Zion is bidden to climb the highest mountain within reach, and announce the advent of the Saviour-God. When all eyes are turned to behold him, expecting a mighty hero, lo, a shepherd conducts his flock across the waste lands, gathering the weakly lambs to his bosom and gently leading the ewes with their young. Do not be afraid of God; he has a shepherd’s heart. Words can never tell out all his tenderness; his pitying, understanding love.

We are next conducted to the Great Sea, v.12. Remember, says the prophet, that God’s hands are so strong that the ocean lies in them as a drop of water in man’s. He can place mountains in the scales he holds. So great is he that if all Lebanon’s forests were laid as wood on his altar, and all its beasts were consumed as burnt sacrifices, it would not be sufficient to set forth

his praise. And this God is our God forever and ever. The Creator of the ends of the earth is our Father.