Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 48:14

"For this God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our guide [even] unto death." — Psalms 48:14 (ASV)

For this God is our God forever and ever—The God who has so made His dwelling in the city, and who has manifested Himself as its protector. It is our comfort to reflect that such a God is our God; that He has manifested Himself as our friend; that we may habitually feel that He is our own. And He is not only our God now, but He will be our God forever and ever. A feeling that the true God is our God—that He is ours and that we are His—always carries with it the idea that this is to be forever; that what is true now in this respect will be true to all eternity.

He is not a God for the present only, but for all time to come; not merely for this world, but for that unending duration which awaits us beyond the tomb.

He will be our guide even to death—The Septuagint and the Vulgate render this, “He will rule or govern ποιμανεῖ poimanei - reget) forever.” The more correct rendering, however, is that in our version, which is a literal translation of the Hebrew. Some have translated it upon death, על־מות, ‛ al - mûth; others, beyond death.

But the true idea is that He will be our guide, or will conduct us throughout life; that He will never forsake us until the end has come; that He will accompany us faithfully to the end. The thought does not, of course, exclude the idea that He will be our guide—our protector, our friend—beyond death; but it is simply that as long as we live on the earth, we may have the assurance that He will lead and guide us.

This He will do on behalf of those who put their trust in Him:

• By the counsels of His word;
• By the influences of His Spirit;
• By His providential interventions;
• By special help in special trials;
• By shedding light upon our path when we are in perplexity and doubt; and
• By support and direction when we tread that dark and, to us, unknown way which leads to the grave.

A person needs nothing more for this life than the confident assurance that they have the Eternal God as their guide, and that they will never be left or forsaken by Him in any possible situation in which they may be placed. If God, by His own hand, will lead me through this world and guide me safely through the dark valley—that valley which lies at the end of every traveler’s path—I have nothing to fear beyond.