My flesh and my heart faileth God is the rock of my heart and my portion for ever.
Commentary for this Verse
The man who wrote this psalm had envied the success of the wicked and almost slipped, until he went into the sanctuary of God. This line is not a boast about his own strength — it admits that he fails, and names what holds him when he does.
Failure admitted, not denied
The psalm does not argue that a believer's strength holds out. It admits that strength gives way, and puts the weight somewhere else.
J. N. DarbyHeart and flesh fail; surely they do. God is the strength of my heart. He supports us with divine strength and goodness, and He sustains the heart. He is not only a present support but an everlasting portion — our portion for ever. This leads to a sweet and earnest conclusion. It is good for me to draw near to God. There we learn truth; there we find comfort.
Rock of my heart
Some translations read "rock" here instead of "strength." The picture is of a man who had nearly slipped, finding solid ground under his feet.
Hamilton Smith"I know it," the Psalmist seems to reply, "for I have learnt by bitter experience that my flesh and my heart fail. There was a time when my feet had nearly slipped. But I have been into the sanctuary and I have found a resting-place for my poor trembling heart. God is the rock of my heart and my portion for ever." The heart that once envied the wicked has found its satisfying portion in the heart of God. The feet that had almost gone now stand firm on the rock.
That same reading carries a warmth that a word like "strength" alone might not suggest.
Derek Cooper"The rock of my heart" — this points to something different from other pictures of a rock. It means our affections are involved: we love Him because He first loved us. The "rock of my heart" is the One who loves us with an unshakeable love, and whom we love — poorly, yes, but we do love, in response.
Measured by "forever"
He had envied what the wicked owned. Set that beside what he owns, and the timescale settles the argument.
L M GrantHis flesh and his heart fail — experience had taught him that. Even so, he could say, "But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." What comparison is there between the few short years of his life and "forever"? It is the eternal issue that counts!
The cure for envy
Knowing God this way does not solve the puzzle of why evil men prosper. It takes the sting out of watching them.
F. B. HoleGaining this heart-knowledge of Him, we find Him to be the strength of our hearts and our portion for ever. With God as our strength and portion we are no longer "envious of the arrogant," nor troubled because we see "the prosperity of the wicked." We can rejoice in God as our portion so fully that the apparent success of evil men no longer troubles us. That holds even though we do not know the solution to the problem their success creates.
There is a smaller way of holding God: treating Him as help for the trouble at hand, not as the One we want.
The Christian's FriendIf my mind is fixed on present circumstances and difficulties, and on God helping me in them, the spring of joy is gone. I have made God the servant of my needs. The heart rests and settles there, and God sinks down into a mere help in time of trouble. It is true that "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1). But to bring Him down to only that changes the whole picture. He Himself is ours as our portion, and that cannot fail.
What the verse rests on and where it goes
The confession sits in a chain of statements about what God does. It does not end with a comforted man sitting silent.
C E StuartHe knows me, He holds me, He guides me, and afterwards will receive me to glory. How much God is to him! There is none like Him in heaven or on earth. Flesh and heart may fail, but God will be the strength of his heart and his portion for ever. Nor is this all. While all who are far from God shall perish, the faithful one draws near to Him. He makes God his refuge, and has the privilege and joy of telling of all His works.
Summary
- Fail — the verse admits what we try to hide. Heart and flesh do give out, and commentators take that admission at face value.
- Rock — read as "rock of my heart," the line sets a man who nearly slipped on firm ground. The rock is a love that cannot be shaken, and that draws love back.
- Portion — God is not help for a hard patch. He is the possession itself, and shrinking Him to a help in trouble drains the joy away.
- Forever — the prosperity he envied lasts a few short years. His own portion lasts "forever," and that settles the comparison.
- Near — the result is not private relief only. Envy loses its grip, the soul draws near, and the mouth tells what God has done.