“The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.”
My Notes
What Does Lamentations 3:24 Mean?
In the middle of Lamentations 3 — the darkest chapter in the darkest book of the Bible — the poet declares: the LORD is my portion. Therefore I will hope in Him. The statement comes after verses of affliction, darkness, wormwood, and gall. And from that wreckage, the soul speaks: God is my portion. And because He's my portion, I have hope.
The word "portion" (cheleq — share, allotment, inheritance) means God is the poet's assigned share. In a book about lost everything — lost city, lost temple, lost freedom, lost dignity — the poet claims one remaining possession: God. Everything else is gone. God is the portion that survived the destruction.
"Therefore will I hope in him" — the hope follows the portion. Because God is my share, hope is rational. If my portion were the city (destroyed), hope would be irrational. If my portion were the temple (burned), hope would be foolish. But my portion is God. And God isn't destroyed or burned. Therefore: hope.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Can your soul say 'the LORD is my portion' from the bottom of whatever pit you're currently in?
- 2.Does the logical 'therefore' (God is my portion → therefore I have hope) make the hope feel rational rather than naively optimistic?
- 3.What has the destruction in your life revealed about what your actual 'portion' was all along?
- 4.Is God the inheritance that survived your losses — and is that enough for hope?
Devotional
The LORD is my portion. Therefore I will hope.
From the ash heap. From the bottom of the pit. From the darkest chapter of the darkest book. The poet says the most audacious thing a human being in his condition can say: God is my portion. That's my inheritance. That's my share. And because that's what I have, I have reason to hope.
Everything else is gone. The city — destroyed. The temple — burned. The freedom — taken. The dignity — trampled. The prayer — shut out (verse 8). The body — afflicted (verse 1-20). Everything the poet could have claimed as his portion has been stripped away. And from the emptied, devastated, wrecked interior, the soul speaks: the LORD is my portion.
The portion survives what the possessions don't. The city can be destroyed. The temple can be burned. The health can be taken. The freedom can be removed. But the LORD as your portion? Nothing destroys that. No army conquers it. No fire burns it. No exile removes it. The portion is God Himself — and God doesn't perish with the city.
"Therefore" — the logical connection. Because God is my portion, hope follows logically. Hope isn't irrational optimism in the face of evidence. It's rational trust based on the one possession that survived the destruction. If my inheritance is a building, the fire ends the hope. If my inheritance is God, the fire only proves what my real inheritance was all along.
The soul speaks. Not the mind (which is overwhelmed). Not the body (which is broken). The soul. The deepest part of the person — below the emotions, below the circumstances, below the grief — speaks the truest thing it knows: the LORD is my portion.
And because the soul speaks this truth, the next word is hope. Not despite the devastation. Because of the one thing the devastation couldn't touch.
God is your portion. Even in the pit. Especially in the pit.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
The Lord is my portion, saith my soul,.... The prophet, or the church, whom he represents, rises and increases in the…
The Lord is my portion - “My portion is Yahweh,” see Num 18:20; Psa 16:5 ff. Therefore will I hope in him - A more full…
The Lord is my portion - See on Psa 119:67 (note).
Here the clouds begin to disperse and the sky to clear up; the complaint was very melancholy in the former part of the…
The Lord is my portion a frequent expression in the Psalms (Psa 16:5; Psa 73:26; Psa 119:57; Psa 142:5).
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture