Psalm 48:12-14 Circle Zion, take her measure, count her fortress peaks, Gaze long at her sloping bulwark, climb her citadel heights – Then you can tell the next generation detail by detail the story of God, Our God forever, who guides us till the end of time.

Once upon a time a beggar sat on an old cobblestone street where he could see the grand citadel. Every day he would tell the passer-byers about how grand it must be to live in that citadel; he even suggested to others that they should go and live there.

One day a man, tired of the constant jabbering from the beggar, turned on the beggar, “Why don’t you go live there if it is so great!” 

“Oh, it is not for me,” the beggar bumbled. “It would be good for you though. I have heard the king is a good man.”

“Well,” retorted the man, “I have heard the king has quite the temper and expects his people to act a certain way, and if they fail, he will cut off the part of their body that did wrong! I will pass.”

“Non-sense,” responded the beggar, “he is a wonderfully kind man.”

“I will say it again,” the man repeated, “why don’t you live there if it is so great!”

Now, the man’s honesty towards the beggar got the beggar to thinking, and instead of begging the next day, the beggar set off for the citadel and investigated the walls but went no further and returned home. The following day, he returned again to the citadel and checked out the bulwark and then returned home. The beggar began to realize he too was a bit tremulous at the thought of meeting the king. The gate stood wide open, yet the beggar would not enter. Day after day the beggar returned to the citadel until finally, he drew up his courage and entered through the gates! Words will not do justice in describing the depth of Goodness and Love that the beggar discovered within the King’s grounds. Scrambling to the highest point of the citadel, the beggar called out over the village, “Come and see! I have tasted the Lord’s Goodness! He is all I hoped and so much more!”

The man, walking the street, heard the shouting, and recognizing the beggar, he stopped for a moment and considered, “Perhaps he is a Good King.”… and so another man’s journey began.

Jesus has gone before us so that we may follow Him to the citadel, and in doing so we may call to the future generations to join us! But we can not lead where we first won’t go… so climb those citadel heights, gaze at the bulwark! Always following in the footsteps of our Master Jesus… and then proclaim His Goodness.

Psalm 48:12-14 Circle Zion, take her measure, count her fortress peaks, Gaze long at her sloping bulwark, climb her citadel heights – Then you can tell the next generation detail by detail the story of God, Our God forever, who guides us till the end of time.