? It's a 22 stanza poem. It's an ABC poem, where every stanza begins with a new letter of the Hebrew alphabet. What else is it? Well, you could say it's the longest chapter in the Bible. You could say it's all about God's Word, and you keep saying law, statutes, judgments, ordinances, commandments. He says each of those terms about 20 or 22 times. And what we really have before us here is a roadmap to the heart of a blessed person. What we really have here is a topographical map. of what a person's heart looks like who is seeking God with his whole heart. You heard the beginning of the psalm a year ago, blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are those who keep his statutes, who seek him with the whole heart. And this is a psychological poem where David is opening up and saying, you know, I have this thing called memory and I'm fixing it on the Lord and his word. I have this thing called hope. And it's what my heart feeds on. I have this thing called depression when my soul, verse 25, clings to the dust. I have this thing called enemies who shame me and who make fun of me and who make me angry. I have this thing called apportion. And in this part of the poem, I'm telling you that Yahweh is my portion. Now, I don't know what it is for you. I know that very often we have something that's a goal in life that we're pursuing for a while, and then after a while we feel like, well, maybe that's a little bit too small. F. Scott Fitzgerald has this scene where this man, the Gatsby character, is looking at Manhattan at night, and for just a moment he remembers that there was a time when Dutch sailors sailed up to Manhattan, and Fitzgerald says, for perhaps the last time in history, man was face to face with something equal to his capacity for wonder. That new continent, that new world that these Dutch sailors had come to see was big enough for their hearts, is what F. Scott Fitzgerald was saying. What I would suggest to you is, is that if you've got your heart set on a piece of land, your God is too small. That's not big enough for your heart. If you've got your heart set on some bank account, on some family legacy, on some job or some position, or even wonderful as they are, some human being, your heart was made for something bigger. Now, I mentioned last week that one of my favorite theologians is Walt D. Pixar, and his brother, Walt Disney, has this line where Bell says, I want adventure in the great wide somewhere. I want it more than I can tell. That's not just Bell. That's not just some animated character. That's every human heart. You were made for something bigger than just a piece of Oklahoma real estate. Now, you might find that easy to say. But you were made for something bigger than a square of Texas as well. You were made to follow in this poet's footsteps, who says, and if you're looking at a translation that italicizes words that are not original, notice that the U and the R in italics, that's the translator's way of saying that in Hebrew, the psalmist just bursts out and says, my portion, Yahweh, my portion, what my heart is after, Yahweh. Now, this word portion shows up 22 times or so in this particular form. And earlier in the Psalms, he describes the kind of person whose portion is in this life. Look with me at Psalm 17. Please do a little homework with me here and sweat a little bit mentally, if you would. Psalm 17, he says something. And by the way, this is another passage you can turn to for those sad modern day Sadducees who say, oh, well, you know, the Jewish people didn't really have a concept of eternal life and heaven. Well, I beg to differ. And here's another passage where that's illustrated, where in Psalm 17 and start in verse 13, David is crying out to the Lord and says about his enemies, arise, Lord. Oh, Yahweh, confront him. cast him down, deliver my life from the wicked with your sword with your hand from men. Oh, Lord, look at this next phrase in verse 14 from men of the world who have their portion in this life and whose belly you fill with your hidden treasure. They are satisfied with children and leave the rest of their possession for their babes. Verse 15, as for me, I will see your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake in your likeness. Do you realize that when it comes to this matter of portion, there are two kinds of people in this world? Those who have their portion on this side of glory and those who have their portion on the other side. Which one are you? Where are you lining your nest? Where are you storing your treasures? Where are you having your portion, that thing that your heart pants after? And David says, Lord, please deliver me from these people whose hearts are all about earthly things. And we could tack on the prayer, Lord, deliver me from having that kind of a heart. This is where David comes from when he's saying, as the deer pants for the water, so my soul pants for you, O God. As the deer pants for the water, as he says in Psalm 63, O God, you are my God. Early will I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. Now, can I just say and just be candid and say that I lose my focus on this attitude probably daily, that this is not something that we speak about as a one and done thing where, OK, I'm just going to switch my focus and have my portion on the Lord. It is something we continually need to be renewed in. And praise God that we've got Psalm 119 to help us do that, where the psalmist says, you're my heart's desire, Lord, I've said that I would keep your words. Look at verse 48, back to Psalm 119. He says, I'm sorry, not verse 48, verse 58. I entreated your favor with my whole heart. Now, you might remember that every letter, every verse of this stanza begins with this Hebrew H, this hard H that's pronounced chet. And the word that begins this verse is a word that means, I am physically weak. I'm physically sick. I'm physically pining away. And it's an unusual word. And the next word is, your face. And so literally, when it's translated, I am treated your favor, he's basically saying, I am desperately seeking your face. Now, at the risk of being too simple, I get this illustrated constantly at our house, and everyone actually in my house gets this illustrated about what it means to seek the face of someone. And you've probably heard me say this, but the furball committee meets me every morning seeking my face. The cat and the dog seek my face because they know, or if it's Jonathan coming out first, they know Jonathan is their highest good. They know where their good lies. And so they seek our face. Now, in case you think, oh, come on, please don't do dog and cat theology. Well, Isaiah does it in chapter one. So I'm going to do it, too. We can do it, too. The ox knows its owner. The donkey knows its master. But my people don't know. Well, they know where their good lies, these animals of ours. And so they seek our face. And that's what the psalmist is saying. Verse one, you are my portion, O Lord. Maybe you remember what he says in Psalm 73. My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my what? My portion forever. You're my heart's desire, verse 57, verse 58. I seek your favor, literally your face with my whole heart. Be merciful to me according to your word. Now, as I said, you and I are often distracted and get our eye off the ball and we start living for something else like graduation or a car or a relationship that we aspire to. And so in the rest of this poem, the psalmist gives us some nuts and bolts about what it looks like to have the Lord as your heart's desire, that we can ask God to help us come to this place because it's not easy. As a matter of fact, I think the people who have their portion in this life outnumber the people for whom God is their portion by a factor of umpteen to one. And so there's a lot of negative peer pressure. Everybody is living for the weekend, or living for the paycheck, or living for their piece of the pie. And the piece of the pie is earthly. The psalmist tells us some things. First of all, following the outline, we can believe God for our heart's desire while we pursue him. And that's unpacked for us, beginning in verse 59, where he says, I thought about my ways and turned my feet. to your testimonies. Now observe the verb tenses here where he says in the first verse, my portion Yahweh, I have said that I keep your words. I am treated your favor with my whole heart. Verse 59, I thought about my ways and turn my feet to your testimony. In other words, This attitude of having the Lord as what his heart is set on, the thing that he's staking his claim on and saying mine about, is something that God worked in him through a process in the past. And one of the steps in that process was thinking about the path of his feet. Now, if you're still looking in your Bible there, turn with me to Proverbs 4, verse 26. Proverbs 4, 26. where this is said in different words, Proverbs 4.26. Proverbs 4.26, a little bit to the right of Psalm 119. Look at what it says. Ponder the path of your feet and let all your ways be established. If we followed you around physically, where do your feet go? Now, I think we should just start out with the literal. Where do your feet go in a given week? The psalmist says, I thought about how I'm spending my time. You know, I've calculated that I spend about three weeks a year in the car. And maybe some of you spend more than that. My feet go there a lot. Now, where else do your feet go? Because that's a good place to start if you think about, if you ask yourself, what's my heart doing? What's going on on the inside? Where are my feet going? Where are my eyes going digitally? If you look at a report of your internet usage, what sites show that you go there quite frequently? Well, that's a good indication of where your feet and your heart are going. Ponder that and ask yourself, what does this say about my heart? What do I love? Now, just don't point fingers or elbow anybody too hard when I say this, but think about the people that you're closest to. What makes them tick? What are they really about? And if the members of your family were asked about you, what's he about? What's he really after? What answer would they give that question? They might know. A good friend or a good family member is like a trusty mirror. What's he really about? What's his MO, his modus operandi, his way of operating? Well, the psalmist says, I'm giving attention, and then the writer of Proverbs 4, to the path of my feet. Where am I heading? Now, if you think that I am insisting that you all keep a journal, you're right. You should keep a journal, even if it's once a month. Even if it's once a month, put down a paragraph about where your feet are going. Where are you headed towards? Keep a log. You know, we have these great logs of the diaries of Lewis and Clark describing what it was like to walk from St. Louis to Astoria. That's a walk right there. Thankfully, they left a journal of what it's like to walk across the continent. But what about you? Do you ponder the path of your feet? The psalmist says, Yahweh is my portion. And part of me living that life is saying, where am I going daily? What is going on with me? What would the people around me say I'm really about? He says, I pondered or verse, I'm sorry, verse 59. I thought about my ways and that word for thought or ponder begins with hate that same Hebrew letter. I pondered my ways and I turned my feet to your testimonies. In other words, I started imitating what I read in this book about what a godly life looks like. Don't become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Read good biographies. Failing that, talk to people that you admire and imitate those people. You know, we all imitate Christ, but do you have other people that you ask yourself, what would she do in this situation? I want to talk like her. What would he do in this situation? Do you have any heroes that you imitate? The psalmist says, I thought about the path of my feet and I turned my feet to your testimonies. That means the reports of godly people who have walked this path before. And so as we pursue the Lord, as we ask him to give us this kind of heart, we ponder the path of our feet. Go down to verse 60. He says, I made haste and did not delay to keep your commandments. Now, you know, there is a good time to be slow. And the time to be slow is in decision-making. Have you ever waited on a governing body or some political group to make a decision and you think, goodness gracious, when are they going to give a decision about this? But actually, in decision-making, being deliberate is a wise thing. He sins who hastens with his feet. People who make snap judgments and shoot from the hip or shoot off at the mouth very often make errors. So there is a wisdom in being slow at times. But once you know the right path, it's not a virtue to dilly-dally. Once you know the righteous path in your life, it's not a virtue to be slow. In the middle of the Civil War, the Union Army fought the Confederate Army, the Army of Northern Virginia, to a standstill at the Battle of Antietam. And General McClellan felt like he was doing pretty well. But Lincoln and others around him were livid with him that he had not taken advantage of the opportunity to pursue the Army of Northern Virginia and destroy it while he had the chance. And Lincoln says to his cabinet member, Francis Blair, I'm afraid General McClellan has a case of the slows. A bad case of the slows. And he replaced him. It's not a virtue to be slow when you know the path and don't walk it. And the psalmist says, after I pondered the path of my feet, I didn't get a case of the slows. I did not delay. I made haste to keep your commandments. You know, you can always tell when there's an event that the family is excited about. You can always tell when there's something that we're eager to get to because our hearts inform our bodies that, hey, this is exciting. I'm going to be in first in line for this. I'm going to be ready for this. Well, this is showing up in the psalmist as he is seeking God as his portion, his heart's desire. He's thought about his path, and now he's saying, I know the right way, so I am going to go for it. I'm going to pursue it. There is a final piece of this puzzle here of what the psalmist is doing and pursuing the Lord. And that's in verse 61, where he says, the cords of the wicked have bound me, but I have not forgotten your law now. We all know what it means to be in the world, or I should say we've heard this phrase, you live in the world but not of it. But you will face some opposition if you choose to go against the current, if you choose to walk in a different way where the Lord is what your heart is after. Now, this is a word that means ropes. David says, the ropes of the wicked bound me, but I have not forgotten your law. You might say to yourself, you know, I've got some circumstances in this world that kind of make it tough for me to pursue God. And they may not be physical ropes. I hope they're not. But there may be things that situations and circumstances that you're in and you are impeded, you're hindered, you're delayed. It's tough. You've got restrictions on you. And the psalmist is saying, I've got this kind of persecution. You remember what 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 3 says, yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will what? Suffer what? Persecution. Pressure of various kinds. When Paul and Barnabas visited the churches they had planted, they encouraged those in those churches and said, through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. Now, again, those situations might be physical, like they were in David's case, or they may be circumstantial, where you've got barriers to living this kind of life. And he says, the cords of the wicked have bound me, but I have not forgotten your law. So this is the second point of my outline. We believe God for our heart's desire while we pursue Him, while we pursue Him with our whole heart. We believe him while he changes our course. And this change that he's made involves persevering through difficulty. Lastly, we believe God for our hearts desire while he opens our hearts. Look at verse 62. At midnight, I will rise to give thanks to you because of your righteous judgments." Now, do you get up at midnight to do anything special? Some of you, I know, most of you haven't gone to bed by that point, I suppose, or at least that's often the case for me. But the psalmist says, halfway through the night, and that's our word that begins with this letter Chet, partway through the night, I am getting up to praise God for his righteous judgments. Now, we're not told all the details of why. We know from the previous stanza that sometimes he thinks about God in the night and he reminds himself to obey God. This is a step further. Not only does he think about God at night, but he actually gets up to praise God. Now, maybe that's because there's not enough time in the daylight hours. I don't know what all the reasons are, but Spurgeon says it's perhaps because he doesn't want his private devotions to interfere with his public duties. But whatever the reason is, he is so taken up with what God has done and what God has said that he gets up in the middle of the night to give thanks to the Lord. A couple years ago, Faith and Jonathan and I stayed with a 95-year-old retired dentist to go to Six Flags in St. Louis. He lived near Six Flags, and so we were staying with him. And as we were going to bed, his wife said, now, if you get up in the night and you see Dr. Tinnen in his chair, don't be alarmed. He gets up every morning at 3 a.m. because he can't sleep. So he gets up and he's in there reading his Bible. And sure enough, something woke me in the night and I got up and there's this 95 year old man sitting in his chair with his open Bible. It wasn't midnight, but it was 3 a.m. And I thought, wow, here is an illustration of this verse. He's rising early to seek God's face. At midnight, I will rise to give thanks to you because of your righteous judgments. Now, just for a second, what did David have to be excited about? What had God decided that might have given David a little spring in his step? Anything you can think of? Yeah, David is walking along singing that other Disney song, I Just Can't Wait To Be King. He's springing along just saying, I'm looking forward to this so much. I'm so excited about what God has decided for me, that he is going to lift me up. And not only that, but he's promised never to take his mercy away from me. Do you have any promise like that? Do I have any promise like that? Turn with me to Luke, chapter 22. Luke, chapter 22. You see, the reason we're told to imitate someone like David, the reason that we should imitate his heart in this psalm is that we have very similar promises. Luke, chapter 22, verse 29. We'll start in verse 28, actually. Luke 22, verse 28. But Jesus says to his disciples, You are those who have continued with me in my trials, and I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as my Father bestowed one upon me. In case we think this is just for the disciples, remember the open-ended promise in Revelation 3.21. He who overcomes will sit with me on my throne as I overcame and sat with my Father on His throne, Revelation 3.21. So you have been promised a kingdom as well. Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us serve God, the scripture says. And so you might have something to get up at midnight to praise God about as well. So believe God for your heart's desire while you pursue him, while he changes your course, and while he opens your heart. And you might have moments like this as well. Look at verse 63. There's something else that's going on in his heart. He says in Psalm 119 verse 63, I am a companion of all who fear you and of those who keep your precepts. Have you recognized your spiritual kinship, your relationship with every person who fears God and who loves God's word? Do you know that the love for this book, the love for God's Word, is an endangered species? You know, I'll just say that even in churches, this attitude of, I love what God has said because I love God, But do you know what it's like when you run into somebody who, like you or like you, wants to have God as his portion, who wants to know God's words, and all of a sudden there's this instant kinship? When I was in seminary working at the parking garage, I think one man working there referred to me as a brother from another mother. He felt this kinship. There is this kinship that comes when we find others who have a similar heart for the Lord and for His Word. And notice how unprejudiced, how wide open this is. I am a companion. There's the word that begins with hate, the word for companion. I am a companion of all who fear you and of those who keep your precepts. This is the litmus test you should apply for fellowship, by the way. This is your test of fellowship. Do they fear God? Do they love his commandments? And I'll just say, I think it's okay if we disagree about a few other things. There is a kinship to be found here. There is a fellowship to be found. While it might not be an organizational unity, there's a spiritual unity. I'm a companion of all who fear you and of those who keep your precepts. The last verse of the poem, the psalmist begins with the word translated mercy, and it's that great word hesed that means loyal love, faithful love, unfailing love, some translations take it, where literally he says, unfailing love, the earth is full. of your unfailing love, teach me your statutes." Everywhere I go, I'm running into examples of your mercy, Lord. Every situation teaches me more about your unfailing love. Teach me your statutes. This attitude of saying, you are my portion, O Lord, is what Jesus saw in Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. He saw in her someone who said, yes, there's work to be done. Yes, I know there are other things to worry about, but I'm going to pursue the Lord Jesus. He is my portion. And when we stake our claim there, when we say, this is mine, this is what my heart is after, the great reward is you get it. The great reward is that when God is your heart's desire, that reward is answer or that that desire is answered. There are a couple of places where we are described as the Lord's portion, where we are his portion. Deuteronomy 32, 9 says the Lord's portion is his people. And Jeremiah 10, 16 describes the Lord as the portion of Jacob. When we have our heart's desire set on Him, the beautiful thing is we seek Him and we find Him. There is that great reality in life that be careful of what you wish for, you very often get it. Be careful of what you set your heart on because you very often get it, but might not like it if it's the wrong thing. You see, this is what Jesus was articulating when He said, Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, and what? All these things will be added to you. My portion, Yahweh. I've said that I would keep your words. I entreated your favor with my whole heart. Be merciful to me according to your word. I thought about my ways and turned my feet to your testimonies. I made haste and did not delay to keep your commandments. The cords of the wicked have bound me, but I've not forgotten your law. At midnight I will rise to give thanks to you because of your righteous judgments. I am a companion of all who fear you, of those who keep your precepts. The earth, O Lord, is full of your mercy. Teach me your statutes. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ who has made a way for us to know you. And Father has opened a door for us to not only have you as our heart's desire, but to know you and to see that desire fulfilled. Father, guard us from having our portion in this life and from being too easily satisfied with the things that life can give. Father, I pray that our portion would be you, the thing that our hearts are after, the thing that gets us out of bed in the morning, or even gets us out of bed at night, to praise you because of your promises, because of who you are. And Father, where we are distracted or hindered by circumstances, help us to be like the psalmist and remember your law. Father, where we have people around us who can encourage us on this journey, help us to see in them companions who can strengthen us on our way and to make common cause with them. Father, I pray that this would show up in our daily lives by where our feet and our eyes and our minds go. Lord Jesus, thank you for dying for our sins and rising again so that we can be the children of God by believing in you. Lord, I pray that you would take these words and use them for our good, for your glory. We pray these things in Jesus' name. All God's people said, Amen.