portion

This week worship begins with:

Lamentations 3:20–24

My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call

to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never

ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is

your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will

hope in him.”

"bowed down" (šûaḥ) is an unfortunate translation because it often describes worship.  Other translations use "depressed", "bent over", "humbled", or "languishes" because the soul is in torment because of its own memories.

The prior verse contains those memories and a prayer to God that God too would join with him in these memories.

Lamentations 3:19

Remember my affliction and my wanderings,

    the wormwood and the gall! 

But then out of the memories, many of which would crush the soul, one arises.  

Lamentations 3:21-22

But this I call to mind,

    and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

    his mercies never come to an end;

This does not erase the memories or the current circumstance.  It gives hope.  The ultimate hope is that "The LORD is my portion".  That "portion" (ḥēleq) is an inheritance.  It is what will come.