After the previous psalm prophesied about the church’s being composed from godless nations and becoming a queen, and showed her sons to be made princes of the whole earth, here it gives a glimpse of the disturbances that occurred in the beginning of the preaching, with uprisings developing and opposing the believers. Then it foreshadows in word how the ranks of the persecuted would be protected by hope in God and scorn the waves crashing around them: with the God of all as strong rampart, he is saying, we shall not notice the tribulations of all kinds.

Do not flee what you do not need to flee, and do not have recourse to him to whom it is unnecessary. But one thing you must flee: sin; and one refuge from evil must be sought: God. Do not trust in princes; do not be exalted in the uncertainty of wealth; do not be proud of bodily strength; do not pursue the splendor of human glory. None of these things saves you; all are transient, all are deceptive. There is one refuge, God. . . . God is the true aid for the righteous. Just as a certain general, equipped with a noble, heavy-armed force, is always ready to give help to an oppressed district, so God is our helper and an ally to everyone who is waging war against the wiliness of the devil, and he sends out ministering spirits for the safety of those who are in need.

He does not prevent tribulations coming, but he is at hand when they come, making us tried and tested . . . providing greater encouragement from the assistance than the pain from the tribulations. The assistance he provides us with, you see, is not simply as much as the nature of the troubles requires but much more.

Some refuges are anything but strong, so that anyone who flees to them is weakened rather than securely established. . . . But our refuge is quite different; our refuge is strength. When we flee to it, we shall be secure and unshakable.

There are many kinds of tribulation, and in all of them we must seek refuge in God, whether the trouble concerns our income, our bodily health, some danger threatening those we love or something we need to support our life. Whatever it is, there should be no refuge for a Christian other than our Savior. He is God, and when we flee to him, we are strong. No Christian will be strong in himself or herself; but God, who has become our refuge, will supply the strength.

When in tears and tribulation you pour out a prayer to God, be secure, for God becomes a refuge to you and becomes your strength.

Christ dwells in the heart of each one of us through our faith. . . . If we forget our faith, our heart is like a boat battered and tossed about in this stormy world, because Christ seems to be asleep. But when he awakes, there is calm.

Everything he shakes, he rocks, he moves when he wishes, so easy and trouble-free is everything for him. . . . So great is his power, you see, that he simply nods and all this happens. So how can we be afraid when we have such a Lord?

As a river divided into countless tributaries waters the surrounding land, so God’s providence flows everywhere, spreading copiously, advancing in a rush and covering everything.

Mountains quiver, the sea rages, but God stays faithful to his city by means of this impetuous river. What is it, and what are its impulses? They are the inundation of the Spirit. . . . When Jesus had been glorified after his resurrection and ascension, the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost and filled the believers. They spoke in tongues and began to preach the good news to the Gentiles. At this the city of God was overjoyed, though the sea was heaving with its noisy waves and the mountains were quaking and asking themselves what they should do, and how they could get rid of this new teaching and how they might uproot the Christian race from the earth. But against whom was all this agitation directed? Against the irresistible impulses of the river that were giving joy to God’s city.

Some give the definition that a city is an established community, administered according to law. And the definition that has been handed down of the city is in harmony with the celestial city, Jerusalem above. For there it is a community of the first-born who have been enrolled in heaven,^[1] and this is established because of the unchanging manner of life of the saints, and it is administered according to the heavenly law. Therefore, it is not the privilege of human nature to learn the arrangement of that city and all its adornment. Those are the things eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the human heart, what things God has prepared for those who love him,^[2] but there are myriads of angels there, and an assembly of saints and a church of the firstborn that are enrolled in heaven. Concerning that David said, Glorious things are said of you, O city of God.^[3] To that city through Isaiah God has promised, I will make you to be an everlasting glory, a joy unto generation and generation, and there shall not be wasting nor destruction in your borders, and salvation shall possess your walls.^[4] Therefore, having raised the eyes of your soul, seek, in a manner worthy of things above, what pertains to the city of God.

The city of God, or the church, is the reasonable spirit. The flowing of the river is the gifts of the Spirit.

He gave the name river here to the preaching of the gospel and city to the way of life of God-fearing people, watered by the streams of the river to the point of fruitfulness.

He was not in one part of the city and cut off from another but in its midst, surrounding it all, protecting it all equally from the foe.

He who is in fact so exalted, uncircumscribed by place, the ineffable being, deigned to call our city his dwelling and sustains it from every quarter. This, you see, is the meaning of in her midst, as elsewhere also he says, Behold, I am with you.^[1] He supports it on all sides; thus not only will the city come to no harm, but it will not even be shaken. The reason is that it enjoys the most prompt assistance, which is ever ready and prepared; this, you see, is the meaning of as day dawns, not pending or delayed but ever fresh and abounding, and at the appropriate time.

The Hebrew says God will help the city at early dawn, that is, when the shadows of sinners pass across the flowings of the river, God, who is light, gives the beginning of light to its heart, and he helps the spirit that says, Lord, be our strength, our helper, God of Jacob.

Since God is in the midst of the city, he will give it stability, providing assistance for it at the first break of dawn . . . sending out equal rays of his providence from all sides to the limits of the world. Preserving the justice of God, he apportions the same measure of goodness to all. . . . Now, the perceptible sun produces among us the early morning when it rises above the horizon opposite us, and the Sun of justice^[1] produces the early morning in our soul by the rising of the spiritual light, making day in him who admits it. At night means we are in this time of ignorance. Therefore, having opened wide our mind, let us receive the brightness of his glory, and let us be brightly illumined by the everlasting Light, God will help it in the morning early. . . . For those on whom the spiritual light will rise, when the darkness that comes from ignorance and wickedness is destroyed, early morning will be at hand. Since, then, light has come into the world in order that he who walks about in it may not stumble, his help is able to cause the early morning . . . who on the third day, early on the morning of the resurrection, gained the victory through death.

By his resurrection at dawn, the Lord confers on us wonderful and heavenly helps. His resurrection dispelled the night and poured on us the light of day. As Scripture says, Rise, O sleeper; arise from the dead, and Christ shall enlighten you.^[1] Consider here a mystery. Christ suffered in the evening, and according to the Old Law, the lamb is slain at evening.^[2] . . . In the evening of this world, when the light is failing, he is killed.^[3] All this world would have been shrouded by even greater and more horrid darkness only that Christ came to us from heaven. He, the eternal light, came to us from heaven to restore to the human race the age of innocence. The Lord Jesus suffered, and by his blood forgave us our sins. The light of a pure conscience shone out and a day of spiritual grace dawned with splendor.

Sin is a heavy kingdom, and it subjects to a heavy servitude the souls of all sinners. Whoever commits sin is the slave of sin.^[1] The kingdom of sin is the kingdom of death, and for a long time it held sway over all the earth. . . . The truth came, the figure ceased. Life came, the kingdom of death vanished. Forgiveness of sin came, and the chains of sin were undone. . . . The cult of idols and the enticement of sin began to diminish with the preaching and doctrine of the gospel. Perfidy bowed its head, and faith began to reign in the hearts of the nations.

Not on any human whatsoever, not on any potentate, not even on any angel, not on any creature earthly or heavenly do we rely. But the Lord of hosts is with us; our supporter is the God of Jacob. He sent angels to us, and after the angels came himself; he came to receive service from the angels and to make us mortals the angels’ equals. This was tremendous grace. If God is for us, who stands against us? . . . Let us be secure, then, and in tranquility of heart nourish a good conscience on the bread of the Lord.

Our protector, he says, is not another God besides him who was handed down by the prophets. But [he is] the God of Jacob, who spoke in an oracle to his servant, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.^[1]

Just as . . . great distances make the perception of visible objects dim, but a nearer approach offers a clear knowledge of the objects seen, so also in the case of objects of contemplation in the mind, he who has not drawn near to God is not able to see his works with the pure eyes of his mind. Therefore, Come, first approach, then see the works of the Lord, which are prodigious and admirable. . . . He who has heard the call and has approached and cleaves to the One commanding will see him who through the cross made all things peaceful whether on the earth or in the heavens.^[1]

Since the weak prevailed over the strong, the few over the many, the powerless over the powerful, and the outcome defied expectations, rightly does he call them marvels for happening to everyone’s surprise and being spread everywhere on earth.

He it is who routs all the enemy when he wishes and brings peace to the earth to the degree he wants. . . . He is the God who does away with the enemy with their own weapons when he wishes.

In this place the writer understands the worst habits and wicked thoughts in the words of bow, weapons and bucklers.

When anyone realizes that we are nothing in ourselves and cannot look to ourselves for any help at all, that person’s weapons have all been broken, and the wars that raged within him or her are quelled. . . . If God takes up our cause, will he abandon us in our unarmed condition? By no means. He equips us, but with weapons of a different order, the evangelical weapons of truth, self-control, salvation, hope, faith and charity. We shall wield these weapons, but they will not come from ourselves. The arms we did have as from ourselves will have been burned, provided that we are enkindled by that fire of the Holy Spirit of which the psalm declares, The shields he will burn with fire. You aspired to be powerful in yourself, but God has made you weak in order to make you strong with his strength, for your own was nothing but weakness.

See, you are not God, but I am. I created you, and I recreate you; I formed you, and I form you anew; I made you, and I remake you. If you had no power to make yourself, how do you propose to remake yourself?

It is not possible to know him if one has not become still and purified one’s mind.

When the labors and hardships of this age come to an end, and our debts, [that is] all our faults, have been forgiven, the entire people of the elect will rejoice eternally in the sole contemplation of the divine vision, and that most longed-for command of our Lord and Savior will be fulfilled: Be still and see that I am God.

This, then, is God, everywhere mighty, everywhere exalted; this is God who takes his place with us always. Have no fear, then, be not disturbed, having an invincible Master as we do, to whom all honor and glory is fitting, together with the peerless Father and his vivifying Spirit, now and forever, and for ages of ages.

But now that he is so glorified, will he abandon the Jewish people? Of that race the apostle said, This I must say to you, to save you from conceit about your wisdom, that blindness has fallen on part of Israel, until the full tally of the Gentiles comes in.^[1] Until, that is, the mountains have passed over to us, and the clouds have sent rain here, and the Lord has humbled our kingdoms by his thunder—until the full tally of the Gentles comes in. And then what? So that all Israel may be saved.^[2] This is why the psalm in its last verse preserves the same order: I will be exalted among the Gentiles, it says, and exalted on earth. In the sea, and then on the land. Thus may all of us together sing the refrain, The Lord of hosts is with us; our supporter is the God of Jacob.