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Psalm 73:26

My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

24You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
25Whom do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth whom I desire besides you.
26My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27For, behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you.
28But it is good for me to come close to God. I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.
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← Psalm 73:25Psalm 73:27 →
Notice

Flesh and heart can both fail, yet the psalm names God as strength and lasting portion when a person's own resources give out.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What comes to mind when you read of both flesh and heart failing?

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What would it mean to call God your “portion” amid what you have or lack?

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How does “forever” change the scope of this confession about failing strength?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

11 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
2 Corinthians 12:9–10He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that …Both passages name weakness without suggesting it must disappear before God's strength can sustain a person.
Isaiah 40:29–31He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.Isaiah names God as the giver of strength to the weak; the psalm names him as the strength of a failing heart.
2 Corinthians 4:16Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward person is decaying, yet our inward person is renewed day by day.Both acknowledge bodily decline while speaking of strength or renewal within the person who faces it.
Psalm 16:8I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.Both locate stability in God: one names him as the heart's strength, the other describes his presence at the speaker's right hand.
Psalm 138:3In the day that I called, you answered me. You encouraged me with strength in my soul.Strength within the person connects these verses: God strengthens the soul in Psalm 138 and sustains the heart in Psalm 73.
Psalm 18:2The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.Both describe God himself as personal security, using the language of strength and portion, rock and refuge.
2 Corinthians 4:8–10We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair;Both speak of human limits without making those limits the whole story: failing flesh and heart, pressure and perplexity.
Psalm 16:5The LORD assigned my portion and my cup. You made my lot secure.The shared word “portion” ties security to God: Psalm 73 names him as the portion, while Psalm 16 credits him with securing it.
Lamentations 3:24“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”Both name the Lord as the speaker's portion, making God himself the ground of hope.
Revelation 21:3–4I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people; and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself …Both center hope on God himself: the psalm names him as a lasting portion, and Revelation describes him dwelling with his people.
Philippians 1:21For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.Both place value beyond bodily survival: the psalm names God as a portion forever, while Paul calls death gain.
Where this verse fits

Illness or diagnosis. aging. death and what comes after.

What the Bible says about death →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Copy Psalm 73:26 and underline “my portion forever”

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Encouragement

Failing strength does not put you beyond the confession this verse makes. The heart that fails can still name God as its strength, and God remains its portion forever.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 73:26. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 73 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).