“How great is the Lord, how deserving of praise, in the city of our God, which sits on his holy mountain! It is high and magnificent; the whole earth rejoices to see it! Mount Zion, the holy mountain, is the city of the great King! God himself is in Jerusalem’s towers, revealing himself as its defender. The kings of the earth joined forces and advanced against the city. But when they saw it, they were stunned; they were terrified and ran away. They were gripped with terror and writhed in pain like a woman in labor. You destroyed them like the mighty ships of Tarshish shattered by a powerful east wind. We had heard of the city’s glory, but now we have seen it ourselves— the city of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. It is the city of our God; he will make it safe forever. Interlude O God, we meditate on your unfailing love as we worship in your Temple. As your name deserves, O God, you will be praised to the ends of the earth. Your strong right hand is filled with victory. Let the people on Mount Zion rejoice. Let all the towns of Judah be glad because of your justice. Go, inspect the city of Jerusalem. Walk around and count the many towers. Take note of the fortified walls, and tour all the citadels, that you may describe them to future generations. For that is what God is like. He is our God forever and ever, and he will guide us until we die.”
Psalms 48:1-14 NLT
There is a certain anxiety to being human. Due to our ontology alone, we live in the uncertainty of finiteness. When you add the degradation of sin and corruption, it can often times be unbearable. Part of the promises and blessings of being with God is the fact that our salvation includes safety. This safety is larger than the cleansing of our sins and morality; no easy task. It is also the safety of a God who actively protects us from evil intentions. For many, this is a metaphor for one’s emotional and mental health. But it is also a physically imminent truth. Just as Christ will physically return, he will also usher in a physical kingdom that will be a place of safety for our new bodies. This is no insignificant truth. It is a truth worth praising God over. As the majority of our lives is lived in a state of concern about our spaces of shelter, knowing that we will have a place where we can rest and be defended is a source of extreme importance to a finite creature and we ought to be looking forward to it as much as we look forward to resurrection.
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