Psalm 65:9 You visit the earth, and water it: you greatly enrich it with the river of God, which is full of water: you prepare them corn… Thou preparest them corn. I. BECAUSE IT IS THE SPECIAL GIFT OF GOD TO MAN. It came from God at first. It is renewed year by year. Wherever man dwells it may be cultivated in some form or other. "How it stands, that yellow corn, on its fair taper stems, its golden head bent, all rich and waving there! The mute earth at God's kind bidding has produced it once again - man's bread" (Luther). II. BECAUSE IT IS INDISPENSABLE TO THE WELFARE OF MAN. Corn is not only valuable, but necessary. Individuals may live without it, but for man, on the broad scale, it is indispensable. The worth is known by the want. When there is a scarcity of corn, all the markets of the world are affected. Bread is the staff of life. It is because of its worth and its suitableness to human needs that corn is constituted the symbol of the highest blessings. It stands for the Word of God. It figures the great redemption (John 12:24). It foreshadows the glory of the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15). III. BECAUSE IT DEPENDS FOR ITS CONTINUANCE ON THE LABOUR OF MAN. Many gifts come to us irrespective of our own efforts, but corn is not one of them. Its enjoyment is conditional. It is an annual. It has not an independent existence. It does not live and propagate itself by its own seed. It requires the care of man, else it would soon die out and be lost. In order to be preserved it must be sown by man's own hand in ground which man's own hand has tilled. The land must be prepared for the corn, as well as the corn for the land. Manifold blessings result from this arrangement. Thrift is good. Labour is a healthful discipline. Providing for the wants of ourselves and others binds us more closely together as brethren. If there be famine in Canaan, there is corn in Egypt; and this leads to commerce and friendly intercourse between nations. Besides, in the fact that year after year we must sow in order to reap; that each season's supply is but a measured quantity, never much in excess of what is required for food; and that the powers of heaven must work together with the powers of earth to secure a bountiful harvest; - we are taught in the most impressive manner our dependence upon God, and our obligations to praise him for his goodness and his wonderful works. - W.F. Parallel Verses KJV: Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. |
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