“The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?”[264] The same trust is breathed in the words written when, a dethroned and crownless king, David fled from Jerusalem at the rebellion of Absalom. Spent with grief and the weariness of his flight, he with his company had tarried beside the Jordan for a few hours’ rest. He was awakened by the summons to immediate flight. In the darkness, the passage of the deep and swift-flowing stream must be made by that whole company of men, women, and little children; for hard after them were the forces of the traitor-son. In that hour of darkest trial, David sang:— [Sidenote: _Songs in the Night_] “I cried unto the Lord with my voice, And He heard me out of His holy hill. “I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, That have set themselves against me round about.”[265] After his great sin, in the anguish of remorse and self-abhorrence he still turned to God as his best friend: “Have mercy upon me, according to Thy loving-kindness; According unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.... Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”[266] [Sidenote: _Yearnings for Home_] In his long life, David found on earth no resting-place. “We are strangers before Thee, and sojourners,” he said, “as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding.”[267] “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.” “There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, at the dawn of morning.... The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.” “This God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even unto death.”[268] With a song, Jesus in His earthly life met temptation. Often when sharp, stinging words were spoken, often when the atmosphere about Him was heavy with gloom, with dissatisfaction, distrust, or oppressive fear, was heard His song of faith and holy cheer. [Sidenote: _The Saviour’s Song_] On that last sad night of the Passover supper, as He was about to go forth to betrayal and to death, His voice was lifted in the psalm:— “Blessed be the name of the Lord From this time forth and forevermore. From the rising of the sun until the going down of the same The Lord’s name is to be praised.”