precise view the Psalmist speaks of God; " Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort''."]
2. Necessary provision —
[Every man, whatever be his situation in life, expects to find in his own house the things suited to his necessities. He does not seek his meals at the houses of his neighbours, but in his own ; and he returns home at stated seasons to partake of them. And whither does the Believer go for daily supplies of bread for his soul ? It is in Christ Jesus that his fulness is trea- sured up, and in him the Believer expects to find the "grace that is sufficient for him." God invites him to come to him for the express purpose, that he may be filled and satisfied with good things : " Wherefore do ye spend your money for that which is not bread ? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness*^."]
3. Sure protection —
[If storms descend, or dangers menace, we take refuge in our house, and find it a place of safety. Thus " the name of God also is a strong tower, to which the righteous runneth and is safe**." It is to himself that God invites us, when he says, " Come my people, enter thou into thy chambers, shut the door about thee, and hide thyself for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast®." And that this was a primary idea in the mind of the Psalmist, appears from the very words of the text, wherein he calls God " his Refuge," and from the whole scope of the psalm, from the beginning to the end. With this also agrees the beautiful description given of Jesus by the Pro- phet, as " an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest ^"J
4. Sweet repose —
[To his house a man retires from the noise and bustle of the world ; and there he lays himself down to rest after the fa- tigues of the day. Home, though inferior in many respects to places of temporary residence, is to almost all persons the most agreeable, because there they are most at ease. And such is God to the Believer. " In every place, God is to him as a little sanctuary s," where he finds himself at rest. He carries his wants to God, and " casts all his care on him," and enjoys peace which passeth all understanding. In this sense he says for his own encouragement, " Return unto thy Rest, O my soul ;" and attests for the glory of his God, " Lord thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations'*."]
In connexion with this experience of the Believer, let us consider,
II. His
•• Ps. !xxi. 3. ' I-,ai. Iv. 2. ^ Prov. xviii. 10. * Isai xxvi. 20.
^ Wd\.x\x\\.2. ^Ezek.xi. 16, *■ Ps. xc. 1.
'11. His privilege—
The expression in the text seems to exceed the bounds of truth: but the more it is examined, the more will it be found to be strictly true. The man wlio makes God his habitation shall have no evil "befall him:
1. None here —
[No casual evil shall befall him. There is no such thing as chance : every thing, even to the falling of a sparrow, is ordered ,^f the Lord. As for the children of God, "their heavenly "Father hath given his angels charge over them, to keep them in iall their ways';" and if any thing were to happen to them, they '(the angels) would contract a fearful responsibility for their neglect. We must not however imagine that Believers are at liberty to rush into needless dangers; for our Lord, when tempted by Satan to cast himself from a pinnacle of the Temple in expecta- tion that the angels would preserve him from injury, replied, " Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God:" but nothing can happen to them except by the Divine appointment : they are hid in the shadow of their Father's hand, and " their very hairs are all numbered."