The lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places

"The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage (Psalm 16:5-6)."

What does He mean by lines?  Charles Spurgeon wrote, "Lines refers to division of the land by lot and the measuring of it by ropes and lines." So Jesus - the speaker in this Psalm - is speaking of His portion.  He is talking about the lot that God is maintaining. He is talking about what God has assigned to Him as the God-man.

This is the One who said He had no place to lay His head.  This is the Christ who suffered horrendously; and yet here He is saying that the lines have fallen unto Him in pleasant places! How can He say this?   A healthy rich man with his family surrounding him could surely say this. But how can Jesus - in the midst of this fallen world, enduring what He endured, living as He lived and facing the cross - say, "the lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places?"

He has already given us the answer. He said, "The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot." He gave two reasons.

First, God is His portion and His cup.

Do you see the logic?  True, He had no place to lay His head. He was also persecuted, He suffered, and He would later go to the cross where He would bear our sins - but He had God.  This is why He could say "the lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places." It was not because He was rejoicing in what He had in the world but because He was rejoicing in God. He was satisfied, and He was glad because He had God. He may have been a man of sorrows and hated of all men, but His Father was well pleased with Him. He had His father’s smile, so that even when He was on the cross bearing the wrath of God, He was still God’s.   And nothing in heaven or on earth could change that. So here is Jesus rejoicing in His portion, rejoicing in how the lines have fallen unto Him not because it was pleasant to be in this world, but because God was His portion and His cup, and having God He did not lack.

And this is what makes the Christian such a marvel to behold.  That because he is in Christ, he also can say "God is my portion and my cup." The believer is in Christ, and so God is His God. Come what may - pain, loss, hardship - this is sure and steady: nothing can separate him from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.

As the hymnwriter put it,

"The Spirit and the gifts are ours

Through Him who with us sideth:

Let goods and kindred go,

This mortal life also;

The body they may kill:

God’s truth abideth still,

His Kingdom is forever."

God's truth abideth still, and His kingdom is forever, but for the believer this is personal.  It is also true that while goods and kindred go, God is still my portion. And though the body they may kill, Jesus is mine forever.  So that we could say "let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also, the body they may kill: God is my portion still, Jesus is mine forever."  

Isn’t this wonderful?  There is no changing or altering this. Satan may want to sift you, but Jesus has prayed for you.  Satan may want to pluck you out of the Father’s hand, but the Father will not let him have you. Satan may try to drive out of the way, but Jesus will lose nothing of all which God has given Him (John 6:39). You will appear with Him in glory.

Second, God maintains His lot.

He is saying that He knows who it is who orders the affairs of this life. In other words, He knows the God in whom He has placed His trust. He knows who rules the waves, who directs the lightning bolt, and who holds the heart of the king in His hands.  

Jesus believed God. He knew Him. He knew His character. He knew Him, then, to be trustworthy, He knew Him to be faithful and good and wise, and He knew that He was the One behind the scenes directing history to its glorious end.  And so He was content.

In the same way we may we be content because we know in whom we have believed.  We have His word for it. We know that He is good, that He is wise, and that He is sovereign. We can trace the event back to its source and see that it is God - our God - behind it. It is always God behind the frowning providence.  It is always God behind that tragic sudden loss. It is always God behind the angry faces and the unkind words. God is the One who rules, and He is peculiarly caring for you, working this, too, for your lasting good.

As Christians we believe “in an overruling destiny which fixed the bounds of his abode, and his possessions.”  We believe that.  We know He maintains our lot, so that we cannot die too soon or live too long.  All is worked out according to His perfect plan for the eternal good of those who love Him. But we have more than that.  Because we know Him, because He is our God, we can say with Jesus that we are satisfied.  "We are satisfied with all the appointments of the predestinating God.” Through it all we can say with the psalmist, "The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup." No matter what happens He is still ours.

Happy is the people whose God is the Lord!