Beautiful for situation

"Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. Psalm 48:1-2 KJV


I awoke this morning with these two verses going on in my head. They were being rehearsed in my mind to the tune we used to sing them, many years ago, when we would sing bible verses as choruses. I haven't thought of this tune, nor the bible verses, in a while. I sensed it as a reminder from God to me. Thanks, Lord. It is very timely, and a needed word.

I thought about the words. I began to meditate on them, and, with dictionary and concordance, explored the thoughts. "Great is the Lord." The dictionary defines great as remarkable in magnitude; chief or preeminent. Strong's concordance defines the word as bigger, far more, exceedingly, mighty and great, great things. "Great is the Lord." Yeah! Our God is remarkable, preeminent, great and mighty, far more than anything or anyone! And he is "greatly to be praised." Lord, we praise you today for your greatness.

My thoughts ran to the second verse. I grew up with the King James Version of the bible, so that is what came to my mind. "Beautiful for situation." The dictionary defines situation as mode of being. I thought about the situations of life. What is your mode of being? What situations are you presently going through? Are you suffering a marriage breakdown? Going through divorce? Having problems paying your bills? Is your health suffering? Your situation may be difficult.

I know this- My situation may be ugly, but God is beautiful. And Mount Zion is beautiful. Zion represents his church. The church has been attacked by both the secular world, and the religious. But hope is offered in the church. Love is offered in the church. It stands as a messenger of the King and his kingdom. Beautiful for situation. When you are struggling, Zion offers prayer, an encouraging word, a family of faith. I have been called "churchy." I guess it is supposed to be a negative thing. But I am for the church. The local church preaches the word, evangelizes the community and world, feeds the hungry, cares for the sick, offers hope. It is a city set on a hill.

The word translated beautiful in the King James Version of the bible in the Hebrew is the word noph. It means elevation or height. So the literal translation is "beautiful in elevation." Isn't that awesome? God is great, and highly exalted. Zion is beautiful in elevation. In the midst of all the turmoil, all the pains and difficult situations in life, God reigns. Let the church rejoice!

This I know. Whatever my situations in life may be. God is beautiful. And so is Zion. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, church.