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Zion, the City of Our God
A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
48 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised
in the city of our God!
His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation,
is the joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion, in the far north,
the city of the great King.
Within her citadels God
has made himself known as a fortress.
For behold, the kings assembled;
they came on together.
As soon as they saw it, they were astounded;
they were in panic; they took to flight.
Trembling took hold of them there,
anguish as of a woman in labor.
By the east wind you shattered
the ships of Tarshish.
As we have heard, so have we seen
in the city of the LORD of hosts,
in the city of our God,
which God will establish forever. Selah
We have thought on your steadfast love, O God,
in the midst of your temple.
As your name, O God,
so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
Let Mount Zion be glad!
Let the daughters of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments!
Walk about Zion, go around her,
number her towers,
consider well her ramparts,
go through her citadels,
that you may tell the next generation
that this is God,
our God forever and ever.
He will guide us forever.
(ESV)
Psalm 48 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
Several years ago I witnessed one of the most miraculous events I’ve ever seen God perform in my life. At the time, I was working for a computer software company. I was making pretty good money and had been there for about 7 years. But that summer, a few things began happening simultaneously. I began to get serious about my faith and actually read my Bible. I began to sense a tension in looking at the way people were living by faith in the Bible and how I was living currently.
This pressure became inflamed when my work environment began to drastically change. One of my close friends left the company. They brought in a new boss who micromanaged me and simply made my work life miserable. A once fairly healthy environment quickly turned into a place of hostility and impossible deadlines. I was working later and later each week.
It was no coincidence these two aspects of my life began to escalate around the same time. God was moving. I believed that God was calling me to something different, but of course, I wanted it on my terms. I wanted to transition into a better job on every level. I wanted more pay, better bosses, a bigger company, and all the amenities that I currently didn’t have. God had a different plan.
This tension came to a head when I picked up a young teenager who was hitchhiking across the state. He was suicidal and depressed with nothing to live for (in his words). That was the final straw. I knew I needed to get into ministry and make a difference.
So with that in mind, I began the process of searching and applying. I interviewed for a position at Youth for Christ having no experience in ministry. I had nothing to offer. No seminary. No ministry degree. No experience. They offered me a position working at Columbia City High School.
I remember the day I received the call I was sitting in a parking lot just outside of my place of work. After the call came offering me the position, the YFC employee told me to take the day and respond back to the offer. It was scary, to say the least. It was far less pay. It was in a city I had never been to in my life. It was a job working with teenagers – enough said! It made no sense. But God was moving.
As I sat in the parking lot, I began to have second thoughts. This was crazy! What was I doing? At that moment, God sent a miraculous sign that’s still hard for me to believe to this day. The second these thoughts came to mind, I watched from the parking lot as a semi-truck drove from right to left across my view. On the side of the truck, in big bold letters, was the name JESUS. I kid you not, that’s all that was on the truck. I did a triple-take trying to see what company or business this vehicle represented. All it said was JESUS. I got on the phone that second and accepted the job.
The kings gathered together and came to attack Mount Zion. 5 But when they saw it, they were amazed; they were afraid and ran away. 6 There they were seized with fear and anguish, like a woman about to bear a child, 7 like ships tossing in a furious storm. 8 We have heard what God has done, and now we have seen it in the city of our God, the LORD Almighty; he will keep the city safe forever.
Psalms 48:4-8 GNB
We have heard what God has done and we have seen it! Sometimes it is difficult to walk by faith and not by sight. But many times, God reveals the faithfulness that we have only experienced by belief as a practical reality. To those who step out, He is faithful. When we are walking in the dark and can’t see the next step, He is faithful. When we trust Him with what He’s called of us and place ourselves in situations where something can only happen if He delivers, He is faithful! Where do you need to be reminded of this truth today?