Safety

The safety of God’s people does not depend on their number, wit, prowess, or inherent strength, but on him, who has made them his hidden ones. He that touches them touches the apple of his eye, Zechariah 2:8. In the time of trouble he shall hide them in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide them, Psalm 27:5. They are in no sense hidden from the notice or care of God, Isaiah 40:27; Psalm 38:9; Hosea 5:3; 2 Timothy 2:19. Nor is their course clandestine or cunning. Their very candour makes them suspected. Though they are not ostentatious, they are not deceitful. Nor do they make a secret of their love to Christ. Nor do they try to hide their sins from the eyes of God, but freely confess and bewail them. They have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty and do not walk in craftiness. Nor do they pass through life without a mark upon them. The world fixes its stigma; and God puts his name in their foreheads. They are the light of the world. And yet they are God’s hidden ones. They are hid in God. The being, the providence, every perfection of God and every part of his Word are chambers where the humble find refuge. See Psalm 32:7; 84:11; Proverbs 18:10. They are God’s hidden ones, because they are secretly nourished, having meat to eat which the world knows not of. Nor is their true character known, 1 John 3:1. Nor does any roll of church-membership on earth contain a correct list of their names. They are often hidden under the calumnies, suspicions and outcries of the wicked. Their best acts are misjudged, and their best qualities misnamed. And they are all hid in Christ, Colossians 3:3, 4. They are all hidden under the shadow of Jehovah’s wings. Though unknown, they are yet well-known, where it is of most importance to be known.

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