Deuteronomy 28:37-42 And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations where the LORD shall lead you.… I. NATURAL OBJECTS ARE OF HIS CREATION. The Psalmist bids us lift up our eyes to the hills, and seek help from God, "who made heaven and earth" (Psalm 121:2). It is this which enables him to help us, and makes it reasonable in us to implore and trust in his assistance; as well as leads us to fear his displeasure. Seed, vineyards, olive trees, are his creatures, and subserve his purposes. He who made can destroy. II. NATURAL AGENCIES ARE UNDER HIS CONTROL. The greater agencies of nature - rain (vers. 23, 24), pestilence (ver. 21), diseases (vers. 27, 35). The lesser agencies - locusts (vers. 38, 42), worms (ver. 39), "powder and dust" (ver. 24). He marshals these agencies at will, appoints them their work, superintends them in the doing of it. He brings strength out of weakness, making the feeblest creatures the instruments of his most terrible strokes of vengeance. III. THE FRUITFULNESS OF THE EARTH IS DEPENDENT ON HIS BLESSING. He gives, and he can at will withhold. It is a false science which sees only "laws" in the productiveness of nature, and ignores the hand and blessing of a living God. - J.O. Parallel Verses KJV: And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee. |
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