The Mind of Christ

Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

This Psalm starts off with the problem…why does the wicked seem to prosper and why does God allow it? It continues to talk about the “good life of the wicked which in turn makes the believers doubt that God is good. It ends with confession and the conclusion (our focus verse) that God is our strength and portion forever!

So what does it mean that God is the  “strength of our heart?” The Hebrew word for heart is lêbâb which means: Inner man, mind, will, heart. And the Hebrew word for strength is tṣūr which means: A cliff, a rock, boulder, a refuge. So if you put that all together our rock is what drives our inner man. Ephesians 3:16:”…that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man…” Also in 2 Corinthians 4:16:“…though our outward man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” Martin Luther, a famous reformer, once said the “the only thing we bring to the table in our salvation is sin.” We need the strength of God within us in order to understand what was achieved in the cross on our behalf. What good news that we don’t have to do it on our own because we would surely fail.

“God is my portion forever” signifies that God is the individual’s ultimate source of security, comfort, and inheritance, both in this life and the next. It’s a declaration of dependence on God and the belief that He is enough. In essence, it means that God is everything a person needs and will always be present as their source of strength and joy. Nehemiah 8:10. It says, “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Joy, contentment, security now and in the future, and strength can only come from God. I can remember when I was younger how I desired to make a lot of money because I thought that would make me happy, make me feel secure, and give me a sense of accomplishment. However it did the exact opposite…I was ALWAYS desiring more money and climbing the hill of false accomplishments.

The wicked always look like they are successful and they will be the first to tell you all about it. That is a lie from Satan and their security and strength has an expiration date. The God of all creation gifts the believers with “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time”(1 Peter 1:4-5) God loves you and gives us all we need for the fullness we all desire so deeply!