CHETH, My Portion
GOOD SON-DAY!!!!
CHETH – MY PORTION
In the early 70’s coming up in the old school church, you
know the church where practically your entire weekend was sitting in the church
basement watching your mother participate in choir practice, cooking pies, mac
& cheese, and cakes in the basement church kitchen. Food you would never see the light of day
because it was other church families.
After this effort, some of the saints would assemble in the
sanctuary pews and start talking about families, recipes, and of course, as I
remember, the Lawd. One of the catch phrases,
I would hear tossed every so often was, “Lord, He is my portion”. I was like what???? Is Lord parceled out like
a spoon full of mashed potatoes?
Later in life, I heard the same phrase again. I did not understand and did not
question. To me it was church cannon,
that is, a collection of church phrases that are considered to be authoritative. You don’t question, but it is important. Kind of like, “There must be sin in the camp”,
“Idle time is the devil’s playground”, or “God helps those who help themselves”
(by the way the saying is not in the Bible).
To the contrary, “HE is my portion” is found in the Bible
and for this new year I decided to breakdown some of Mother Bobo’s (ask
Josephine who she is) favorite catch phrases.
The portion passage is found in . . .
Psalm 119:57, CHETH. Thou art my portion, O LORD: I have said that I would keep thy words.
The author, King David, starts this verse with the Hebrew
word, CHETH, to provide context of the
verse. The word is Cheth means a “portion”
or “share”. This was King David’s way of
saying. You are all I need LORD or in
some translations it says, “You satisfy me”.
While we are still at the beginning stages of 2023, we can
take a queue from King David by speaking your heart to God and allowing HIS
blessings to flow to you. It starts by acknowledging
who God is and honoring HIS word. The
story behind Psalm 119 is it is an acrostic (a poem or other word composition
in which the first letter or word of
each new paragraph spells out a word, message or the alphabet) hymn King David
was sharing with Solomon to teach him God’s word and attributes.
Cheth is the 8th letter in the Hebrew alphabet.
Psalm 119 is remarkable for how often it refers to God's
written revelation. It is referred to in
almost every verse. Actually there is a sequence of understanding
that occurs in this chapter; God’s Word is mentioned in one line, and in the
second line King David connects the Word to God’s revelation in his life. King
David expresses his appreciation for the goodness, mercies, severity,
faithfulness, righteousness, and character of God, and in so doing stands in
awe of the Word of God. During King
David's time he fought numerous mighty kingdoms and nations; but he only was in
awe of God and HIS word.
It was all he needed to be successful. . .
Psalm 119:161, Powerful nations harass me without cause, but my heart trembles only at your word.
God’s Word satisfies.
It is my portion. CHETH!
Now, I segue to the Song of the Week
1992, Grammy nominated singer, Reverend James Moore. From the “Live in Detroit” Album.
A singer who sang under the likes of Dr. Mattie Moss Clark, Rev.
James Cleveland, and Richard “Mr. Clean” White. He is a powerful tenor. In this song, you will feel the dynamics of
his vocal range. I do not have the
lyrics. You will not miss them because
you will be singing them for the next three days after you hear the song. Rev James Moore carries the song and literally
the musician accompany or merely highlight him.
Old school, Deep Soul, Detroit gospel sound ya’ll. Hah, somebody stand
up and give me a witness, today!-------------Oh wait another old church catch phrase.
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