Portion Control

This is the week going into Thanksgiving Day. I don’t know about all of you, but I sit down on Thanksgiving with so much delicious food that I struggle with eating too much. I fill up my plate not because I am that hungry and need it, but because it is all so good and I want it. Portion control is that thing I need to keep in mind come dinner time this Thursday.

Portion control. It allows space for me to be okay with enjoying the blessing of a fantastic meal. But it also allows me to set some limits on what it actually necessary for me to be consuming. And as it turns out, I enjoy the day and the meal so much more when I practice some good habits of portion control; I feel healthier and more content when I eat the right amount instead of too much.

Even though a fantastic meal is sort of the main feature of a day like Thanksgiving, it seems like this portion control principle expands beyond just eating. We are people who live happier, healthier, and more content lives when some habits of portion control are in place. So, today, as we go into this week in which we count our blessings and give thanks for all that God provides, let’s also consider exactly how those blessings can BEST be received and enjoyed. Here is what the wisdom writer in Ecclesiastes has to say about it.

Ecclesiastes 5:10–20 NIV

10 Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. 11 As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them? 12 The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep. 13 I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners, 14 or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when they have children there is nothing left for them to inherit. 15 Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands. 16 This too is a grievous evil: As everyone comes, so they depart, and what do they gain, since they toil for the wind? 17 All their days they eat in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger. 18 This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. 19 Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. 20 They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.

it is not that possessions themselves are the problem; excess is the problem

I love the book of Ecclesiastes. It is sort of the Old Testament version of the letter of James in the New Testament. It is common sense observations and advice for a better outlook and orientation on the world in which we live. Both James and Ecclesiastes have a section dealing with some common sense observations and advice on excessive riches and possessions. I like how the wisdom writer frames the issue. It is not that possessions themselves are the problem; excess is the problem. It is the never-ending desire for more that makes our use of wealth and possessions toxic and destructive.

vs 10-17 — poetic proverb pointing to the evil of excessive desire for more possessions vs 18-20 — wise conclusion which results; the good use of possessions

Let’s trace through the way this plays out in this passage, and then consider how this takes shape in our world yet today. I left some space in your notes to explain two Hebrew words that are significant in this section because they both carry a nuance that gets lost in English. Before we point out these specific words, pay attention to the way this passage breaks. Verses 10-17 is a poetic proverb pointing to the evil of excessive desire for more possessions. And then verses 18-20 provide the wise conclusion which results from the proverb; the good use of possessions.

Hebrew awkal = _eat, consume, use up, finish_

The first is the Hebrew word awkal. It shows up in these ten verses from Ecclesiastes five times. It means eat, consume, use up, finish. And it is not all confined to that first section which talks about the evils of too much consumption. Two of those five occurrences take place in verses 18-20 in which consumption of possessions is shown to be a good thing.

material possessions shown by the wisdom writer to be something that can be used for either good or bad

Here is the point. Having and using material possessions is not itself a bad thing. It is shown here by the wisdom writer to be something that can be used for either good or bad. We are people who consume and use up resources. After all, isn’t this part of what Thanksgiving Day is all about? We are thankful people because God has provided the harvest so that we have the food we need to consume in order to survive and be healthy and flourish. And along with this we give thanks to God for all the blessings he provides, clothing and shelter, as well as talents and abilities we use for work, and friends/family relationships which are meaningful.

environmental concerns and creation care issues remind us that there are limits to what we can consume and use up and throw away in our world

It is not, then, that the provisions we hold onto and consume are somehow bad and ought to be avoided. No, what we have in this world is given by God as a blessing for our benefit. Yet, at the same time there seems to be a conflict. For example, much attention has been given in recent years to environmental concerns. In the church, we sometimes refer to this as creation care—that God has made us stewards and caretakers of his creation. Environmental concerns and creation care issues remind us that there are limits to what we can consume and use up and throw away in our world. There is a point at which our consumption can go too far and become something which is harmful to others, and destructive to our world.

how do we identify where the line is between using and consuming what is provided in our world as a blessing from God for which we give appropriate thanksgiving, or using and consuming what is provided in our world as an abuse of the resources we have available?

Now, here is the thing. How do we know the difference? How do we identify where the line is between using and consuming what is provided in our world as a blessing from God for which we give appropriate thanksgiving, or using and consuming what is provided in our world as an abuse of the resources we have available? I want our thankful gratitude to God to be good and appropriate thanksgiving. It hurts our Christian witness in this community and in our world if we somehow attribute to God as blessings things that are actually harmful and destructive in the world around us. Maybe think of it this way. 200 years ago plantation farmers in America who used African slaves to grow and harvest their crops may have well given thanks to God for the abundance of slave labor available to them for the flourishing of their plantation farms. I doubt the African people who were kidnapped, shipped across the ocean, and sold as property saw this as a blessing from God.

do we sometimes miss the line and end up attributing thanksgiving to God for things that may NOT be a blessing, but an example of our own misplaced and destructive consumption of resources in this world?

Do you see what I am saying? Do we sometimes miss the line and end up attributing thanksgiving to God for things that may NOT be a blessing, but an example of our own misplaced and destructive consumption of resources in this world? I want for all of us that our gratitude is actual thanksgiving for actual blessings. I think Ecclesiastes gives us some helpful instruction here for being people of real, actual thanksgiving. It has to do with portion control.

Hebrew heleq = _lot, portion, share, territory_

The other Hebrew word I want to highlight in this passage from Ecclesiastes is heleq which shows up in our English translation as ‘lot.’ You see it twice in verses 18-19.

Ecclesiastes 5:18–19 NIV

18 This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. 19 Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God.

Perhaps you read this and think that lot refers to resigning to some kind of random fate of chance. After all, we refer to casting lots or drawing lots as a way of randomly assigning or deciding an issue. But heleq does not refer to a random assignment of fate. The word heleq refers to lot as a piece of the whole. It is translated elsewhere in Hebrew as portion, share, territory.

each one of us receives the blessing of God as an assigned portion

The wisdom writer of Ecclesiastes is telling us that each one of us receives the blessing of God as an assigned portion, an assigned share. When my daughter Bethany was born, she got all the parent time — 100%. Then a few years later Andrew was born. Now parent time had to be split. Did it mean that my daughter no longer received the blessing of parents? Absolutely not. She still has parents who continue to love her just as much. But in the finite space of our time, the attention Bethany received came as a portion once Andrew was born, and then Corissa, and then Jacquelyn.

I could focus my attention on the things I wish God would give me as my portion; or I can live in thanksgiving for all the amazing things in my life that continue to remain as part of my portion of blessing from God

We live in a world created by God with finite resources. If I were to say to God that I want God to bless me with all of it, then that would necessarily mean that there would be no portion of blessing for anyone else. Now then, am I okay with accepting the share of blessing God has assigned to me as a portion? Let me share one of the ways this works in my life. Cancer has taken its toll on my body. I could make a list of all the things I can no longer do ever since cancer. Or—and here’s the other thing—I could make a list of all the things I can still do. I could focus my attention on the things I wish God would give me as my portion. Or I can live in thanksgiving for all the amazing things in my life that continue to remain as part of my portion of blessing from God.

every new day that God gives is a gift; this day contains the portion of blessing that God has assigned for each one of us today

I say this often, and it is not unique to me—many who have faced serious illness come to realize this. Every new day that God gives is a gift. This day, right now, is a gift. This day contains the portion of blessing that God has assigned for each one of us today. Be grateful for that. When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, he gave them a prayer that we have come to call the Lord’s Prayer. One of the lines in that prayer says, “give us today our daily bread.” It draws upon Old Testament Israel’s experience of receiving manna to eat in the desert wilderness. Each day God provided just enough manna for that day. Don’t misunderstand the lesson of manna. It isn’t as though we shouldn’t meal plan for the week. It’s okay to have a garden and do some canning and freezing to store up your harvest to see you through to the next growing season. The lesson of manna for Israel was to realize that God is the source of those blessings. And we live in grateful thanksgiving when we embrace the portion of that blessing which is received today.

The book of Ecclesiastes is not the only place in which Solomon writes about receiving material possessions as a blessing from God. This is what he says about it in the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 30:8–9 NIV

8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. 9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

blessings are best enjoyed when we accept that his blessing comes to us in portions—portions we can manage, portions that are good for us, portions that allow us to flourish in just the right ways

God’s blessings are best enjoyed when we accept that his blessing comes to us in portions—portions we can manage, portions that are good for us, portions that allow us to flourish in just the right ways. As we enter this week and anticipate a day of thanksgiving, be grateful that each new day offers you opportunities to find satisfaction in the blessing you have today. Work with the portion you have from God for today. That is his gift to you. May we be people who live in grateful thanksgiving today and every day.