For this is God, Our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to death.
Psalm 48:14
The Amazon rain forest can be a scary place, with snakes, tarantulas, and jaguars. And then there are the really dangerous animals, like stinging caterpillars and bullet ants. Many people are curious to see the jungle, so they employ tour guides who are totally familiar with the territory and know everything there is to know about the great unknown.
Death is an even scarier place, because once you go there, you don’t come back…or at least, almost no one comes back. Christ has been there and done that, so is most wonderfully qualified to be Our Guide Even to Death.
Jesus is the Way, and we can’t get to heaven except through Him. He is also the Door to anyplace worth going to. He’s the way to salvation, abundant life, and victory over sin. To get there, He has to lead, and we follow. The Lord can also take us through places that we don’t want to go: Depression, persecution, tribulation, and grief. There is also that experience we are hard-wired to avoid at any cost: Death. In knowing Him, Christ can be Our Guide Even to Death.
He leadeth me! O blessed tho’t!
O words with heav’nly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be,
Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me!
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 thro’ Jordan leadeth me!
Joseph H. Gilmore (1834-1918)
October 30
