A Time To Step Back
Psalm 48
A song or Psalm committed to the sons of Korah.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, in the City of our God, even upon his holy Mountain. Mount Zion, lying Northward, is fair in situation: it is the joy of the whole earth, and the City of the great King. In the palaces thereof God is known for a refuge.
For lo, the Kings were gathered, and went together. When they saw it, they marveled: they were astonied, and suddenly driven back.
Psalms 48:1 - 5 GNV
When we stop and look at the wonder and magnificence of God and His dwelling place we often are stopped in our tracks and don't need to take a step back, but are forced to take a step back. For myself in pursuing knowledge and knowing God I was made to step back and see exactly what I am doing here. The last couple of weeks my income producing work has doubled, even at times tripled my hours I have had as a part time worker. In doing so I was forced to reassess what I do with my time, what my goals are, especially seeking to write daily my meditations in my journal. Any writer seeking to write about the things of God can get so caught up in research, pondering, thinking things out, and then, in essence, set aside the true purpose, that of glorifying God. In Revelation 2 speaking to the assembly in Ephesus what the Lord had against them was that they had left their first love. Had they gone forward in the work of God without God?
In Psalm 48 the kings of surrounding nations had come up against the Lord, and the city of God. Just seeing it's magnificence they were driven back. This might be seen in the power of the word of Jesus in the garden when 600 men came to arrest Jesus. He asked them who they were seeking, and they replied, "Jesus of Nazareth". When He responded with "I am" the whole of those with Judas fell backwards to the ground.
There is a certain amount of poetical heroism in some of the psalms. For sure the grandeur of Jerusalem on the top of mountains was something to behold whether morning light or evening light. Even as the Scriptures in the Law, the psalms, the prophets, the gospels, and letters to individuals and whole assemblies often compress time and distance, this psalm sees a combination of people and events from times past focusing on how great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. Personally I cannot, must not loose focus on the Lord. Whether my time at work, the time spent writing meditations, along with family and normal life necessities, I must let nothing take my sight away from seeing and seeking the great God.