February 11

He knoweth them that trust in him. - Nahum 1:7.

DOES he not know those who do not trust in him? Yes, he does. “His eyes are upon the ways of man, and he pondereth all his goings.” This knowledge, therefore, may at first view seem to be no privilege. But it is a privilege, and it affords no common satisfaction to the mind of the Christian to reflect, that under all the misconceptions of friends, and the reproaches of enemies, “he knoweth them that are his.” Yes, “he knoweth our frames, and remembereth that we are but dust;” “he knows our souls in adversity;” and he knows all our walkings through the wilderness, all the moral maladies of the mind, and what remedies to apply; he knows where and when to afflict, and how to deliver, and so as to make “all things work together for our good.” Is not this a privilege-a source of satisfaction which lays the foundation for his universal providence? As the prophet says, “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.”

Knowledge here does not intend mere perception and intelligence, but approbation, complacency, and acknowledgment; therefore it is said, “If a man love God, the same is known of him;” that is, he is approved of and delighted in: the meaning therefore is, that Christians are “accepted in the Beloved;” that God is “well pleased with them for his righteousness’ sake,” that he “takes pleasure in them that fear him, in them that hope in his mercy;” that their alms are the odor of a sweet smell; that their services are Spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ; and that God stands in an attitude of the most perfect friendship toward them and says of them, as he did of Abraham, “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee.”

What then remains, but that we say with the Church, “Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation-my God will hear me.”