Rain and Grace: a Comparison

God challenges man to compare with his Maker even in the one matter of the rain. Can he create it? Can he send a shower upon the desert, to water the lone herbs which else would perish in the burning heat? No, he would not even think of doing such a thing. That generous act comes of the Lord alone.

We shall work out a parallel between grace and rain.

I. GOD ALONE GIVES RAIN, AND THE SAME IS TRUE OF GRACE.

We say of rain and of grace,—God is the sole Author of it.

He devised and prepared the channel by which it comes to earth.

He has “divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters.”

The Lord makes a way for grace to reach his people.

He directs each drop, and gives each blade of grass its own drop of dew,—to every believer his portion of grace.

He moderates the force, so that it does not beat down or drown the tender herb. Grace comes in its own gentle way. Conviction, enlightenment, &c., are sent in due measure.

He holds it in his power. Absolutely at his own will does God bestow either rain for the earth, or grace for the soul.

II. RAIN FALLS IRRESPECTIVE OF MEN, AND SO DOES GRACE.

Grace waits not man’s observation. As the rain falls where no man is, so grace courts not publicity.

Nor his co operation. It “tarries not for man, nor waits for the sons of men”: Micah 5:7.

Nor his prayers. Grass calls not for rain, yet it comes. “I am found of them that sought me not”: Isaiah 65:1.

Nor his merits. Rain falls on the waste ground.

“Ah, grace, into unlikeliest hearts, It is your accustomed to come;

The glory of your light to find

In darkest spots a home.”

III. RAIN FALLS WHERE WE MIGHT LEAST HAVE EXPECTED IT.

It falls where there is no trace of former showers, even upon the desolate wilderness: so does grace enter hearts which had hitherto been unblest, where great need was the only plea which rose to Heaven. Isaiah 35:7.

It falls where there seems nothing to repay the blessing. Many hearts are naturally as barren as the desert. Isaiah 35:6.

It falls where the need seems insatiable; “to satisfy the desolate.” Some cases seem to demand an ocean of grace; but the Lord meets the need; and his grace falls where the joy and glory are all directed to God by grateful hearts. Twice we are told that the rain falls “where no man is.” When conversion is wrought of the Lord, no man is seen: the Lord alone is exalted.

IV. THIS RAIN IS MOST VALUED BY LIFE

The rain gives joy to seeds and plants in which there is life. Budding life knows of it; the tenderest herb rejoices in it: so is it with those who begin to repent, who feebly believe, and thus are just alive.

The rain causes development Grace also perfects grace. Buds of hope grow into strong faith. Buds of feeling expand into love. Buds of desire rise to resolve. Buds of confession come to open avowal. Buds of usefulness swell into fruit.

The rain causes health and vigor of life. Is it not so with grace?

The rain creates the flower with its color and perfume, and God is pleased. The full outgrowth of renewed nature comes of grace, and the Lord is well pleased therewith.

Let us acknowledge the sovereignty of God as to grace.

Let us cry to him for grace.

Let us expect him to send it though we may feel sadly barren, and quite out of the way of the usual means of grace.

To Interest The Hearer

A lady traveling in Palestine writes:—“Rain began to fall in torrents Mohammed, our groom, threw a large Arab cloak over me, saying ‘May Allah preserve you, O lady! while he is blessing the fields.’ ”

Oh, how pleasant are the effects of rain to languishing plants, to make them green and beautiful, lively and strong, fragrant and delightful! So the effects of Christ’s influences are most desirable to drooping souls, for enlightening and enlivening them, for confirming and strengthening them, for comforting and enlarging them, for appetizing and satisfying them, transforming and beautifying them.—John Willison.

Be not to me as a cloud without rain, lest I be to you like a tree without fruit.—Spurstowe.

My stock lies dead, and no increase

Does my dull husbandry improve:

O let your graces without cease

Drop from above!

The dew does every morning fall;

And shall the dew outstrip your Dove?

The dew, for which grass cannot call,

Drop from above!

—George Herbert.

The grass springs up; the bud opens; the leaf expands; the flowers breathe forth their fragrance as if they were under the most careful cultivation. All this must be the work of God, since it cannot even be pretended that man is there to produce these effects. Perhaps one would be more deeply impressed with a sense of the presence of God in the pathless desert, or on the boundless prairie, where no man is, than in the most splendid park, or the most tastefully cultivated garden which man could make. In the one case, the hand of God alone is seen; in the other, we are constantly admiring the skill of man.—Barnes.

The careful providence of God extends itself to all places, even to places uninhabited. This consideration may strengthen our dependence on God; though we are brought into a wilderness condition, where there is no man to pity us, or give us a morsel of bread. Surely the Lord that feeds the wild beasts where there is no man, can and will provide for his own people, when the hearts of all men are shut up against them; he can make the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to bring them food, as the ravens did to Elijah.—Caryl.

This should tend to humble human pride: humanity is not the only creature that God cares for. Man is not the center and pivot of the world. God cares for oxen, birds, insects, and everything that lives. He works the mystic machinery of Heaven to water meadows untrodden of the foot of man. No flower is born to blush unseen and waste its sweetness; for God sees it, and that is enough. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, and man is but one servitor out of the many which are created for God’s pleasure. Let him take his place as one among many servants, and no longer dream that all things are made for him, and that they are wasted if he does not derive some benefit from them.