God who will guide us until death
[Psalms 48]
Looking back on the past, what crisis have you faced? Do you still remember deep in your heart the moment that you experienced God's guidance and the grace of salvation even in the middle of crisis? Today I went to a nursing home and met my church grandmother named Jang Eul-soo and spent time together. While having conversation with her, I told her about my first baby, Charis. It was because I wasn't able to stand in the Charis’ position and thought my greed as her father had made the baby more troubled in her illness. As I shared about Charis with Grandma Jang, I shared that life is more about the process and the end of life than the beginning. When we remember God's grace in the midst of past crises, we can overcome the present crises with the grace of the Lord.
One of the hymns I often sing is “My Jesus, as Thou Wilt”. The background of this hymn is this: ‘There was a pastor who prayed in tears when all of Germany was ruined by a 30-year religious war. He went to the homes of persecuted believers and delivered messages of comfort. To make matters worse, the Black Death spread across Germany, killing more than 10 million people. It was said that Germany was like a “giant grave”. One day, this pastor and his wife visited the family who had a seriously ill believer, and when they returned home, they witnessed a disastrous sight. Their church and house were burned and turned into ashes. Their two beloved sons were dead hugging each other. It is said that these couples hugged their son's body and prayed silently in tears: “.My Jesus, as Thou wilt! O may Thy will be mine; Into Thy hand of love I would my all resign. Through sorrow, or thro' joy, Conduct me as Thine own; And help me still to say, My Lord, Thy will be done”. The pastor’s name is Benjamin Schmolck. It is true faith that he obeyed even in the midst of great pain and trial (Internet).
As I meditated on Psalms 48, I meditated on the text, especially focusing on verse 14: “For such is God, Our God forever and ever; He will guide us until death.” With the title of “God who will guides us until death”, I would like to think about this God in four ways and our four responsibilities.
First, God who will guides us until death is the great Lord.
Look at Psalms 48:1 – “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, In the city of our God, His holy mountain.” The God who will guide us until death is the great God. And the great God is the God who is “the great King” (v. 2). That is why the way our great God saves us is great (Park). But we tend to think too little of this great way of salvation of God. In other words, we don't see the big picture, so our hearts are filled with thoughts and expectations about God's way of salvation in our own way. And if God doesn’t deliver salvation according to our thoughts and expectations, we may complain or be discouraged. At the time of the Exodus, the Israelites did that. They blamed God and Moses. They didn’t understand the will of the Lord in God's way of salvation, why God had made them walk in the wilderness for 40 years. The Lord's will was “that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end” (Deut. 8:16).
At some point, while meditating on Joseph, I was amazed at God's way of salvation. It is nothing other than God saved Joseph from one difficult situation to another, and eventually made him the ruler of Egypt when he was 30 years old. God saved Joseph in His way. When Joseph was about to get kill by his older brothers, God let him to be sold as a slave of Potiphar in Egypt. And at the house of Potiphar, God saved him from Potiphar’s wife’s temptation by letting Joseph to be imprisoned. God saved him from one suffering to another suffering. However, God eventually made Joseph the ruler of Egypt and saved the Israelites. In God's great plan, He wasn't trying to save only one man Joseph. His great plan was also to save the Israel and his whole family (which was the nation Israel) by allowing or leading him from one suffering to another suffering. How great was this God's way of salvation?
Let us keep in mind that our great God is the God who saves and guides us in His great way of salvation. Let's not forget that, when He leads us into the wilderness, into the valley of Achor, what He finally wants to give us is "blessing."
Second, God who will guides us until death is the God of fortress.
Look at Psalms 48:3 – “God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress.” The God who guide us to death is the God who is our fortress. Just as the holy city of God is “beautiful in its loftiness” (v. 2), God who is our fortress is a stronghold (v. 3). And God, our stronghold and our fortress, protects us. So David also confessed: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (23:4). Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will not fear because God, our fortress, protects us and comforts us.
This God declared Himself “a stronghold” (48:3). Our God is the God who appears as Savior every time and saves His people. Look at the work of salvation of the Israelites in the Old Testament. Did God save the Israelites once or twice? When we think about the name “Jesus”, that is “God is salvation”, our God is the God who is pleased to save us. This God is our fortress. Therefore, we must escape to God, who makes Himself known as a refuge. So David prayed like this: “Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly; Be to me a rock of strength, A stronghold to save me. For You are my rock and my fortress; For Your name's sake You will lead me and guide me” (31:2-3).
Third, God who will guides us until death is the God who makes us triumph.
Look at Psalms 48:4-5: “When the kings joined forces, when they advanced together, they saw her and were astounded; they fled in terror.” This means that foreign kings tried to invade and occupy Jerusalem, but it passed by like fog. At that time, the invaders saw the power of God and fled in terror (Park). In the end, just as God broke the ships of Tarshish with the east wind of those invaders, the Lord destroyed the power of the nations. Therefore, He gave Israel victory. Our God is the God who brings us victory by defeating our enemies for us. Look at Deuteronomy 20:4 – “for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.” That is why the psalmist didn’t rely on his own bow or sword, but on the Lord who saved him from his enemies (Ps. 44:6-7).
Personally, I remember the word of 1 Corinthians 10:13 while watching our church retired pastor's mission in another country: “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” When I hear the news that God delivers him from every dangerous moment in the mission field, I see that our God is truly the God of salvation and the God who makes us triumph.
Let us keep in mind that our God is the God who gives us victory. Therefore, we must live by faith with the assurance of victory.
Fourth and last, God who will guides us until death is the God who is filled with righteousness.
Look at Psalms 48:10 – “Like your name, O God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; your right hand is filled with righteousness.” The word “your right hand is filled with righteousness” means that God will undoubtedly execute the justice of the punishment to the evil, and finally repay the true believer's false charge (Park). When we tell our God our false charged, the God who is filled with righteousness is the God who repays our false charge.
The practical example is the case of Pastor G’s son. Two weeks ago, I heard abut his accusation case. It seems like the other person hit his car while he was driving. But even though he did wrong, he actually sued the Pastor G’s son. And I think the other person was a powerful politician. That is why the police, who wrote the report when the car accident happened, also lied in court and supported that politician. And it is said that the company where Pastor G’s son works has made a statement against him. It is said that Pastor G and his wife prayed to God earnestly in this very difficult time. What's interesting in the midst of that is that Pastor G had a dream, in which a fire from heaven came down on the politician and the police and businessmen who made false reports about his son. In the end, about two weeks ago, the judge sided with Pastor G’s son in court. After winning the trial, Pastor G’s son's lawyer made two proposals: One was that Pastor G’s son was unable to work while he was suffering in court, so the other party gave the money that he couldn’t earn. And the other was to sue the other person and have them decide in court that they lied. However, Pastor G said his son didn't pursue it anymore. I see a wonderful faith here. Of course, as in Psalms 48, I experienced the truth that God, who is full of righteousness, repays our believers for our false accusation. But what's even more surprising is that Pastor G’s son could sue the the politician and the police who lied, but he didn’t. What I felt is that we must leave our revenge to God, that is, we must stop and when we need to stop. What is the reason? The reason is that we must entrust revenge to the righteous God. God who is full of righteousness will do it for you. God, who is full of righteousness, will defeat our enemies. We must believe in this God and receive His guidance.
The God who will guide us until death is the great God, the God who is our fortress, the God who makes us triumph, and the God who is filled with righteousness. What should we do, who are guided by God? There are four things we can think of.
(1) We should praise God greatly.
Look at Psalms 48:1 – “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, In the city of our God, His holy mountain.” We should sing praises to God, sing praises to our King (47:6), who is the Lord Most High (v. 2), who loves us (v. 4) and who reigns over us (v. 8). We must experience the great salvation of the great God by praying and praising God with faith even in narrow prisons like Paul and Silas. Therefore, we must ascend to the holy temple of God and praise God, who is great.
(2) We should think about God’s lovingkindness.
Look at Psalms 48:9 – “We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God, In the midst of Your temple.” Here, the phrase “We have thought” in Hebrew is “dimminu” which means ‘long-awaited’. The psalmist took refuge in God and long-awaited His grace instead of being discouraged in the midst of trouble. As a result, the psalmist realized the greatness of the Lord (Park). We must not be discouraged during trouble but long-awaited the Lord's grace in His temple. In long-awaiting for His lovingkindness, we must realize the greatness of God.
(3) We should be glad and rejoice.
Look at Psalms 48:11 – “Let Mount Zion be glad, Let the daughters of Judah rejoice Because of Your judgments.” We can be glad and rejoice because of the righteous judgment of God who is full of righteousness. We should be glad and rejoice because He is the God who makes us triumph. Also, we can be glad and rejoice in His salvation because of God’s righteous judgement and because we experience His salvation.
(4) We should tell what God has done to the next generation.
Look at Psalms 48:13 – “Consider her ramparts; Go through her palaces, That you may tell it to the next generation.” The psalmist is telling us that since God is in Zion (Jerusalem), we should look closely at the safe and beautiful place and tell it to the next generation. One of the things that the first generation of Israel did at the time of the Exodus was that they didn’t teach the God’s work of salvation to the next generation. As a result, the next generation went into the land of Canaan and committed a sin of worshiping idols against God. Therefore, we must remember the words of Deuteronomy 6:6-7: “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. ‘You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.’”
The God who will guide us until death is the great God and our fortress. He is also the God who makes us triumph by opposing our enemies. He is just God who is filled with righteousness. Therefore, we must praise God greatly and long-await His lovingkindness in His temple. We also need to be glad and rejoice, believing that He will give us victory. In the midst of that, we must tell the next generation our God who will guide us until death.
As I look to the Lord who will guide us until death,
James Kim
(God who guides us and make us victorious!)