Psalm 48 (KJV): he will be our guide unto death

From Psalms

Psalm 48
(A song.  A psalm of the Sons of Korah.)

¹Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God,
      in the mountain of his holiness.
²Beautiful for situation,
      the joy of the whole earth,
is mount Zion, on the sides of the north,
      the city of the great King.
³God is known in her palaces for a refuge.

⁴For, lo, the kings were assembled,
      they passed by together.
⁵They saw it, and so they marvelled;
      they were troubled, and hasted away.
⁶Fear took hold upon them there,
      and pain, as of a woman in travail.
⁷Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish
      with an east wind.
⁸As 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 for ever.                     Selah.

⁹We have thought of thy lovingkindness,
      O God, in the midst of thy temple.
¹⁰According to thy name, O God,
      so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth:
      thy right hand is full of righteousness.
¹¹Let mount Zion rejoice,
      let the daughters of Judah be glad,
      because of thy judgments.

¹²Walk about Zion, and go round about her:
      tell the towers thereof.
¹³Mark ye well her bulwarks,
      consider her palaces;
      that ye may tell it to the generation following.
¹⁴For this God is our God for ever and ever:
      he will be our guide even unto death.

I continue to learn much over this journey through the 12 steps.  As I went through Psalm 48, trying to find meaning, I thought the palaces and towers of Mount Zion were metaphors for spendorous mountain features - only to find out that there has always great palaces and towers on Mount Zion.  Many of those buildings were part of Jesus' live.

So, I go through it, again, trying to find what the point of this psalm and how it applies to my recovering life.  Every day is a gift and every day we need to celebrate the small victories.  Finding something in common with somebody who normally gets under your skin.  Understanding that people have more in common than they have differences.  That if we pray when things are bad and uncertain, God will show his way. 

This last week the word I was using to describe my life was overwhelmed.  My kids were starting back to school, there seemed like there were 50 projects are spiralling out of control at work.  And then there were the kids sports, between the two of them there was something every night.  Once the sports were done there were the conference calls with people from work in other countries in other timezones.  Overwhelmed.

But I prayed.  At first, a little, and maybe half-heartedly, and not very specifically.  But slowly as the days passed the prayers became more focused and more true - more honest.  As they did things stopped spinning and spiralling.  Things started to become more clear.  Today as I type this - I now see the meaning in Psalm 48.  God will be our guide...unto death.  Open your heart and your mind and he will show the way.

Thanks for letting me share.