kably
colours that ode, and explains the frequent recurrence in it of the name
of God as "the Rock." We have false gods, too, spoken of in it, as,
"Their rock in whom they took refuge," where the metaphor appears in its
completeness (ver. 37). Our psalm goes on with words which contain a
further allusion to another part of the same venerable hymn, "And in the
shadow of Thy wings will I take refuge," which remind us of the grand
image in it of God's care over Israel, as of the eagle bearing her
eaglets on her mighty pinions (ver. 11), and point onwards to the still
more wonderful saying in which all that was terrible and stern in the
older figure is softened into tenderness, and instead of the fierce
affection of the mother eagle, the hen gathering her chickens under her
wings becomes the type of the brooding love and more than maternal
solicitude of God in Christ. Nor can we forget that the only other
instance of the figure before David's psalms is in the exquisite idyl
which tells of the sweet heroism of David's ancestress, Ruth, on whose
gentle and homeless head was pronounced the benediction, "A full reward
be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come
to trust" (Ruth ii. 12). We may perhaps also see in this clause an
extension of the simile which unquestionably lies in the verb, and may
think of the strong "sides of the cave," arching above the fugitive like
a gigantic pair of wings beneath which he nestles warm and dry, while
the short-lived storm roars among the rocks--a type of that broad pinion
which is his true defence till threatening evils be overpast. In the
past he has sheltered his soul in God, but no past act of faith can
avail for present distresses. It must be perpetually renewed. The past
deliverances should make the present confidence more easy; and the true
use of all earlier exercises of trust is to prepare for the resolve that
we will still rely on the help we have so often proved. "I have trusted
in Thee" should ever be followed by "And in the shadow of Thy wings will
I trust."

The psalmist goes on to fulfil his resolve. He takes refuge by prayer in
God, whose absolute elevation above all creatures and circumstances is
the ground of his hope, whose faithful might will accomplish its design,
and complete His servant's lot. "I will call to God Most High; to God
who perfects (His purpose) for me." And then assured hope gleams upon
his soul, and though the storm-clouds hang