“For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.”

From the beginning of this psalm the focus is on Jehovah and His city, Jerusalem, the place where He has put His Name. His greatness is the beginning of the psalm (“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised…”) and His exploits on behalf of Jerusalem are described.

Many scriptures speak of God’s greatness. He has done many things that emphasize this fact. Consider the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. The plagues that fell upon the land prior to their leaving show His mighty control over His creation. Frogs, gnats, flies, the Nile River, disease, storms, locusts, light and dark were all under God’s control. In some of the plagues His control was seen in that the Egyptians were affected, but the Israelites were not.

In Joshua 10, the story is told of the battle of the Israelites against the armies of five kings of the Amorites. During the battle, Joshua commanded the sun and the moon to stand still in the sky, and they did. The sun stayed still in the sky for a whole day. Because of this, Israel defeated her enemies. Who else but God could do such an astounding thing?

Or, consider 2 Kings 20. King Hezekiah was ill with a life-threatening disease. Through Isaiah the prophet, God told Hezekiah that he would be healed of his disease. As a sign that He would do as He said, God asked Hezekiah to choose which way the shadow on the sundial should be moved by ten degrees; forward or backward. Hezekiah chose backwards, and so the shadow moved backwards. Only God could do this.

There are many more, but these are clear evidence of the greatness of God. Not only did the celestial events happen, but otherwise life continued as normal. Nobody flew off the planet when the earth stopped in Joshua’s day. God maintained gravity. He created all things in the universe and on the earth. Psalm 104 and Isaiah 40 note that God stretches out the heavens as a curtain. The curtain of the sky is all that stands between us and God.

As the verse above notes, the psalmist says that He is our God for ever and ever. His might, noted in Psalm 48 and in the examples given above, are evidence of Who He is; evidence of His greatness.

How could anyone claim that Almighty God is their God, and their guide? What a wonderful thing it would be to be able to say that!

In John 16:27, Jesus says, “For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.” Any claim of God as being our God is given substance through what we think of Jesus Christ. The good favor of the Father is based on our relationship with Jesus. His love for us is because of our love for Jesus. Do we love Him and believe He came from God? If so, then this Almighty God is our God.

As Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:18, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Like John 16:27, the key to any relationship with God is what we think of Jesus. If we believe Him, we are not condemned. If we believe not, then we are condemned already.

The psalmist also states in Psalm 48:14 that this great, Almighty God is his guide, even unto death. At our weakest moment we can trust Him to be with us, for He has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us. In John 16:13, 14 Jesus said, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” The person of the Holy Spirit indwells everyone that has trusted in Jesus, loved Him, and thus are loved by the Father. And He will be with us, be our guide, even unto death. We will never be out of His leading or control. This God is our God!

He leadeth me, O blessèd thought!
O words with heav’nly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be
Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.

Refrain

He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.

Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters still, over troubled sea,
Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me.

Refrain

Lord, I would place my hand in Thine,
Nor ever murmur nor repine;
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since ’tis my God that leadeth me.

Refrain

And when my task on earth is done,
When by Thy grace the vict’ry’s won,
E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
Since God through Jordan leadeth me.

Refrain (Joseph H. Gilmore)