This is what the writer of this precious psalm looks for from God (see the first two verses), and this is what the psalm promises, and that with the utmost particularity. There shall not be even a slip of the foot, a thing so common in mountainous lands, and often so perilous, and the keeping shall be night and day alike, and close at hand (ver. 5). The Lord himself shall see to if, whether during the heat of the day or the chill of the night, it matters not. The Lord shall keep thee inwardly and outwardly soul and body alike, from all evil and in all thy ways. "But" - so ask not a few - "is all that true? Are we so kept as this psalm promises - not the mere godless crowd, but the company of God's faithful ones: does the Lord keep them, as is here said, 'from all evil'?" And then there are brought forward the long array of facts which seem to make against the truth of this word. Disease, accident, death, the overwhelming by earthquakes, lightning, flood, storm; by the ferocity or the folly of men, and by any of the ten thousand ills which flesh is heir to. As we contemplate the awful number of victims to such causes as we have named, and the yet worse ruin which comes from moral causes, it is not to be wondered at that some regard this psalm as rather a pious imagination than the declaration of actual fact. What are we to say? Are we to give up our faith in the blessed guardianship of God, and to consign to the category of credulity the trust which this psalm encourages? We will not do that, but we will reply -

I. THE PROMISE IS NOT FOR EVERY COMMUNITY, BUT FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD. The band of pilgrims who set out from Babylon to return to their native land and to re-establish the worship of God were a special and a holy company, and God did keep them as they journeyed on along the weary wilderness-ways. We must come within the circle of the covenanted people of God ere we can lay claim to the fulfillment of a psalm like this. It is not for the godless, but for the regenerated people of God. For them -

II. THE GENERAL RULE OF GOD'S PROVIDENTIAL CARE IS AS HERE SET FORTH. Not the universal, but the general rule. There have been and there are exceptions, but taking the history of God's people in all ages, and looking at their average experience, may we not cry - It is well with the righteous; the Lord is their Keeper? God's people are, after all, the happiest people under the sun.

III. OUR IDEA OF BEING KEPT AND GOD'S IDEA MAY BE VERY DIFFERENT.

1. We think so much of the keeping of the body, and of a man's outward circumstances. But in comparison with the soul's well-being, God counts these things as of no importance. Hence God may preserve a man's soul when he lets his outward affairs go all to ruin; for the sake of his soul this may be needed. But if his soul has been kept, has not God been true to his word?

2. God takes eternity into view; we think only of the present. If, then, a man be eternally saved, does the fact that during a period unspeakably short in comparison with eternity the man's outward life was full of trouble invalidate the promise of this psalm and prove it false?

3. Further, we see only the surface of things; God looks at the reality. If, then, what we call disaster, and think to be so, be really amongst "all things which work together for [not merely precede, but produce the] man's good" as is so often the case (see 2 Corinthians 4:17), then is God's permission or sending of that disaster a falsifying of the promise of this psalm.

IV. THE PROMISE MAY BE TRUE TO THE HEART WHEN ITS FULFILLMENT IS NOT APPARENT TO THE EYE. What is the value of all God's providential mercies, his blessed keeping of us in health and external well-being - what is the value of it except for the effect it has upon our minds? It is the inward happiness and peace and joy which these things impart which gives them their value. Otherwise they are of no good at all, any more than the strains of sweetest music are to the deaf, or the most beautiful scenery to the blind. But if God be able - as he is - to impart that same and even greater inward happiness, peace, and joy by other means, and does so, as, blessed be his Name! he so often does, then again we ask - Has not God been true to his word? is not this psalm actual fact? Therefore we rest assured that the Lord will keep us flora all evil, he will keep our soul. - S.C.

This, indeed, is turning creation to account. It is thought a great thing to have a patron who is distinguished by his rank or his deeds. The man is envied who can look up for help to kings, or princes, or nobles; but the meanest believer may say of the Lord who 'made heaven and earth that He is engaged for his succour and protection. This, we say, is turning creation to account. This is pressing the forests, the mountains and stars into our service; and making them minister to our comfort and assurance. There is not an impress of power on the visible universe but is a message to the Christian, telling him not to be afraid. Every glorious demonstration of Almightiness which is set forth in the processes of nature, or in the revolutions of systems, does but announce to him what a guardian and upholder he has. Yea, and it is not only when God is revealed as a God of providence — a God who is "about our path and about our bed" — that it is comforting and elevating to think of Him as the Lord who "made heaven and earth." I like to remember that it is said of the Redeemer, even of our Lord Jesus Christ — "By Him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible." If He was crucified in weakness, he was nevertheless the Being at whose word arose all the magnificence of the material universe, and the "thrones, dominions, principalities and powers "of the spiritual creation. And, therefore, when it is even the hill of Calvary to which I look up, where there seems presented no spectacle but one of ignominy and death, I can gain confidence from the fact with which the psalmist was encouraged. Yes, blessed Saviour, our help is indeed from Thee! We must lift up our eyes to Thee — to Thee extended on the cross — if we would be enabled to escape Divine wrath, and obtain an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven. But we recognize in Thee more than the persecuted man, borne down by the malice and fury of the powers of darkness; we behold in Thee, even when we see Thee on Calvary, "the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of His person." And the proud and the unbelieving may wonder at, or even ridicule, our expecting assistance from one who died the death of a malefactor; but we bow before Thee on the cross; we look towards Thee on the cross; and owning the ever-living God in the suffering man, we exclaim in holy confidence, our "help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth."

(H. Melvill, B. D.)