\u201cHow precious also are Your thoughts unto me, O God!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThough the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor My covenant of peace be removed,\u201d says the Lord, who has compassion on you. <\/em>Isaiah 54:10<\/a> The\u00a0mountains<\/em> are the most stable objects in the material world\u2014nature\u2019s noblest emblem of immutability. But these have \u201cchange\u201d written upon their stupendous brows. Time is furrowing them with wrinkles\u2014wearing down their colossal forms. Atmospheric influences are subjecting them to continual waste and decay. The hoary-crowned Alp is included in the doom, \u201cAll these things shall be dissolved.\u201d But, more enduring than mountains of primeval granite is God\u2019s kindness. Whatever is dearest to us may change\u2014and sooner or later must perish. The\u00a0gourd<\/em> we have lovingly nurtured and tended may wither, like Jonah\u2019s, just when most needed. The\u00a0gold<\/em> we have taken a life-time to amass, may be forfeited by one adverse turn of capricious fortune. The\u00a0brook<\/em> which for long years has sung its joyful way at our side, may be dried in its channel. The \u201cstaff and beautiful rod\u201d which blossomed in our household may be broken, and strewed in withered leaves at our feet. The\u00a0cistern<\/em>\u2014hewn with such pains\u2014may be fractured by a stroke of the chisel while hewing it, and lie scattered on the ground in fragments of shapeless ruin.\u00a0 But God\u2019s love is immutable and immovable! Mark the succession of golden links\u2014\u201dprecious thoughts,\u201d in our motto-verse. He speaks of the \u201ccovenant,\u201d\u2014\u201dthe covenant of peace,\u201d\u2014of \u201cMy peace\u201d\u2014a covenant not to be \u201cremoved.\u201d These are glorious guarantees. Mountains, rocks, forests, all may decay and will decay; but \u201cthe Lord lives\u201d\u2014\u201dHis years shall have no end;\u201d\u2014\u201dThe mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, upon those who fear him.\u201d\u00a0 Nothing can assail the believer\u2019s safety or undermine his security. The oriental shepherds were used to girdle their flocks and folds with a belt of fire, to scare away the devouring wolves. \u2018I,\u2019 says God to His Zion, and to each child of Zion, \u2018I will be that fiery defense. This covenant of My peace will be as a wall of flame\u2014once within My fold you are safe forever. My sheep\u00a0shall<\/em> never\u2014can<\/em> never, perish.\u2019 \u201cOur cause,\u201d says Luther, \u201cis in the very hands of Him who can say with unimpeachable dignity, \u2018No one shall pluck it out of My hands.\u2019 I would not have it in our hands, and it would not be desirable that it were so. I have had many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have been able to place in God\u2019s hands, I still possess.\u201d \u201cAs soon might Satan,\u201d says Charnock, \u201cpull God out of heaven, undermine the security of Christ, and tear Him from the bosom of the Father, as deprive His people of their spiritual life.\u201d Believer, rejoice in this faithful, covenant-keeping God. Anchor your soul on this Rock of the Divine veracity. The great adversary may try at times to impair your confidence\u2014shake your trust\u2014lead you to question your personal interest in the great salvation. But what are his negatives, to one affirmative of that God who cannot lie? His covenant of peace has something better than your own ever-fluctuating frames and feelings to rest upon. It is ratified by His own oath and promise. \u201cThe counsel of the Lord stands forever; the thoughts of His heart to all generations. \u201cJust as the mountains surround and protect Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds and protects His people, both now and forever.<\/em><\/strong> Psalm 125:2<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cHow precious also are Your thoughts unto me, O God!\u201d \u201cThough the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor My covenant of peace be removed,\u201d says the Lord, who has compassion on you. Isaiah 54:10 The\u00a0mountains are the most stable objects in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-john-macduff","category-the-eternal-covenant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":740,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739\/revisions\/740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}