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PSALM 48 (Amplified Version)
A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah
1.Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised in the city of our
God! His Holy mountain.
2.Fair and beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth – Mount
Zion (the city of David), to the northern side (Mount Moriah and
the temple) the whole city of the great King!
3.God has made Himself known in her palaces as a Refuge (a High Tower
and a Stronghold).
4.For behold, the kings assembled, they came onward and they passed
away together.
5.They looked,they were amazed; they were stricken with terror and
took to flight (affrighted and dismayed)
6.Trembling took hold of them there, and pains as of a woman in childbirth.
7.With the east wind You shattered the ships of Tarshish.
8.As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts,
in the city of our God: God will establish it forever. Selah (pause
and calmly think on that)!
9.We have thought of Your steadfast love O God, in the midst of Your
temple.
10.As is Your name, O God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth;
Your right hand is full of righteousness (rightness and justice).
11.Let Mount Zion be glad! Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because
of Your (righteous) judgments!
12.Walk about Zion, and go round about her, number her towers (her
lofty and noble deeds of past days),
13.Consider well her ramparts, go through her palaces and citadels.
That you may tell the next generation (and cease recalling disappointments).
14.For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide,
even unto death.
In the intro of this Psalm, I could not find
any certain info on the author, although written to the sons of Korah
is a given… author, well it depends which book of research you look
into. The variety of songs given to the sons of Korah is incredible… truly
touching the widest complexities of human emotion, and heartfelt
prayer.Imagine the music they would have played!!!!
GREAT IS THE LORD… is the opening statement, and as it happens, is
the song that our church simply cannot stop singing at this time!!
How often do you actually stop and think on this one incredibly amazing
fact!! That our God is Great!! What does great look like to you?
Some will be marvelling at Salvation, some will be overwhelmed at
the kindness of our Lord, some will be so enjoying the comfort of
the Holy Spirit, some will be blown away at God’s miraculous nature
that longs to provide every need… you could all fill in your own
sentence here. His greatness should inspire high praise to flow from
your life. The great shepherd, should greatly be praised, for now
and all eternity. The scripture goes on to speak about the church
of God… the city on a mountain, Zion… heavens counterpart on earth… elevated,
being seen and known as the place where God is great and greatly
to be praised!! These verses SO inspire me to research the history
books and learn more about historical temple worship…
Jerusalem was the world’s star… and it was Jerusalem’s joy to be
known as God’s city… with Mt Zion being referred to here as ‘the
joy of the whole earth’!The scripture likens this love of Zion and
her glory, to the glory of the church on the earth today, that people
would always run there for refuge and truth. Verse 3 says ‘God is
known in her palaces for a refuge.’He is our ultimate refuge, and
even if you have riches of this world, or confidence in your place
in the economy of
the world, you will discover over the journey of life, that there
is absolutely no comparison to the complete peace in knowing that
God Himself is my refuge, MY strongtower… my confidence and my STRENGTH.
There is no safer place to run, than to the house of our God!
The next few verses I find interesting, as after such great exaltation
and defined moments of praise… here we go again, the enemy comes
in, trying to overthrow the people of God! I don’t know why we should
be so surprised, as when you are captivated by the King of all Kings,
the arrows of the enemy will come and they will go…often I am so
caught up in thanksgiving that I truly don’t even notice the onslaught!
But there are other times however, when you literally must clothe
yourself in the armour of God, as you wise up to the deception of
darkness. The enemy troops gathered here, but as soon as they had
gathered (and may I add, were astounded at the grandeur of the glory
they discovered here)… but as quick as they came, they fled… OVERWHELMED… like
someone overtaken with fright!! Believe me when I say, with God as
our shield, the enemy will come to nothing!!! In these verses, the
Lord is first spoken about as the Lord of Hosts… a name of power
and sovereignty, then, as Our God… a name of covenant relationship
and condescension (someone lowering themselves graciously to connect).
The Lord God has always offered us His loving-kindness... and the
faithfulness of His promises…SELAH is encouraged… to think on the
greatness of the past, and the greatness of the future.
Verse 9 is again glorious.. ’we have thought of your steadfast love
O Lord’… as I encouraged you to do so at the top of this study. Wisdom
and intelligence says to THINK on the goodness of God, His greatness… you
can never tire of such a wondrous theme… ’in the midst of His temple!’… To
run to the great house of God and ponder on His goodness, well who
can resist??? I feel like my life is just a continuation of God’s
intention for His Holy temple… to just pick up where the last generation
left off and continue my place in the eternal worship lineage!!!
Well, according to His great name, is His praise, to the ends of
the earth, His right hand is full of righteousness (I’m preaching
on this at Hillsong Conference… can’t wait!!)We must learn all we
can about the wonder of our God, that we may teach it to the next
generation, that we may share of His greatness, that we may write
songs that reflect His nature, that we may grow in our understanding
and character of Him, that the song of our lives would be filled
with the reality of His faithfulness, that WE HAND DOWN TRUTH TO
THE FUTURE…
We finish with this thought, that even unto our death, wherever and
whenever that may be, that God is our strength… that forever and
ever, literally means on earth and throughout eternity, He will be
praised through my life! And even as I look into this scripture more
thoroughly, the words here don’t mean just UNTO death, but literally,
over death, beyond death, way beyond the grave, He leads us through
death!God, our God, who swallows death in victory, holds the keys
of hell and death in His hand, and is to be praised… FOREVERMORE..
Love you so… Be prayed up, and praised up, ready for all God has
in front of us these next 10 days.What an absolute privilege it is
to host these hungry, passionate delegates from all over the earth!!I
am in Melbourne tonight, speaking at an event for young women… and
in Perth tomorrow for the WA Mercy Ball, raising funds for our Perth
home… I’ll be back on Friday… fired up and ready for revival!!!!Pray
you love the album, I think it is amazing, and cannot listen to it
without blubbering!!!
God is SO great!!!! Darls…..
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