"Why do you say, O Jacob, why do you speak, O Israel, 'My way is hidden from the Lord, my cause is overlooked by my God'?" Listen! The Lord cares for all things, and the meanest creatures share in his universal providence, but his particular providence is over his saints.

"The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him." "Precious shall their blood be in his sight." "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." "We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose."

Let this fact cheer and comfort you: while he is the Savior of all men, he is specially the Savior of those who believe. You are his peculiar care; his royal treasure which he guards as the apple of his eye; his vineyard over which he watches day and night. "The very hairs of your head are all numbered."

Let the thought of his special love to you be a spiritual painkiller, a blessed quietus to your woe: "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." God says that as much to you as to any saint of old. "Fear not, I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward."

We lose much consolation by the habit of reading his promises for the whole church, instead of taking them directly home to ourselves. Believer, grasp the divine word with a personal, appropriating faith. Think that you hear Jesus say, "I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail." Think you see him walking on the waters of your trouble, for he is there, and he is saying, "Fear not, it is I; be not afraid."

Oh, those sweet words of Christ! May the Holy Spirit make you feel them as spoken to you; forget others for a while—accept the voice of Jesus as addressed to you, and say, "Jesus whispers consolation; I cannot refuse it; I will sit under his shadow with great delight."