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 31:35, Jer 31:36; Jer 33:20, Jer 33:21. It is by virtue of God's promise to Noah (Gen 8:22) 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.?

I will never forget thy precepts,.... Not the precepts of the moral law, though he carefully observed and attended to them, laid them up in his mind, and did not forget to keep them; but the doctrines of the word, of the word which the Lord commanded to a thousand generations; these he endeavoured to remember, and not let them slip from him, since it follows:

for with them thou hast quickened me: not with the precepts of the moral law, which cannot give life, quicken a dead sinner, nor comfort a distressed saint it is the killing letter, and the ministration of condemnation and death: but the doctrines of the word, of the Gospel, which are spirit and life; the savour of life unto life, the means of quickening dead sinners, and of reviving drooping saints; of refreshing their spirits, and cheering their souls, when in distress: and when they are made thus useful, they are not easily forgotten, they leave impressions which do not soon wear off; and besides, saints are careful to remember such words and truths, which have been of use unto them, since they may have occasion for them again.