(Nahum 1. 7.)

These precious words stand out like a glittering gem from the surrounding darkness of threatened judgment upon the enemies of God. ."Who can stand before His indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of His anger ?His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him. But with an overrunning flood He will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue His enemies."

The prophets are largely occupied with the denunciation of sin and warning as to approaching judgment. The general impression that one would gain from a mere casual perusal would be that they are unutterably sad and depressing; but this is far from being the case, except that we are constrained to recognize the necessity for so much witnessing against evil in a world where sin has full sway, and where even the professed people of God have turned away from Him to idols. The very existence of prophecy is a recognition of the presence of evil. The prophetic office only came into use after Israel's declension and failure. But let one bow his heart to the holy action of the prophetic word, let him acknowledge the sin pointed out by the finger of divine holiness and turn to the One who smites, and he will find healing close at hand.

Thus, scattered thickly throughout the pages of the Prophets, are many precious gems of promise and comfort for those who own the righteousness of God's judgment. It is only upon His enemies that He will pour out wrath, and He ever delights in mercy. It seems, too, that the value of these precious promises and words of comfort is enhanced by the dark background of their setting, just as the delicate snow-drop is all the more appreciated that is gathered close to the edge of some fearful precipice, near by a roaring cataract.

Let us, then, take all the comfort that we need from this precious verse. "The Lord is good." Oh, how well we know it! How He has shown His goodness, not merely in His acts of kindness and mercy to us, in common with all His creatures, nor even in His special mercies shown to us since we have known in His name all that is included under that blessed thought of a Father's care; but oh, how His goodness shines out in the gift of His goodness, the Son of His bosom, and all the work of redemption accomplished by Him! And this links directly with the next clause. "He is a stronghold in the day of trouble," a safe retreat from wrath, nay, even from His own judgment against sin; He has provided the shelter from that-a stronghold where naught can enter to disturb the feeblest of His people, who, like the conies dwelling in the rock, are safe hidden in this stronghold, Christ Himself. But this is a stronghold not merely for us in view of our final salvation, but in the day of trouble, whenever trouble comes, and or whatever character. We are too prone to confine our blessings to the spiritual sphere, and to exclude God from His own world. While it is true that so long as we live we are exposed to the trials which are the common lot of man, yet it is equally true that in the time of trouble we have what the world has not, a stronghold, a place of shelter.

This brings us to the clause which is more particularly before us, "He knoweth them that trust in Him." In the Old Testament especially, the word "knoweth " means far more than mere recognition or acquaintance. It is a great comfort indeed to realize even this, that God recognizes us, that He is acquainted with those who trust in Him. But " the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous." It is not merely He recognizes or is acquainted with it, but He knows it with approval. He takes delight in it, and so here he approves and marks as His own beloved people those who trust in Him. He finds delight and satisfaction in them. Is the reader of these lines one who trusts in the Lord, who knows Him first of all as a Saviour-God and place of refuge, and who, then, in the daily difficulties of life has learned to confide in Him ? Then let such an one be assured that the eye of the Lord is upon him and His delight is in him.

We may think with comfort of this as we realize how small and insignificant we are in the vast world of which we form an infinitesimal part. Think of all the millions of human, beings upon this earth, each one going his own way, each one engaged in his own business; most, alas, perfectly satisfied to get on without God. His providential care and general goodness are over all His works. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without His knowledge; but in an especial way, amidst all the teeming crowds of earth, His eye is upon those who trust in Him.

They may be feeble and despised in the eye of man; they may be of but little value or importance, and were they to drop out of the world would not even be missed, and yet the Lord knoweth those that trust in Him. As He sees man going on in his pride and self-sufficiency, piling up the dust of this world's wealth and seeking to get greater and greater power over his fellows, building himself, perhaps, some Babel tower of a great name here, the Lord passes all that by, to the humble home, it may be the sick bed; the tired, weary mother's care; the feeble, trembling hand of old age. Is there a heart that trusts in Him ? He knows it. " He knoweth them that trust in Him," His eye rests upon them with approval and delight, and they shall never be confounded. "As unknown and yet well known." How good it is to remember this! The poor woman who came in the crowd that clustered about the Lord Jesus thought she was alone with her misery, into which no eye had looked. She reaches out the trembling hand of faith and touches the border of His garment. At once the Lord asks:"Who is it that hath touched Me ?" There can be no faith that He does not recognize at once, and she not only has the blessing of healing which her faith craved, but the sweeter blessing of His own word and approval:"Daughter, thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." What a blessed recompense for walking on the shadow side of life-the Lord knoweth us!

And so, when we think even of the company of His people,-thank God, a goodly number, through His grace, who have been brought out of the world, out of nature's darkness into His marvelous light,- here, too, the life of faith is as distinct before the eye of God as though each one of us were alone. The Lord does not look upon His people as a mass, but singles out each one, marking the peculiarities, the special difficulties and needs of each, and the faith of each individual. And so, if our fellow-Christians look upon us with suspicion, if the lowly path of separation which we have been constrained by the love of Christ to take, is one despised by many who have not listened to His voice and are content to go on with much that is grieving to Him, what a comfort it is to remember that "the Lord knoweth them that trust in Him "!

A Peter, leaving the ship with its comfortable support, walking upon the disastrous waves, yea, beginning to sink, may be the object of scorn and derision to those in the ship, but not to His Lord, whose strong arm sustains him, and who recognizes the reality of the feeble faith that would come out to Him, a faith which, while He rebukes, He strengthens and rewards. And so, are we called to tread a lonely path ?-do we find but little comfort of fellowship in the place where God has put us?-do many, even of His own, hold aloof from us or treat us with cold neglect ?-let this sweet and precious word come home to us, with all its consolation, "He knoweth them that trust in Him."

Blessed Lord, if Thine eye be upon us, if Thine eye find delight in the feeble faith that tremblingly walks in Thy path, blessed be the trial and the difficulty, yea, and the reproach, that shut us up more and more to Thine own sufficiency and to Thy love!

Sometimes, too, the clouds gather thick about one; the way seems so dark that he knows not more than one step ahead of him. He is so overwhelmed that he loses the sense of peace and joy that should ever fill the heart. But in the midst of all the trial he can say, with Job:"Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." He can say, with that father who brought not merely his demoniac child, but the unbelief of his own heart to the Almighty Lord, and said,"Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief." Sometimes our faith may be so sorely tried that we lose sight of it ourselves. We are conscious only of the intensity of the trial. Prayer has ceased to be articulate, and is only "groanings which cannot be uttered;" but "He that searcheth the heart knoweth the mind of the Spirit." He recognizes the reality of the faith which, feeble though it be, rests upon Christ alone. That faith can never fail. " He knoweth them that trust in Him."

Sometimes God's eye alone can detect faith. We look in vain in the Old Testament for evidences of faith on the part of Sarah. We see the laughter of unbelief and the falsehood of weakness that would shrink into itself; and yet, when the Spirit of God records it all, we find there was this precious jewel of faith hidden in her heart. (See Heb. 11:)

Poor Lot seemed to have sacrificed everything in Sodom, and even when dragged out by angelic power seemed utterly bereft of any confidence in God-a shameful contrast to Abraham, the typical man of faith, living in spiritual independence, above all the trials and temptations of the way,-and yet in Lot God recognized that spark of faith, and, according to His own sure word, "A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench," so He has recorded for us this faith in Lot. "He knoweth them that trust in Him."

We would not for a moment give encouragement to persons to continue in that which dishonors God, nor would we set a premium upon the weakness of faith. Surely we know that our God longs to write of each of us, as He did of the Thessalonians, "Your faith groweth exceedingly." Faith is nourished by that upon which it feeds, but there are times in the life of the tried when it will give comfort to remember that even when we have lost sight of our own faith, if we still cling to God He recognizes it. And so, returning for a moment, our faith is not recognized by the world,-"Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not; " it may not be recognized even by our fellow-Christians, and the stress may be so great that we ourselves lose the consciousness of it; but God's eye is upon us:"He knoweth them that trust in Him."