Here, 1. The psalmist acknowledges the unchangeableness of the word of
God and of all his counsels: "For ever, O Lord! thy word is settled.
Thou art for ever thyself (so some read it); thou art the same, and
with thee there is no variableness, and this is a proof of it. Thy
word, by which the heavens were made, is settled there in the abiding
products of it;" or the settling of God's word in heaven is opposed to
the changes and revolutions that are here upon earth. All flesh is
grass; but the word of the Lord endures for ever. It is settled in
heaven, that is, in the secret counsel of God, which is hidden in
himself and is far above out of our sight, and is immovable, as
mountains of brass. And his revealed will is as firm as his secret
will; as he will fulfil the thoughts of his heart, so no word of his
shall fall to the ground; for it follows here, Thy faithfulness is unto
all generations, that is, the promise is sure to every age of the
church and it cannot be antiquated by lapse of time. The promises that
look ever so far forward shall be performed in their season. 2. He
produces, for proof of it, the constancy of the course of nature: Thou
hast established the earth for ever and it abides; it is what it was at
first made, and where it was at first placed, poised with its own
weight, and notwithstanding the convulsions in its own bowels, the
agitations of the sea that is interwoven with it, and the violent
concussions of the atmosphere that surrounds it, it remains unmoved.
"They" (the heavens and the earth and all the hosts of both) "continue
to this day according to thy ordinances; they remain in the posts
wherein thou hast set them; they fill up the place assigned them, and
answer the purposes for which they were intended." The stability of the
ordinances of the day and night, of heaven and earth, is produced to
prove the perpetuity of God's covenant, Jer. xxxi. 35, 36; xxxiii. 20,
21. It is by virtue of God's promise to Noah (Gen. viii. 22) that day
and night, summer and winter, observe a steady course. "They have
continued to this day, and shall still continue to the end of time,
acting according to the ordinances which were at first given them; for
all are thy servants; they do thy will, and set forth thy glory, and in
both are thy servants." All the creatures are, in their places, and
according to their capacities, serviceable to their Creator, and answer
the ends of their creation; and shall man be the only rebel, the only
revolter from his allegiance, and the only unprofitable burden of the
earth?