In the City of Our God
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God,
in His holy mountain.Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.God is in her palaces; He is known as her refuge. - Psalm 48:1-2
If you want to get the full picture of the beloved city of Jerusalem, there are psalms that are very descriptive and expressive of not only the city’s beauty but its devastation. In Psalm 48:12-13 the beauty of the city was encouraged to be viewed; what was seen was so magnificent that its glorious description should be passed down to the next generation:
Walk about Zion, and go all around her. Count her towers; mark well her bulwarks; consider her palaces; that you may tell it to the generation following.
Imagine the glory of the temple in the time of Solomon. The smoke you could see from the temple mount as the sacrifices were made and the beautiful Shekinah glory as the Lord came to that place––amazing. But in Psalm 79 we see the opposite depiction of the city’s full destruction:
O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; Your holy temple they have defiled; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps. The dead bodies of Your servants They have given as food for the birds of the heavens…Their blood they have shed like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them. We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those who are around us.
People reflect on past glories–– but they are not doing anything currently. What is God doing in your life today? Has the enemy laid waste to your life and you find yourself in need of restoration?
O LORD God, invincible warrior, restore us! Smile on us!
Then we will be delivered!
(Psalm 80:19 NET Bible)
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