Hermit's Morning Mulling of Psalm 16 Portion

"Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, 'My Lord are you.'
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot."
(Psalm 16:1-2)

Have been out in the garden-orchard area, watering.  While the upper back pain is too severe to allow the mind's memory to have excellent recall of the words of part of Psalm 16, as mentioned previously, the essence remains.  For what remains in His Love, such as His Living Words.  In essence, His Word Is in us, for He Is in us and us in Him.

Keep me, O God.  Yes, please keep us close; hold us and lift us up--even if it is up on Your cross.

In You I take refuge.  When all else is overwhelming, and the body failing in some manner or form, and yet responsibility in the temporal is needed one way or another, such as to be able to maintain or need to let go of it--we take refuge in the Lord.

'My Lord, are you.'  This is what we say to the Lord, for it is well and good to verbally tell Jesus that He is our Lord.  Yes, He Is.  He is not the temporal responsibilities, even if they seem necessary to handle or to dispense appropriately.  They are not our Lord.  When it gets down to the final degree of what is and what is not, "My Lord, are you, O Jesus--and none or nothing other!"

O Lord, my allotted portion and my cup....  Yes, we are given an allotment in life, a portion, and a cup.   In this, we can understand when suffering surfaces--and it does for everyone.  But it is the portion we are given, and the amount in the cup--the degrees, the amounts--that can vary from one person to another.  He allots to each of us the portion, and the cup.  We need not try to add to it.

You it is, who hold fast my lot.  Yes, this is the line that struck this hermit, this morning, as unique from the many other readings of this Psalm over the years.  Jesus holds fast our "lot."  In the practical sense of this morning's painful attempts to make a little progress on the literal, temporal "lot" upon which this hermitage is built and the hermit is trying to maintain the landscaping, grow some vegetables, and keep the weeds at bay--yes, He holds this lot.  He holds it fast for as long as this hermit is to be here.

But of course, the spiritual "lot" is what matters most for us to consider.  He holds us fast.  Our lot, He holds securely.  Our lot in life, is this what is meant?  Our allotment of suffering, a-lot or a-little,--our destiny?  Probably something more like that, His will for us, our destiny--His allotted portion. He holds securely our lot--that which we have been given, and this can be given when our souls are placed into our bodies, or also in every present moment, for that, too, is a "lot,"  an "allotment."   He holds fast our circumstances, and He holds fast our souls.

When the temporal pain seems too much to bear, and the mind and emotions clamor for relief and distraction, the solitude lends to the sensation of suffering until we remember this truth of Psalm 16.  You, Lord Jesus--His Real Presence--it is, who hold fast my lot.