February 28

1 Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.

2 Take a psalm, and bring either the timbrel, the pleasant harm with the psaltery.

3 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.

4 For this was a statue for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.

5 This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.

6 I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots.

7 Thou called in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah Selah.

8 Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;

9 There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shall thou worship any strange god.

10 I saw the LORD thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11 but my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.

12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels.

13 Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!

14 I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.

15 The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever.

16 He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat; and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.

In this Psalm the Lord gently chides his people for their ingratitude, and pictures their happy estate had they but been obedient to his commands.

"The Lord can do great things for an obedient people. When his people walk in the light of his countenance, and maintain unsullied holiness, the joy and consolation which he yields them are beyond conception. To them the joys of heaven have begun even upon earth."—C. H. Spurgeon.

"'Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.' You may easily over-expect the creature, but you cannot over-expect God: 'Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it;' widen and dilate the desires and expectations of your souls, and God is able to fill every chink to the vastest capacity. This honors God, when we greaten our expectation upon him; it is a sanctifying of God in our hearts."—Thomas Case.

"He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat; and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee." God would not have fed them with wheat only, that's good; but with the finest wheat, that's the best. In the margin it reads, "with the fat of wheat." They should have had not only honey, but honey out of the rock, which, as naturalists observe, is the best and purest honey.

"The rock spiritually and mystically designs Christ, the Rock of Salvation, 1 Cor x. 4; the 'honey' out of the rock, the fulness of grace in him, and the blessings of it, the sure mercies of David, and the precious promises of the everlasting covenant, and the gospel, which is sweeter than the honey or the honey-comb; and with these such are filled and satisfied who hearken to Christ and walk in his ways; for, as the whole of what is here said shows what Israel lost by disobedience it clearly suggests what such enjoy who hear and obey."—John Gill.

Closet Promise.—Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.—1 Tim. vi. 17.

To me remains not place nor time; My country is in every clime; I can be calm and free from care On any shore, since God is there.

While place we seek, or place we shun, The soul finds happiness in none; But with a God to guide our way, 'Tis equal joy to go or stay.

Could I be cast where Thou art not, That would indeed be a dreadful lot; But regions none remote I call Secure of finding God in all

My country, Lord, art Thou alone; No other can I claim to own; The point where all my wishes meet, My law my love; life's only sweet. —Madame Guyon