February 19

1 Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust 2 O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord my goodness extendeth not to thee; 3 But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight. 4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied, that hasten after another god the drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. 5 The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my captivity, maintained my lot. 6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

7 I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel, my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. 8 I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; my flesh also shall rest in hope. 10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life, in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Ainsworth calls this Psalm "David's jewel, or notable song." We are not left to human interpreters for the key to this golden mystery, for, speaking by the Holy Ghost, Peter tells us, "David speaketh concerning Him" (Acts ii. 25); and again (Acts ii. 29-31); also Paul, (Acts xiii. 35-38). The Psalm pertains to Christ, who speaks in it

"For in thee do I put my trust," or, I have taken shelter in thee. "As chickens run beneath the hen, so do I betake myself to thee. Thou art my great overshadowing Protector, and I have taken refuge beneath thy strength. This is a potent argument in pleading, and our Lord knew not

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only how to use it with God, but how to yield to its power when wielded by others upon himself. . . . Faith, like the sword of Saul, never returns empty; it overcomes heaven when held in the hand of prayer. As the Saviour prayed, so let us pray, and as he became more than a conqueror, so shall we also through him; let us when buffeted by storms right bravely cry to the Lord as he did, 'In thee do I put my trust.'—C. H. Spurgeon.

Closet Promise.—And a man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.—Isa. xxxii. 2.

"The promise that Christ will be as the 'shadow of a great rock in a weary land' is to me one of great sweetness and consolation. That life has its wearisome windings through disappointments and sorrow cannot be denied. Our souls grow sick and faint in the struggles we pass through. One thing after another fails us. Our loves, our friendships, our trusts, are often misplaced, and our human calculations fail us, and we feel ourselves driven mercilessly onward, finding no resting-place until we come to the 'shadow of a great rock.'

"Thanks to the immutability of God, that Rock stands a ready covert, when time and change have done their worst to drive us to despair!"—Lydia L. Rouse.