May 30

9 Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength falleth

10 For mine enemies speak against me, and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together.

11 Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him

12 O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help.

13 Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul, let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.

14 But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more

15 My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day, for I know not the numbers thereof.

16 I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of those only.

17 O God, thou hast taught me from my youth, and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.

18 Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come

19 Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee!

20 Then, which hast shewed me great and sole troubles, shall quicken me again, and shall bring me up again from the depths of the earth

21 Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.

22 I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.

23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee, and my soul, which thou hast redeemed

24 My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.

This Psalm was specially prized by Robert Blair, one of our godly forefathers. He used to call it "His Psalm."

"It shows us the soul of the aged saint, darkened by the remembrance of his great transgressions, and by the swarms of sorrows with which that sin filled all his later years. But he finds comfort in reverting to the happy days of his childhood, and especially to the irrevocable trust which he was then enabled to repose in God. The thoughts and feelings expressed remind one of those which invest with such a solemn, tender interest the Second Epistle to Timothy, which embalms the dying thoughts of the great apostle. Like Paul, David takes a retrospect of the Lord's dealings with him from the beginning; and, in effect, declares, with the dying apostle, 'I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.' 2 Tim. i. 12. Only, there is this notable difference between the two, that while Paul gathered confirmation of his faith from the experience of a thirty years' walk with his Lord, David's experience stretched over more than twice so many years; for it began with his childhood."—William Binney.

Closet Promise.—This God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death.—Psalm xlviii. 14.

We have often to travel solitary ways. Some of us have a journey all alone, with no fellow-travellers for society or for succor. Some of us have perplexed paths to tread. Some of us have sad memories of times when we journeyed in company with those who will never share our tent or counsel our steps any more, and, as we sit lonely by our watch-fire in the wilderness, have aching hearts and silent nights. Some of us may be as yet rich in companions and helpers, whose words are wisdom, whose wishes are love to us, and may tremble as we think that one day either they or we shall have to tramp on by ourselves. But for us all, cast down and lonely, or still blessed with dear ones, and afraid to live without them, there is a presence which departs never, which will move before us as we journey, and hover over us as a shield when we rest; which will be a cloud to vail the sun that it smote us not by day, and will redden into fire as the night falls, being ever brightest when we need it most, and burning clearest of all in the valley at the end, where its guidance will only cease, because then "the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne will lead them." "This God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even unto death."—Alexander Maclaren, D. D.