Psalm 48 - The Joy of the Whole Earth

Read: Psalm 48 vs 1-14

Older people have been very much in the news in the past week with the amazing story of Captain Tom Moore and his raising over £32m for the NHS. There is something fascinating, captivating, about seeing someone who is so old in action. In these past weeks when over 28,000 people in the UK and Ireland have died from coronavirus the words and actions of this centenarian have been truly inspirational.  

My Granny (my mum’s mum) was an inspirational person whose life I remember. She was born in 1899 and died in 2001. The dates of her birth and death meant that she didn’t only live through a 100 year period of history, but she lived through an entire century. The world goes through a lot in 100 years, people go through a lot. I think of things like the First World War, the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918, the Irish Civil War, the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Second World War, the Cuban Missile Crisis (when the world went to bed thinking it was going to wake up to nuclear holocaust), and of course the long years of our own ‘Troubles’. All those things, and so many more, packed into one century, shaping and threatening life here on this island, and I think of my Granny living through it all.

Today in Ballyhenry we are reading Psalm 48. It’s a Psalm of praise, a Psalm that speaks of God as ‘the Great King’ (vs 2) and that talks about how those who trust God find security in Him (vs 8). Verse 14 is a verse I always associate with my Granny. When my sister was getting married (near to the end of my Granny’s life) she passed this verse on to her (one of ‘the next generation’ vs 13). It says this:

‘For this God is our God for ever and ever;

He will be our guide even to the end.’

In times of crisis and vulnerability older people can inspire us. Very old people can inspire us in a special way. As we live through these uncertain and historic times I look back on the last century and I see the reassuring words of Psalm 48 vs 14 stamped over those 100 years. Now in this generation a renewed invitation to each one of to make this God our God and to allow Him to be our guide, even to the end. 

Prayer: Lord Jesus as I live my life may it one day be said of me that you were my God and my guide all the way through to the end.