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Here is sovereign mercy — "I will give
them the shower in its season." Is it not sovereign, divine mercy? —
for who can say, "I will give them showers," except God? There is only one
voice which can speak to the clouds, and bid them beget the rain. Who
sendeth down the rain upon the earth? Who scattereth the showers upon the
green herb? Do not I, the Lord? So grace is the gift of God, and is not to
be created by man. It is also needed grace. What would the ground do
without showers? You may break the clods, you may sow your seeds, but what
can you do without the rain? As absolutely needful is the divine blessing.
In vain you labour, until God the plenteous shower bestows, and sends
salvation down. Then, it is plenteous grace. "I will send them
showers." It does not say, "I will send them drops," but "showers." So it is
with grace. If God gives a blessing, he usually gives it in such a measure
that there is not room enough to receive it. Plenteous grace! Ah! we want
plenteous grace to keep us humble, to make us prayerful, to make us holy;
plenteous grace to make us zealous, to preserve us through this life, and at
last to land us in heaven. We cannot do without saturating showers of grace.
Again, it is seasonable grace. "I will cause the shower to come down
in his season." What is thy season this morning? Is it the season of
drought? Then that is the season for showers. Is it a season of great
heaviness and black clouds? Then that is the season for showers.
"As thy
days so shall thy strength be." And here is a varied blessing. "I
will give thee showers of blessing." The word is in the plural. All
kinds of blessings God will send. All God's blessings go together, like
links in a golden chain. If he gives converting grace, he will also give
comforting grace. He will send "showers of blessing." Look up to-day, O
parched plant, and open thy leaves and flowers for a heavenly watering. |
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What a sweet answer to an anxious enquiry!
This night let us rejoice in it. O Zion, there are good things in store for
thee; thy time of travail shall soon be over; thy children shall be brought
forth; thy captivity shall end. Bear patiently the rod for a season, and
under the darkness still trust in God, for his love burneth towards thee.
God loves the church with a love too deep for human imagination: he loves
her with all his infinite heart. Therefore let her sons be of good courage;
she cannot be far from prosperity to whom God speaketh "good words and
comfortable words." What these comfortable words are the prophet goes on to
tell us: "I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy."
The Lord loves his church so much that he cannot bear that she should go
astray to others; and when she has done so, he cannot endure that she should
suffer too much or too heavily. He will not have his enemies afflict her: he
is displeased with them because they increase her misery. When God seems
most to leave his church, his heart is warm towards her. History shows that
whenever God uses a rod to chasten his servants, he always breaks it
afterwards, as if he loathed the rod which gave his children pain.
"Like as
a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." God
hath not forgotten us because he smites — his blows are no evidences of want
of love. If this is true of his church collectively, it is of
necessity true also of each individual member. You may fear that the
Lord has passed you by, but it is not so: he who counts the stars, and calls
them by their names, is in no danger of forgetting his own children. He
knows your case as thoroughly as if you were the only creature he ever made,
or the only saint he ever loved. Approach him and be at peace. |
