“In your majesty ride forth victoriously in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness; let your right hand display awesome deeds.”
~ Psalm 45:4
Hi James and Ellen.
Do you think that you will get married someday? Your grandpaa thinks that you will someday begin to think about who you might like to have as your spouse. Getting married was nowhere on your grandpaa’s radar when your grandpaa was your age. Your grandpaa had his high school English teacher one day ask a couple of her students in her class if they were hoping to get married someday. When Mrs. Schultz asked your grandpaa if he was hoping to get married someday, your grandpaa told Mrs. Schultz that if he ever met a gal who was willing to marry him, that your grandpaa would very happily marry her. Your grandpaa did not have a girlfriend until he met your grandmaa. Your grandpaa went from high school to college. The college’s name is Dordt College. Dordt College is located in Sioux Center, Iowa. Your grandmaa also went from high school to college. Your grandmaa grew up close to where you are living now. Your grandpaa grew up on a farm near Volga, South Dakota. Volga is located a couple of hours from Dordt College. Your grandmaa’s ma and dad drove for three days from Wilmington, Delaware to Sioux Center to leave your grandmaa at Dordt College. Because the Christian Reformed church where your grandpaa’s family went to in Volga helped to found Dordt College, your grandpaa decided to go to Dordt College Your grandmaa’s pastor recommended to your grandmaa that she go to Dordt College. The first time that your grandpaa saw your grandmaa, your grandpaa knew that your grandmaa was someone very different from all the other gal students at Dordt College. Your grandmaa looked up as she was walking down the stairs to eat in the school cafeteria just as your grandpaa walked past the stairs. Your grandpaa really liked how tall, slim and elegant your grandmaa looked. Your grandmaa had dark hair then. Your grandmaa’s hair was called auburn because there was just a bit of red in it. Your grandmaa’s dad had red hair. Your grandmaa had a wave of hair covering her left cheek. Most all the kids who went to Dordt College had a ma and a dad who were Dutch. Your grandmaa looked a lot different from the other gals who were students at Dordt College. If your grandpaa had not gone to Dordt College or if your grandmaa had not gone to Dordt College, your grandmaa and grandpaa would not have met.
Your grandmaa roomed in the same house in Sioux Center as your dad’s Aunt Cathryn. About a month and a half after the fall classes began at Dordt College, your dad’s Aunt Cathryn invited your grandmaa to go with her and with your grandpaa to their home near Volga. After your grandpaa asked your grandmaa if she would go bowling with him, your grandmaa and grandpaa went with another couple to Watertown, South Dakota to go bowling in a bowling alley there. Your grandpaa really liked your grandmaa from the very first moment that your grandpaa saw your grandmaa. Your grandpaa’s ma and dad really liked your grandmaa, too. Two years and four months after your grandpaa met your grandmaa, your grandmaa and grandpaa were married in the Orthodox Presbyterian church that is in Wilmington, Delaware. Your ma and dad also were married in the Wilmington Orthodox Presbyterian church. Because Rev. Eckardt was the pastor who suggested to your grandmaa that she go to Dordt College, your grandmaa and grandpaa asked Rev. Eckardt to marry them. Your grandpaa does not remember anything that Rev. Eckardt said to your grandmaa and grandpaa during the wedding ceremony. Your grandpaa will never forget standing at the front of the Wilmington Orthodox Presbyterian church waiting for your grandmaa to appear in the church’s foyer. Your grandpaa was really looking forward to seeing your grandmaa in her wedding dress. When your grandmaa appeared and as she was walking down the aisle to where your grandpaa was standing, your grandpaa remembers thinking that what he was doing was something permanent – that it was making a lifelong commitment that he was making. Your grandpaa also remembers feeling very, very lucky to be marrying a gal who was so absolutely gorgeous. Your grandpaa knows that God really blessed him when He brought your grandmaa into his life. Young guys and gals today sometimes say that it was a God thing when something unexplainable happened. Because your grandmaa’s home in Wilmington, Delaware was over 1300 miles away from your grandpaa’s home near Volga, South Dakota, it really was a God thing that your grandmaa and grandpaa met at a small college in Iowa.
Do you know what it was like getting married when David was alive? A wedding in the Old Testament time was a very special event. Kings – like David, had more than one wife. David married young gals who grew up in different countries. Psalm 45 is a psalm written for weddings like the kinds that David had. Someone read the words of this psalm to the king and to the young gal who he was marrying. This psalm was written for both the king and for the young gal. This psalm’s words are a directive to the king to be responsible for not only his new wife but also for the people who he rules over. Verse 4 says “In your majesty ride forth victoriously in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness; let your right hand display awesome deeds.” This psalm tells the new wife to forget her people group and her folk’s home because her new husband is enthralled by her beauty. This psalm tells the new wife that she will be a princess to the king. Your grandmaa’s dad used to call your grandmaa ‘Princess’. Your grandmaa has been your grandpaa’s princess. Meeting your life partner will be a special moment for you. There is a sense that the husband must see himself as his wife’s protector. Your grandpaa is very thankful for who God brought into his life to be his wife. Your grandpaa knows that he will always see your grandmaa as being an exceptionally beautiful gift.
Psalm 45 (54)