November 30

1 I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.

2 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shall thou establish in the very heavens.

3 I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant.

4 Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.

5 And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.

6 For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?

7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all those that are about him.

8 O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee?

9 Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou sullest them.

10 Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one

that is slant: thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.

11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.

12 The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.

13 Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.

14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.

15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.

16 In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.

17 For thou art the glory of thee: strength: and in thy favour our born shall be exalted.

18 For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.

19 Then thou spakeest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is nightly; I have exalted one chosen out of the people

20 I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:

21 With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.

22 The enemy shall not exact upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

23 And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.

24 But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him; and in my name shall his horn be exalted

25 I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the river.

26 He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation

27 Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.

28 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.

29 His seed also will I make to enquire for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven

30 If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;

31 If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;

32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.

33 Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.

34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

35 Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.

36 His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.

37 It shall be established for ever as the

moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

38 But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wrath with thine anointed

39 Thou hast made read the covenant of thy servant: thou hast produced his crown by casting it to the ground.

40 Thou hast broken down all his hedges: thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin

41 All that pass by the way spoil him, he is a reproach to his neighbours.

42 Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.

43 Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle.

44 Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground.

45 The days of his youth hast thou shortened: thou hast covered him with shame. Selah.

46 How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?

47 Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?

48 What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.

49 Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?

50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people;

51 Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.

52 Blessed be the LORD for evermore. Amen, and Amen.

This majestic Covenant Psalm "is the utterance of a believer, in presence of great national disaster, pleading with his God, urging the grand argument of covenant engagements, and expecting deliverance and help, because of the faithfulness of Jehovah."—C. H. Spurgeon.

"The psalmist has a very sad complaint to make of the deplorable condition of the family of David at this time, and yet he begins the psalm with songs of praise; for we must in every thing, in every state, give thanks. We think when we are in trouble we get ease by complaining, but we do more, we get joy by praising. Let our complaints therefore be turned into thanksgiving; and in these verses we find that which will be in matter of praise and thanksgiving for us in the worst times, whether upon a personal or public account."—Matthew Henry.

Note the psalmist here speaks of faithfulness, which is the mercy of God's mercies—the brightest jewel in the crown of goodness. "In times of trouble it is the divine faithfulness which the soul hangs upon; this is the bower anchor of the soul, its holdfast and its stay."

Closet Promise.—"The Lord is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge."—Psalm xciv. 22.

The simple fact is, that in all the engagements God makes, He puts His own truth at stake. Hence, when we lay hold of a text of Scripture, it is all that a maxim of Plato or Confucius would be, and, in addition, it is God Himself. There was no irreverence—nothing, indeed, but clearest intelligence and firmest faith—in the reply made by a harassed believer to the ribald skeptic, who told her that God's covenant might fail at the last, for she had no hold upon Him. "Ah, no fear of that," she answered; "He has more to lose in it than I have."