Psalm 74:17 You have set all the borders of the earth: you have made summer and winter. I. ITS LESSONS. 1. Divine power. (1) An ancient work. (2) A beautiful work. (3) A benevolent work.Winter comes like an angel of light on a mission of mercy; epidemics flee before its health-giving presence, the frost prepares the soil, the snow preserves the seeds, shoals of destructive insects are destroyed, the atmosphere is purified, there is a glory sparkles in the very frost, a lustre in the snow, and good in both. 2. Divine equity. As in grace, so in nature; He is no respecter of persons; "He maketh His sun to shine upon the evil and the good," and though the blessings of nature are infinitely diversified, yet each zone has natural products, wisely adapted to its peoples. God decrees the alternation of winter and summer for the general good. At our summer solstice He says to the north, "Give up I" and winter gradually returns; and at our winter solstice, He says to the south, "Keep not back!" and the south flinging open her sunny gates, permits the return of summer to bless our isle. 3. Divine providence. The preservation of the feathered tribes in this season clearly and pleasingly illustrates this doctrine. You have seen during protracted snow storms, these interesting creatures picking up a precarious meal as best they could. Naturalists tell us considerable numbers necessarily perish; the wonder is all do not die, that any are left to warble the overtime of spring, or swell the chorus of summer. Well, winter teaches us of a great Provider who "opens His hand, and satisfies the desire of every living thing," and reminds us that He who in summer makes the lily more beautiful "than Solomon in all his glory," in winter cares for the feathered flocks "which have no storehouse or barn." If the providence of God respects the less, will it neglect the greater? II. ITS EMBLEMS. 1. A barren Church. 2. A backsliding state. 3. Old age. 4. Death. (1) No exemption. (2) To the Christian death is the gate of life, where the winter of discontent is changed to glorious summer. (T. J. Guest.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.WEB: You have set all the boundaries of the earth. You have made summer and winter. |
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