Life in His Presence | Psalm 48
Good morning, City Awakening family. It’s great to see you this morning. If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to turn to Psalm 48. Over the course of the summer, we’ve walked through 10 Psalms, and today, Psalm 48 is the eleventh and last Psalm of the summer.
Next week, we’ll be launching our fall semester with a new teaching series through the book of Nehemiah, which will show how God can bring about restoration from the rubble. It’s going to be a great series. We’ll also take some time to pray over all of our teachers, parents, and students as they start back to school, so you want to be sure and be here next Sunday. It’s also a great time to invite someone to come with you.
Now, if you have your Bibles open, look at Psalm 48 with me.
The Lord is great and highly praised
in the city of our God.
His holy mountain, 2 rising splendidly,
is the joy of the whole earth.
Mount Zion—the summit of Zaphon—
is the city of the great King.
3 God is known as a stronghold
in its citadels.
4 Look! The kings assembled;
they advanced together.
5 They looked and froze with fear;
they fled in terror.
6 Trembling seized them there,
agony like that of a woman in labor,
7 as you wrecked the ships of Tarshish
with the east wind.
8 Just as we heard, so we have seen
in the city of the Lord of Armies,
in the city of our God;
God will establish it forever.Selah
9 God, within your temple,
we contemplate your faithful love.
10 Like your name, God, so your praise
reaches to the ends of the earth;
your right hand is filled with justice.
11 Mount Zion is glad.
Judah’s villages rejoice
because of your judgments.
12 Go around Zion, encircle it;
count its towers,
13 note its ramparts; tour its citadels
so that you can tell a future generation:
14 “This God, our God forever and ever—
he will always lead us.”
I was having dinner with some friends recently, and we were discussing our next ideal decade. What would we want the next 10 years to look like? (I realized I could be a grandparent in 10 years!) And all the answers were different in some ways, but I noticed there was a common theme. Everyone hoped for two things: to feel a sense of satisfaction, whether through their marriages, their kids, or their careers, and everyone alluded to a sense of accomplishment, hoping that their time and energy would pay off in some way. I’m pretty confident the same would be true if we polled this room, as well. Whether it’s the next 10 years, the next 10 days, or when we reach the end of life…..we all want to feel a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment (happy, healthy, and blessed).
But so often we don’t feel that way. Even our best plans and our best efforts leave us feeling frustrated and empty… Some studies show that around 30% of adults regularly feel like a failure and 53% of men feel like they are underachieving….
It’s not a coincidence that we are all looking for the same things; it’s by design. God created us with an inherent longing for pleasure and purpose, and it’s brilliant.
In Ecclesiastes 3, King Solomon said that he has set eternity in the human heart. Solomon had it all, but he knew that everything the world offered wasn’t enough. What he discovered is that this eternal longing that we all share is designed to act like a compass that points us back to God. Because, ultimately, our pleasure and our purpose are found in the presence of God.
This is the focus of our Psalm 48. This is another song of the sons of Korah. Robbie taught us last week that Korah was a worship leader at the temple, and the Psalms with this heading are songs that were sung by him and his choir… just imagine Chris Tomlin and all his extended family….kids, grandkids, cousins, nephews…forming a choir. This song was probably on the top worship playlists in 700 B.C. (which is about when Chris Tomlin started leading worship, I think).
This psalm is largely focused on the city of God, called Zion. So, we need to know what that’s referring to.
The Lord is great and highly praised
in the city of our God.
His holy mountain, 2 rising splendidly,
is the joy of the whole earth.
Mount Zion—the summit of Zaphon—
is the city of the great King.
Physically speaking, Zion was a hill in Jerusalem and the site of a Jebusite fortress, which David captured around 1000 B.C. (2 Sam. 5:7). He eventually built his palace there, and it became the seat of power in Israel’s Kingdom, also known as the City of David.
About 50 years later, Solomon built the temple on that same mountain. At that point, any reference to Zion included the temple as well as the palace, which led to it becoming a name that could refer to the city of Jerusalem, the land of Judah, or even the territory of Israel as a whole.
Spiritually speaking, in the Old Testament, Zion is used to refer to the Nation of Israel (Isa. 60:14). And in the New Testament, Zion is used to refer to God’s Kingdom. Hebrews 12:22, “We have not come to Mount Sinai, says the apostle, but “to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” And in 1 Peter 2:6 Christ is referred to as the Cornerstone of Zion; the most important piece of God’s Kingdom.
Zion can carry a variety of different meanings, from a literal hill to Heaven, to God’s entire spiritual Kingdom, but what’s common in all of it is God’s presence. Zion is where he is recognized, known, and praised. That’s why this Psalm calls it “the city of our God, His holy mountain.” He is established as the King of Kings.
But he is not just over earthly kings. Verse 2 mentions Zaphon or the far north. This mountain in Israel was the center of Baal worship and was believed to be the home of the chief god of the pantheon in pagan Canaanite mythology. It was the equivalent of Mount Olympus.
The Psalmist is claiming that the King of Zion, Yahweh, is not only the King of Kings; he is the God of gods… rising above all the gods of Zaphon.
When we get to verses 3-7, the second stanza gives evidence of how great God and his city are.
3 God is known as a stronghold
in its citadels.
4 Look! The kings assembled;
they advanced together.
5 They looked and froze with fear;
they fled in terror.
6 Trembling seized them there,
agony like that of a woman in labor,
7 as you wrecked the ships of Tarshish
with the east wind.
Many scholars believe this description connects the text to the miraculous defeat of King Sennacherib's Assyrian army when God saved Jerusalem from attack in 2 Kings 18-19. That may or may not be the case, but what we do know is that in Zion, God’s presence is so strong that the enemy cannot make an advance. Even when multiple kings and their armies come together, they are paralyzed by fear and run away.
I think the reference to the agony of a woman in labor is interesting. We often talk about the pain of giving birth, but there can be a lot of fear that comes with labor as well (at least I would imagine). There’s fear because there are unknowns. How bad will the pain be? How long will it last? What if something goes wrong? What if something is going wrong? Last week, we were with some couples (all of us have 5+ kids), and each couple was telling their birthing stories. There’s a lot of stuff to be afraid of….. God wasn’t kidding when he said he would increase the woman’s suffering in childbirth….There’s all of that overwhelming fear mixed with the intense physical pain. It is agony. And according to the Psalmist, it’s a picture of what it’s like to be on the outside of the city of God….to be outside of God’s presence in the enemy camp. It’s not where you want to be.
In contrast, verses 9-11 show us what it’s like to be on the inside.
God, within your temple,
we contemplate your faithful love.
10 Like your name, God, so your praise
reaches to the ends of the earth;
your right hand is filled with justice.
11 Mount Zion is glad.
Judah’s villages rejoice
because of your judgments.
First, we see that in the city you enjoy God’s presence. You don’t run in fear. The temple, at this time, was the dwelling place of God. If you went to the temple, it was because you wanted to be near to Him, to see him, and to worship him. The temple was designed to draw you into God’s presence.
If you’ve ever been in a big cathedral, you know they are designed to intentionally make you feel small and to highlight the power and majesty of God. The high ceilings, the elaborate paintings and sculptures create a sense of awe in the presence of God. Sometimes I wish we had more of that because it can feel a little too casual when we come into worship. We wear our HeyDudes and drink our coffee (which I’m not saying is wrong), and it’s easy to be more relaxed than reverent. When’s the last time we came in and just sat in awe, contemplating the love, the righteousness, the justice, and the mercy of God?
Last week, Robbie talked about becoming undignified in our worship. The only way for that type of response to not be fake is to spend more time in the presence of God. You can’t rush in and rush out of undignified worship. We don’t just show up on a Sunday morning and go for it… That type of worship is developed at 5:30 on Monday morning when the rest of the world is quiet. How much time we spend with God during the week will determine what our worship looks like (even feels like) on Sundays.
Here’s the other side of the cathedral argument… Part of the worship experience in that environment was (is) for a priest to intercede before God on your behalf. But the cross changed all of that. When Jesus died, the veil that separated the Holy of Holies tore in two, signifying that all believers have access to him. The Bible teaches that we are now part of the priesthood and that our bodies are, in fact, temples of the Holy Spirit. That means that our worship isn’t limited to a place. There is still something very special and right about us coming together in worship under one roof, but we have the same access to the presence of God Monday through Saturday that we do here on Sunday mornings.
What does all of that have to do with this picture of Zion? It’s about being in the presence of God. John Piper is probably most famous for tying our personal satisfaction to our worship of God. He argues that what we really want, what gives us the greatest pleasure, is glorifying God and enjoying his presence. The Westminster Catechism says it this way: the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Psalm 48 confirms that by showing us that the city is great, but being in God’s presence is greater. The great glory of Zion is not a place, but a person.
The second thing we see from verses 9-11 is that in the city there is abundant life.
Psalm 48 tells us that the effects of God’s presence aren’t contained to the temple. His praise reaches to the ends of the earth; He is celebrated as a just ruler, and the people in the city rejoice because of it.
The view is reminiscent of Ezekiel 47, when the prophet Ezekiel saw a vision of water flowing out of the temple, which represented the presence of God. He was invited to swim in the river that got deeper as it flowed, and he saw that life flourished all around. This shows that God’s presence is the source of abundant life.
We can also find an example of this in the New Testament in Acts 2. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came and filled the disciples, and the church multiplied rapidly. The presence of God swept through like a river, and the result was not only thousands of salvations, but a Zion-like experience among the believers. Acts 2:43-47,
43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. 44 Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. 45 They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.
That’s a glimpse of heaven on earth, and it wasn’t because everyone suddenly decided to do what was right and good. These believers now had the Holy Spirit living in them, and that changed everything. Life flows from God's presence.
For decades, the Colorado River rarely reached the sea. Dams and irrigation diverted almost every drop, leaving thousands of acres of wetlands dry. Fish disappeared, birds left, and trees died. Then, in 2014, the United States and Mexico released a controlled "pulse flow" of water down the river, and something remarkable happened. Dormant seeds that had been buried in dry ground for years began to sprout. Cottonwood and willow trees emerged. Birds returned by the thousands. Fish populations increased, and wildlife followed.
The release of water didn't manufacture life—it awakened life that had been waiting beneath the surface. Our culture often tries to manufacture this effect and produce life through entertainment, success, relationships, or achievement. We try a little of everything to create this living-giving “pulse-flow” of water, but it never works. The Bible teaches us that life doesn't originate in anything that we do—only the presence of God can give life where nothing else can.
This is the whole message of the Bible - that sin has separated us from God, and we are spiritually dead because of it. There’s nothing we can do, nothing we ever could do, to restore that relationship and get back to God, so God solved the problem for us. Jesus came and took the punishment that we deserve so that our sins could be forgiven and we could have eternal life with God. That is the gospel - life flows from God… not from us.
If that wasn’t enough, and because God is just especially good, he gives us immediate access to his presence, even while we remain in our sinful flesh. Paul says in Ephesians 1:14,
“The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.”
God gave us a deposit on what’s to come so that we can begin to experience the abundant life found in Ezekiel 47, Acts 2, and Psalm 48 even now. The Holy Spirit is the presence of God living in the heart of every believer. So, not only does his life flow in us, but it should also flow through us. That’s what we see in the last few verses of the song.
Let’s look at verses 12-14:
Go around Zion, encircle it;
count its towers,
13 note its ramparts; tour its citadels
so that you can tell a future generation:
14 “This God, our God forever and ever—
he will always lead us.”
Every house has its stories… In our house, there’s the burnt spot on the carpet where a science experiment went wrong, there’s the bathroom that was remodeled because somehow a hole was through the shower wall, there's the door frame where our kids tracked their growth, and there’s the living room where our family has prayed together, and our small group has prayed for one another during some really hard times. Those are just a few. But every story points back to God’s faithfulness, and I hope that at least some of those are stories that will be passed on to friends, grandkids, great-grandkids (although some we want to forget)… as evidence of God’s work in our lives. Each story is an opportunity to say, “This God, our God forever and ever - he will always lead us.”
I said earlier that every one of us wants to get to the end of life and feel like we’ve accomplished something, like we’ve made a difference. Well, this is the one thing that we know for sure that God has called us to do. Jesus commissioned his disciples in Matthew 28 to “Go and make disciples of all nations.” His friends who spent the last 3 years living in his presence were now given their purpose. And the same commissioning applies to us.
If you’re wondering what your purpose in life is, what you were made for, this is it. You may be a great business leader, an engineer, a high school teacher, or a high schooler…all those things are good. But they are just means for carrying out your mission. If worldly success in those roles is your ultimate aim, you’re missing it. That’s not going to satisfy you. If you don’t trust me, trust the words of King Solomon… “he has set eternity in our hearts…”
I want to challenge you to become laser-focused in this mission of telling a future generation. You don’t have to be a great evangelist or apologist. I am neither of those things. You just have to be faithful. You can follow this simple guide:
Be with God. Put away your phone, open the Bible, and meditate on the character and work of God. You can’t experience the presence of God while constantly distracted by the pace of the world.
Be with people. Have people over for dinner, be vulnerable with friends and co-workers, be active in the church.
Tell your stories. Listen for opportunities to tell your stories of God’s faithfulness.
I promise God will use that in bigger ways than you can imagine, and you will get so much joy from it.
Here’s the Big Idea: Our pleasure and our purpose are found in the presence of God. It’s how creation started, with Adam and Eve walking with God and tending the garden, until the fall. The picture of Zion in Psalm 48 is a reminder that we want to get back to the garden. We long to live in the city of God where there’s no more pain, no more threat from the enemy, where the streets are filled with gladness and rejoicing. That will be a reality one day… we can anticipate the city of God, but our hope is in the God of the city. It’s not in a place, but in a person.
Psalm 16:11 says,
“…in your presence is abundant joy;
at your right hand are eternal pleasures.”
Don’t get to the end of your life… don’t get to the end of today, and realize you’ve missed out on the life God promises. Put your trust in Christ today and receive your place in God’s Kingdom. Then you can enjoy the present and future blessings of God’s presence.
If you’re ready to make that decision today, I want to invite you to come forward…
If you’re a Christian, but you’ve been in a holding pattern, just waiting to make it to heaven, then I want to challenge you to change your perspective. Get engaged with the mission, and leverage your life for Jesus.
