IV. Now I close by noticing, in the fourth place, that Rain, When It Comes;, Is Most Valued By Life, for we read in our text, that it comes “to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth.”
You may water a dead post as long as you like, yet nothing will come of it; but the tenderest, tiniest little herb, that has a bud fast shut, knows when the rain comes, and begins to develop its hidden power, and open its bud to the rain and to the sun. That is why the grace of God comes, “to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth.” I hope that there is here a good deal of budding life. The Lord has looked upon you, and has made you feel uneasy; that is a bud. Oh, that the uneasiness might open into full repentance! The Lord has looked upon you, and he has given you desires. Oh, that the grace of God may increase those desires till they shall open into resolution and determination! The Lord has sent the dew from on high upon your soul, dear friend, and you are beginning to hope that there is salvation somewhere, and perhaps for you. Oh, that the hope may open, like a bud that has been shut up, — -open into faith in Jesus Christ, so that you shall say, “I will trust in him.” All the buds everywhere just now are trying to get out into the sunshine; they seem bound up in gummy envelopes, but they are beginning to open in the sunshine. I like to sit under the fir trees, and hear the crack of the opening caused by the heat of the sun. You can almost see the trees rejoicing that summer-time is coming. So may you see young converts open when the grace of God is displayed abundantly; they grow before your very eyes till, sometimes, you are astonished at what the grace of God does, with wise prudence, but yet with a sweet readiness, upon the hearts of the sons of men.
How far have your buds developed? Have you begun to pray a little? Oh, that your prayer might be more intense! I hope that little bud of private prayer will grow till it comes to family prayer,-so that you can pray with your wife and children. You have been reading your Bible lately, have you? Oh, thank God for that! Now I hope that bud of Bible-reading will open into the daily habit of feeding upon the Word of God. Go right through the Bible if you can. Pray to God to give you a solid knowledge of its contents, that you may be rooted and grounded in what his Spirit teaches you there. Some of you have another sort of bud; you have been thinking of what you can do for Christ. You thought you were converted, but you have never done much for Christ. I do not use any whips, but sometimes I am tempted to take a good long one to some of those lazy folk who do nothing, and yet hope to go to heaven. One says, “I think, my dear Pastor, that I must try to do something for Christ.” Well, that is a bud; may the grace of God be so abundant that you will leave off trying, and get actually to doing! “How am I to serve God?” said one to me, the other day. I answered, “My dear brother, get at it. ’Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.’ Don’t come and ask me, for where there is so much to be done, the man is idle who asks, ’What am I to do?’ Do the first thing that comes to hand” If a soldier in battle saw that the enemy was winning the day, he would not be hesitating, and asking, “Captain, what can I do?” He would kill the first fellow that came near, and so must you, in a spiritual sense. Do something for Christ. Oh, that this church might begin to open all its buds! May every little one become a thousand, and every small one a great multitude, to the praise of the glory of the grace of God! O you little ones, you hidden ones, you timid ones, you trembling ones, the grace of God is abundant! Open to receive it. See how the crocus, after having been long hidden beneath the soil, knows when the new year begins, and as soon as the sun smiles on the earth, it gently lifts up its golden cup; and is there anything more beautiful in all the world than the crocus cup when God fills that chalice with the light of heaven? What a depth of wonderful brightness of color there is within it! All the crocus can do is to open itself; and that is all you can do, — just stand and drink in God’s light. Open yourself to the sweet influences of the grace of God. The fair lilies of the garden left not, neither do they spin; but yet they glorify God. How they seem to stand still and just show what God can do with them! They just drink in the light and heat, and then pour it all out again in silent, quiet beauty. Now you do just the same; let the purity of your life, like the purity of the lily, glorify the God who created it in you. So may his blessing rest upon you all, clear friends, for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
