"_But_ THOU _art the same, and Thy years shall have no end._"[86] "Heaven and earth may pass away," but there is no change, and _can_ be none, in an all-perfect God! "The wheel turns round, but the axle is immutable." The clouds which obscure the sun do not descend from heaven--they are exhaled from earth. It is the soul's own darkening vapours, generated by unbelief and sin, which at times taint and obscure the moral atmosphere. Behind every such murky haze He shines brightly as ever. "_Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?_"[87] "Young sailors," says Rutherford, "imagine the shore and land moving, while it is they themselves all the while. So we often think that God is changing, when the change is all with ourselves!" [86] Psalm cii. 27. [87] Isaiah x. 28. 2. _Faith regards this immutable God as a God in covenant._ "MY _Rock_!" Believer! you have the same immovable ground of confidence! Look to YOUR God in Christ, who has made with you "_an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure_!" He, "_willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set_ _before us_."[88] The torch may flicker in your hand, the flame may be the sport of every passing gust of temptation and trial, but He who lighted it will not suffer it to be quenched. "_Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have thee, that he may sift thee as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not._"[89] The Great Adversary may attempt to rob you of your peace, but that peace is imperishably secured. He must first destroy THE ROCK, before he can touch one trembling soul that has fled there for refuge! He must first uncrown Christ, before he can touch one jewel in the purchased diadems of His people! Your life is "hid with Christ in God;" because He lives, "ye shall live also!" God himself must become mutable, and cease _to be God_, ere your eternal safety can be imperilled or impaired. "If we perish," says Luther, "Christ perisheth with us." [88] Heb. vi. 17, 18. [89] Luke xxii. 31. * * * * * Let us turn now to the Psalmist's PRAYER.