June 12

1 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.

2 Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

3 God is known in her palaces for a refuge. 4 For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.

5 They saw it and so they re-culted, they were troubled, and blasphemy.

6. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

7. Thou breakest the ships of Tashah with an east wind.

8. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah

9. We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple

10. According to thy name, O God, so is thy

prince unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.

11. Let Mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments.

12. Walk about Zion, and go round about her, tell the towers thereof

13. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces, that ye may tell, it to the generation following

14. For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.

This Psalm is especially in honor of the Lord and the city dedicated to His worship. How great Jehovah is essentially none can conceive. "There was no room for the whole of God in Paradise, there is no room for Him in His law, no room for Him in the heaven of angels; in the Church only is there room for all His perfections, for a triune Jehovah." Great everywhere, He is peculiarly great here.

He is great there, and should be greatly praised there. "According to His nature should His worship be; it cannot be too constant, too laudatory, too earnest, too reverential, too sublime. There is none like the Lord, and there should be no praises like His praises."—C. H. Spurgeon.

"This God is our God for ever and ever." What a portion, then, is that of the believer! The landlord cannot say of his fields, These are mine for ever and ever. The king cannot say of his crown, This is mine for ever and ever. These possessions shall soon change masters; these possessors shall soon mingle with the dust, and even the graves they shall occupy may not long be theirs; but it is the singular, the supreme happiness of every Christian to say, or to have a right to say, "This glorious God, with all His divine perfections, is my God, for ever and ever, and even death itself shall not separate me from His love."—George Burdur.

Closet Promise.—The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: Thou maintainest my lot.—Psalm xvi. 5.

So He covers all my present and future needs. My "inheritance" relates to the future, "my cup" to my present daily supplies, "my lot" to all conditions of my earthly life. So that my happiness is in Him alone.