'His truth shall be thy shield.' Now, 'truth' here does not mean the
body of revealed words, which are often called God's truth, but it
describes a certain characteristic of the divine nature. And if, instead
of 'truth,' we read the good old English word 'troth,' we should be a
great deal nearer understanding what the Psalmist meant. Or if 'troth'
is archaic, and conveys little meaning to us; suppose we substitute a
somewhat longer word, of the same meaning, and say, 'His faithfulness
shall be thy shield.' You cannot trust a God that has not given you an
inkling of His character or disposition, but if He has spoken, then you
'know where to have him.' That is just what the Psalmist means. How can
a man be encouraged to fly into a refuge, unless he is absolutely sure
that there is an entrance for him into it, and that, entering, he is
safe? And that security is provided in the great thought of God's troth.
'Thy faithfulness is like the great mountains.' 'Who is like unto Thee,
O Lord! or to Thy faithfulness round about Thee?' That faithfulness
shall be our 'shield,' not a tiny targe that a man could bear upon his
left arm; but the word means the large shield, planted in the ground in
front of the soldier, covering him, however hot the fight, and circling
him around, like a wall of iron.
God is 'faithful' to all the obligations under which He has come by
making us. That is what one of the New Testament writers tells us, when
he speaks of Him as 'a faithful Creator.' Then, if He has put desires
into our hearts, be sure that somewhere there is their satisfaction; and
if He has given us needs, be sure that in Him there is the supply; and
if He has lodged in us aspirations which make us restless, be sure that
if we will turn them to Him, they will be satisfied and we shall be at
rest. 'God never sends mouths but He sends meat to fill them.' 'He
remembers our frame,' and measures His dealings accordingly. When He
made me, He bound Himself to make it possible that I should be blessed
for ever; and He has done it.
God is faithful to His word, according to that great saying in the
Epistle to the Hebrews, where the writer tells us that by 'God's
counsel,' and 'God's oath,' 'two immutable things,' we might have
'strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope
set before us.' God is faithful to His own past. The more He has done
the more He will do. 'Thou hast been my Help; leave me not, neither
forsake me.' Therein we present a plea which God Himself will honour.
And He is faithful to His own past in a yet wider sense. For all the
revelations of His love and of His grace in times that are gone, though
they might be miraculous in their form, are permanent in their essence.
So one of the Psalmists, hundreds of years after the time that Israel
was led through the wilderness, sang: 'There did _we_'--of this present
generation--'rejoice in Him.' What has been, is, and will be, for Thou
art 'the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.' We have not a God
that lurks in darkness, but one that has come into the light. We have to
run, not into a Refuge that is built upon a 'perhaps,' but upon 'Verily,
verily! I say unto thee.' Let us build rock upon Rock, and let our faith
correspond to the faithfulness of Him that has promised.