Our God, Our Guide
By W. Abbott.–Blunham
“For this God is our God for ever and ever;
He will be our Guide even unto death.”
Ps. xlviii, 14
Christians have many opportunities of bearing their testimony to the value of the scriptures. The psalmist is a good example of this, and persons conversant with his writings are induced to join him in his grateful testimony. To the writer of this article, this verse has been very precious in seasons of great and painful changes; and he still clings to it, hoping that it may follow him with blessings in all his future course.
I. The Divine guidance is a source of present comfort. “He will be our guide even unto death.”
This implies our inability to guide ourselves. We are strangers to the way, and weak to walk in it. It is not only a strange way, but also difficult and dangerous. It is like walking in a strange road in a dark night, and continually exposed to evils. But even when daylight the way is rough, or uphill, or unpleasant and tedious. We need a guide to show us the way, and to help us along it.
It shows God’s affectionate care over us. There is much comfort in the thought that God will guide us. He has before him the map of our pilgrimage; the way from beginning to end, though hidden from us, is all open to him. He knows the way that is best for us; and he kindly grants his guidance. He takes a fatherly interest in our welfare. He commands and invites us to consult him; and it is much to our advantage to do so. “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will direct thy steps.” “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.“
We have here the certainty of our preservation in the way, and also of our arrival at home. “He will guide us“— He will guide us even unto death. He will guide us all through life, and that is much. He will not leave you a step of the way; but will give you strength equal to your day, and grace according to your needs. Thus he helps you to live a life of faith and hope, and so of gratitude for mercies given, of patience under trials, and of joy in the expectation of heaven.
He will guide unto death, and through death; and that is more than guidance through life. It means that he will guide us to the end of death—through all its pains, weakness, fears, and conflicts, to victory and to triumph. Beyond death we shall not need a guide; because we shall then have reached our home, and, there, shall be safe and happy. Having reached our home, we shall review the way of his guidance, and see how wise, kind, and faithful, he has been to us in all the circumstances of our journey. So shall we join with all the happy pilgrim band—”Songs of praises we will ever give to thee.“
II. The Divine relationship is a source of prospective and perpetual blessedness. “This God is our God for ever and ever.”
In these words we find a sufficiency for time, and for eternity. God with us now; God with us for ever! It is a relationship that remains unbroken. His guidance is temporary,—so long as circumstances require it; his relationship is permanent—it is “for ever.” Our Guide unto death; Our God for ever. Earthly relationships are every moment liable to be broken. Death severs the tenderest ties—the wife from the husband —the husband from the wife; the parents from the children—the children from the parents. But death has no power over this relationship—cannot touch it—our God in life; our God in death; our God for ever. The full realisation of this relationship will be in heaven. We are now the people of God; and God is now our God. He now loves us, and we now rejoice in that love, but, as we meet him in heaven, so shall we know that love more clearly, fully, and blessedly. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.“
This relationship, which, in its heavenly manifestation, is so sweet, is for ever. Heaven is everlasting life, springing from everlasting love. Our bright and happy seasons here are short and uncertain; but in heaven, the sweet and the bright, the joy and the glory, are for ever. We go to heaven to stay for ever, and there to be for ever happy. None who enter heaven wish to return, for they are at home there—a home of perfect love and joy—and that will continue for ever.
III. For those precious views of God as our God and Guide, we are indebted to his grace in Christ Jesus.
This must be the cause of interest in him. If he is our God, it is because he is a gracious God, and has shown his grace to us. His grace gives this privilege to the undeserving, and therefore we share it. All the interest man had in God, he lost by sin, and therefore our present interest in him is the result of his rich grace, shewn to us through the mediation of Jesus Christ. “But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who were sometime afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” In him we are redeemed, pardoned, adopted, and made happy. “Accepted in the beloved.“
By his grace enlightening us, we come to the knowledge of our interest in him. Thus we know God, and the love wherewith he has loved us; we see it in the gift of his Son, in the fulness of blessing treasured up in him, and in the position reserved for us in heaven.
It is sweet to know God by his Gospel, by his Spirit, and by his love shed abroad in our hearts. It is sweet to know him as our Father in heaven, whose presence is with us on earth; and who is to us here, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, and who ” is not ashamed to be called our God, for he hath provided for us a city.” “Thou shalt guide me by thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.”