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Dew is moisture dropped from the atmosphere upon the earth. During the daytime the earth both receives and returns heat; but after sunset it no longer receives, and yet it continues for a time to throw off the heat it has received. In a little while the grass, flowers, and foliage are quite cool; yet the atmosphere still retains the heat of the day, which, as the evening grows cooler, it gradually deposits on the earth beneath. This deposit is dew. How wise and wonderful are the ways of God! The effects of dew are like the influence we exert over one another.

1. Dew is powerful. There are some countries, or parts of them, whose vegetation almost entirely depends on the dew. Ahab was heavily punished when told that for three years there should be no rain, and the punishment was greatly increased by the withdrawal of the dew as well. Similarly the power we exert over one another is very great.

2. The dew is perfectly silent. So is influence. You cannot hear the sun rise, the snow fall, or the corn grow. The greatest powers in nature are silent. Our influence, be it sweet or sour, is slipping out from us every hour, and we are all making the world a better or a worse place for living in every day.

3. The dew is very precious. When Isaac gave his dying blessing to his boys, he prayed, "God give thee of the dew of heaven." Even so influence, good influence, is very precious. I believe more good is wrought by quiet influence than by all the talking.

4. Last of all, let us remember, the dew soon passes away. Hoses complains that the "goodness of Israel goeth away as the early dew." That is to say, the dew is quickly dried up unless absorbed by the flowers and grass, just as influence is soon forgotten unless obeyed.

(J. C. Adlard.)

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KJV: Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?

WEB: Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew?