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The inhabitant of Lebanon, that maketh his nest in the cedars, is an illustration of all those who, in the pride and security of the present, are blind to the uncertainties of the future.

I. WHY IS IT THAT GOD'S MESSAGE TAKES SUCH LITTLE HOLD OF THE HEART? He pours out all His love in pleading with men. "Seek ye My face." Has the answer gone up from your heart, "Thy face, Lord, will I seek"? If not, why not? Are you making a nest for yourself among the cedars? dreaming yourself to be secure, and, like the false Church in the Apocalypse, saying to yourself, "I shall see no sorrow"? What is the ground of your security? Has the hand of diligence surrounded you with comforts? The cheerful home, the well-spread table, the smiling faces of children, — are these your portion? Oh, how often are these things as the nest in the cedars! Or the nest may be of another kind — framed out of self-righteousness and moral excellence. In short, whatever it be which holds back the heart from Christ, and prompts the vain hope that all will be well at last, though there be no conscious faith, nor any evidence of a converted heart, that is your nest among the cedars. Though now heedless to the call of God, the storm must ere long burst on the cedar, and rive it to its roots, laying in the dust the nest that seemed so safe in its towering branches. Disappointment, loss, disaster, trial, death, the judgment, — what are these in their turn but just the lightning flash which strips the cedar of its foliage, and leaves the nest exposed to the scorching of the summer's heat, and the withering of the winter's frost? What are they all but God's instruments for shivering into ruins the miserable refuges in which men seek shelter and comfort amid the experiences of time, and in the prospect of eternity?

II. WHEN THE CEDARS ARE FALLEN, HOW BITTER THE DISAPPOINTMENT! The world, its business, its pleasures, its cares, its struggles, its joys, its sorrows, — all are fast vanishing. Snap the cedars go! and meanwhile there is dismay at the review of the past, and the still darker prospect of the future! Behind, a life spent with the form of godliness, but entirely without God. Before, is death, the sifting of the judgment, eternity. Behind, a life given up to earth and earthly things. Before, an immortality, over the far-reaching expanse of which no star of hope sheds a gleam of life and peace. Can we wonder if the soul shrinks back in alarm, if dark forebodings haunt the spirit, and prayers, and regrets, and vows, and promises blend together as the outward expression of anxiety and fear?

III. WHERE CAN YOU BUILD YOUR HOPES AND NOT FIND THEM SHATTERED AND BROKEN BY DISAPPOINTMENT. Not among the cedars, but in the hollow of that Rock of Ages, which defies the howling of the tempest, and the sweep of the hurricane — which stands forth calm and stately in its strength, amid the shocks of time, and shall lift its head unshaken, even when the earth and all that is in it shall be dissolved and broken up. The memory of guilt and shortcoming, and the record of transgression are terrible, hut to the humble and believing Christian they can bring neither harm nor hurt. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide beneath the shadow of the Almighty."

(R. Allen, M. A.)

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KJV: O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!

WEB: Inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes your nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied you will be when pangs come on you, the pain as of a woman in travail!