It is a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning to the end of the year. Sermons
I. ITS CONTRAST WITH EGYPT. (Vers. 10, 11.) Not, like Egypt, a land rainless and artificially watered. It had no Nile. It drank in water from the rains of heaven. It was thus in a peculiar way a land dependent upon God. Egypt's fertility depended on God also, but less directly. Its contrivances for irrigation gave it, or might seem to give it, a semi-independence. Palestine was a land, on the contrary, whose peculiar conditions made it dependent for fruitfulness on the direct gift to it of rains from heaven. It was a land requiring a providential adjustment of conditions - a daily care - to make it yield the utmost it was capable of (ver. 12). The truth here figured is that God wills the believer to put his life day by day under his immediate care. The worldly man may desire, and in a measure may be allowed to attain, a position of relative independence of God: he may get (within limits) the ordering of his own plans and ways, and by ingenious contrivances and manipulations of laws of nature, he may think to put himself beyond the power of God's interference with him. But the godly man will neither desire this nor be content with it. He wishes God's eyes to be upon his lot day by day, "from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year." There is, within the ordinary providence of God, a special providence to be recognized over God's people, over Christ's Church, and over nations that adhere to God's ways. II. THE RESULTS OF THIS CONTRAST TO THE INHABITANTS. (Vers. 13-18.) The directness of the dependence of Canaan on God's care made it, to a greater degree than Egypt could have been, suitable for the operation of a system so intimately bound up with temporal rewards and punishments. Should the people prove obedient, God engages to bless them with rains, and make the land fruitful (vers. 13-16). [But should they disobey, the peculiar conditions of the land put it in his power to scourge them, as he so often did, with drought and famine (1 Kings 17:1; Joel 1.; Haggai 1:10, 11). So he threatens (vers. 16, 17). It is a blessed but a perilous position which God's people are called to occupy. It secures to them unwonted favors, but it exposes them also, if disobedient, to chastisements and punishments of a peculiarly direct and severe kind. The higher the position of nearness to God, the greater the responsibility which that position entails upon who enjoy it. - J.O.
Not as the land of Egypt. Egypt is typical of the condition of the children of God while they are in bondage to the law of sin. There they are made to work unceasingly, without wages or profit, but continually subject to pains. The coming up out of Egypt is the type of the deliverance which every one of God's people enjoys, when by faith he strikes the blood of Jesus on his doorpost, and spiritually eats the paschal lamb; and the passage through the wilderness is typical of that state of hoping, and fearing, and doubting, which we usually experience between the period when we come out of Egypt, and attain unto the full assurance of faith. Many of you are really come out of Egypt; but you are still wandering about in the wilderness. "We that have believed do enter into rest"; but you, though you have eaten of Jesus, have not so believed on Him as to have entered into the Canaan of rest.I. TRUE RELIGION MAKES A DIFFERENCE NOT ONLY IN A MAN, BUT IN A MAN'S CONDITION; IT AFFECTS NOT ONLY HIS HEART, BUT HIS STATE; NOT ONLY HIS NATURE, BUT HIS VERY STANDING IN SOCIETY. The Lord thy God cares not only for Israel, but for Canaan, where Israel dwells. God has not only a regard to the elect, but to their habitation, and not only so, but to all their affairs and circumstances. My habitation is now guarded by Jehovah; my position in this world is no longer that of a needy mendicant; my position, which was that of a bondslave in Egypt, is now become that of an inheritor in Canaan. In this difference of the condition of the Christian and the worldling we shall mark three things. 1. The Christian's temporal condition is different to that of the worldling, for the worldling looks to secondary causes; the Christian looks to heaven; he gets his mercies thence. 2. But now comes the second distinction, and that is, a difference in the toilsomeness of their lives. The worldly man, just like the Israelites in Egypt, has to water his land with his foot. Read the passage: "For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot as a garden of herbs." This alludes, possibly, to the practice amongst all eastern nations where the land is irrigated, of letting out a certain quantity of water into a trench, and then having small gutters dug in the gardens, to compel the water to run along different parts of the ground. Sometimes one of these gutters might be broken, and then the gardener would press the mould against it with his foot, to keep the water in its proper channel. But I am inclined to think that the passage alludes to the method which those eastern countries have of pumping up the water by a tread wheel, and so watering the land with their foot. However that may be, it means that the land of Egypt was watered with extraordinary labour, in order to preserve it from sterility. "But," says Moses, "the land, to which ye are going, is not a land which you will have to water with your foot. The water will come spontaneously; the land will be watered by the rain of heaven. You can sit in your own houses, or under your own vine, or under your own fig tree, and God Himself shall be your irrigator. You shall sit still, and 'in quietness shall ye possess your souls.'" Now, here is a difference between the godly and ungodly — the ungodly man toils. Suppose his object is ambition; he will labour and spend his very life, until he obtains the desired pinnacle. Suppose it is wealth; how will he emaciate his frame, rob his body of its needed sleep, and take away the nourishment his frame requires, in order that he may accumulate riches! And if it is learning, how will he burn his eyes out with the flame of his hot desire, that he may understand all knowledge; how will he allow his frame to become weak and wan by midnight watchings! Men will in this way labour, and toil, and strive. But not so the Christian. No; his "strength is to sit still." He knows what it is to fulfil the command of Paul — "I would have you without carefulness" We can take things as God gives them, without all this toil and labour. I have often admired the advice of old Cineas to Pyrrhus. Old story saith, that when Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, was making preparation for his intended expedition into Italy, Cineas, the philosopher, took a favourable opportunity of addressing him thus: "The Romans, sir, are reported to be a warlike and victorious people; but if God permit us to overcome them, what use shall we make of the victory?" "Thou askest," said Pyrrhus, "a thing that is self-evident. The Romans once conquered, no city will resist us; we shall then be masters of all Italy." Cineas added, "And having subdued Italy, what shall we do next?" Pyrrhus not yet aware of his intentions, replied, "Sicily next stretches cut her arms to receive us." "That is very probable," said Cineas, "but will the possession of Sicily put an end to the war?" "God grant us success in that," answered Pyrrhus "and we shall make these only the forerunners of greater things, for then Libra and Carthage will soon be ours; and these things being completed, none of our enemies can offer any further resistance." "Very true," added Cineas, "for then we may easily regain Macedon, and make absolute conquest of Greece; and when all these are in our possession, what shall we do then. Pyrrhus, smiling, answered, "Why then, my dear friend, we will live at our case, take pleasure all day, and amuse ourselves with cheerful conversation." "Well, sir," said Cineas, and why may we not do this now, and without the labour and hazard of an enterprise so laborious and uncertain?" So says the Christian. 3. This brings us to the last difference that we will note, and that is, that the unbeliever, he who has not crossed the Jordan and come to full confidence, does not understand the universality of God's providence, while the assured Christian does. In Egypt the ground is almost entirely flat; and where it is not flat, it is impossible, of course, to grow anything, unless the ground is watered at considerable difficulty by some method of artificial irrigation, which shall force the water on to the high places. "But," says Moses, "the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys." The Egyptians could not get the water up on the hills, but you can; for the mountains drink in the rain, as well as the valleys. Now look at a worldling. Give him comforts, give him prosperity. Oh! he can be so happy. Give him everything just as he likes it; make his course all a plain, all a dead valley and a flat; he can fertilise that, and water it; but let him have a mountainous trouble, let him lose a friend, or let his property be taken from him — put a hill in his way, and he cannot water that, with all the pumping of his feet, and all the force he strives to use. But the Christian lives in "a land of hills and valleys"; a land of sorrow as well as joys; but the hills drink the water, as well as the valleys. We need not climb the mountains to water their heads, for our God is as high as the hills. II. We must consider THE SPECIAL MERCY. We must now turn away altogether from the allegoric, and come to this special mercy, which is the lot only of God's people. "The eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year." That is, upon the lot of all Christians individually. Do not pick out one day in the year, and say it was a bad day, but take all the year round. "Ah! bless the Lord! He hath done all things well; my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name!" And you know why all things have been well. It is because the eyes of the Lord have been upon you all the year. Then might I not say a word to you concerning the eyes of the Lord having been upon us as a church? Ought we to let this year pass without rehearsing the works of the Lord? Hath He not been with us exceeding abundantly, and prospered us? Some old writer has said, "Every hour that a Christian remains a Christian is an hour of miracle." It is true; and every year that the Church is kept an entire Church is a year of the beginning of the miracle. "The eye of the Lord" has been upon us, "from year even unto the end of the year." ( C. H. Spurgeon.) II. LOOK AT THE LAND IN WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE US TO LIVE. Egypt is the type of the world, the world that knows not God. "Who is the Lord that I should serve Him? I know Him not." This is the language of Pharaoh, the language, too, of the prince of this world. Egypt is the land where they looked down for their supply — wateredst it with thy foot. They got their harvests by their own toil and depending upon themselves; they knew not God. Israel must come out of this into a land where they look up for their supply, up into the hills whence cometh their help — a land of hills and valleys that drinketh in the rain of heaven. The wilderness between the two was the school where the people were to learn the first lesson of their dependence upon God. We have long enough been fretting and murmuring in the wilderness. In the Lord's name arise and enter into the land where God's presence encircles all, the eyes of the Lord are always upon it. Rest in the Lord. Believe in His power, not as a reserve fund from which you are to draw when your strength is spent, but as actively engaged for you, interested in all your affairs, ever eager to help and guide. III. NOTICE THE LORD'S PROMISES CONCERNING THIS LAND IN WHICH WE ARE TO DWELL. "The land whither ye go to possess it is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven." All our supply is to come from the Lord. Here are springs that shall never dry; here are fountains and streams that shall never be cut off. Here, anxious one, is the gracious pledge of the Heavenly Father. If He be the Source of our mercies, they can never fail us. Do not go down to Egypt for your pleasure, or your strength, or your wisdom, or your comfort. Man of God, thy place is Canaan, the land that the Lord careth for. Fetch all thy supplies from Him. If strength is needed, who can help thee like the Lord? Who else can give thee patience or who so tenderly comfort as the God of all consolation, the God of all patience? If the way grow tangled, who can give thee wisdom as He can? There is the land to live in — the land that drinketh in the rain of heaven. IV. HERE IS A LESSON IN PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. The land is a land of "hills and valleys." That is all we are told of it. And that is all we know of the land in which we are just entering. This much I can tell of your fortune in the New Year. It will be a year of ups and downs, of hills and valleys. The hills, so hard to climb, that make you sigh and wonder why they are sent — they make the glad and fruitful valleys. If life were all one dead level every pleasure would grow wearisome, the dull sameness of life would oppress us. We want the hills and valleys. The steep climb shows us the landscape that we could never have seen otherwise. The little vexations make the pleasant things fresh in their pleasantness. Only he who has tasted the bitterness of sorrow for sin can taste and see how gracious the Lord is. The beauty, the blessedness, the pleasure of our life is more dependent than we can ever know on the hills of life. The land whither thou goest is a land of hills and valleys. "A land of hills and valleys." Look again. The hills drink in the rain of heaven and thereby make the valleys fruitful. The desert is a desert, because no hills rise up to heaven to touch the clouds and bring down blessings on the thirsty land below. The hills collect the rain for a hundred fruitful valleys. Ah, so it is with us. It is the hill difficulty that drives us to the throne of grace and fetches down a shower of blessing. It is the trial that sends us to the Lord for help. The hills, the bleak hills of life that we wonder at and perhaps grumble at, bring down the showers. They drink in the rain from heaven. And yet again — the hills give to the valleys their fruitfulness and beauty by protecting them. They rise up and shut back bleak winds and furious storms: then in the sunny shelter the valleys shall be covered over with corn, the pastures are clothed with flocks. So is the land whither we go to possess it — a land of hills and valleys. Ah, how the soul had been withered, dead, if no steep hill had risen for its shelter. How many have perished in the wilderness, buried under its golden sands, who would have lived and thriven in the hill country. We cannot tell what loss and sorrow and trial are doing. Do not judge, much less grumble. Trust only. (M. G. Pearse.) The land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys 1. Note how often God tells Israel that the land they were making for was their possession. In Egypt they had possessed nothing; they were possessed. Their time, their children, their lives were not their own there. Now they were to be slaves of a tyranny no more. And every man who is living his life well is marching forward in the track of Israel. There is a sense in which we all begin by being possessed; but we shall end, God helping us, possessing. Sometimes it is a foolish ambition that possesses us; sometimes it is a hereditary curse: or a habit, or sloth, or cowardice, or passion; and we are not our own. But when God breaks that bondage of the soul, far off, it may be, but gleaming in the morning, we see the peaks of a land that shall be ours. Gradually, not without many a failure, through daily effort, and prayer, and watching, we come to a country where we are not slaves but kings.2. These marching Israelites had been told what the land was to be like in outline. It was to be "a land of hills and valleys." How high the hills would be, they did not know. Much was shrouded in impenetrable dark. And do you say that the future is all hidden? There is a deep sense in which that is true. The separate secrets of the coming days are lodged and locked in the eternal mind. But there is an outline of the coming year that God makes plain to every child of man. For, what your past has been, and what your God has been, and what your heart is eager for tonight — all that will map out the New Year for you. 3. There was to be no monotony in their new home. It would be ever fresh with endless charm. Every valley would have its rushing stream, and every ridge its separate vista. And is there ever monotony where God conducts? It is a lie to say that being good takes all the charm and colour out of life. It is our sins that grow monotonous; our graces are dew-bespangled till the end. 4. I wonder how long it took the Israelites to learn that the hills were necessary to the valleys. How sweet and fertile the valleys were, they knew. Life was a joy down by these happy meadows; it was a sweet music, that of the rustling corn. But yonder, towering skyward, were the hills, and the brigands were there, and over them, who could tell what tribes there were? And there was an element of tempest too, among the hills. The children said life would be perfect here, if God had but spared us those barren and baneful hills. But halt! these rushing brooks, where did they come from? Out of the hills. And where were the sharp sea winds that would have blighted the vine and withered the springing corn? It was the barrier of mountains that kept them off. The children said, we hate these ragged hills, and we wish that God would level them to the ground; — and it was when they grew to men and women that they knew that never a vine would have clustered in the hollows, and never a harvest turned golden in the valleys, but for the mountains that they wished away. Is there nothing in your life you wish away? Is there no cross, no trial, no limitation? Do not be angry with the hills, because they shut you in. Fret not. Accept them. Is there no lily of the valley at your feet? It would never have been there but for the hills. 5. But the valley does not always speak of harvest. It is not always ringing with the vine dresser's lilt. There are valleys in which we catch the sound of weeping, and see the rolling mist and never the sunlight. And it is then that we need this text graven upon our heart. For in the valleys we sometimes forget the hills. In the hour of mist we forget that the sun was ever shining. You would think there had never been any blue sky at all, we are so utterly disheartened in the cloudy day. Are the stars not there, though the clouds are abroad tonight? Are the hills not rising heavenward and Godward, though I am in the valley of the shadow? Recall the hours of vision on the mount. 6. Remember the valley when on the hill. To stand on the hill-top is an exquisite joy. There is vision in it: there is the birth of song. And to be strong and vigorous, with a firm grasp of oneself and one's work, that is like heaven began. Only remember, the day of the valley is coming; the shadow, the mist, and parting are coming; and the wise man, though not with noise and fuss, will be quietly preparing upon the hills for that. (G. H. Morrison, M. A.) Drinketh water of the rain of heaven Beautiful, simple, noble, true words. Who would change them for all the scientific phrases in the world? The eyes of the Lord were upon the land. It needed His care; and therefore His care it had. Therefore the Jew was to understand from his first entry into the land, that his prosperity depended utterly on God. The laws of weather, by which the rain comes up off the sea, were unknown to him. They are all but unknown to us now. But they were known to God. Not a drop could fall without His providence and will; and therefore they were utterly in His power. God is the living Judge, the living overlooker, rewarder, punisher of every man, not only in the life to come, but in this life. His providence is a special providence. But not such a poor special providence as men are too apt to dream of nowadays, which interferes only now and then on some great occasion or on behalf of some very favoured persons, but a special providence looking after every special act of man, and of the whole universe, from the fall of a sparrow to the fall of an empire. And it is this intense faith in the living God, which can only come by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, which proves the Old Testament to be truly inspired. This it is which makes it different from all books in the world. This it is, I hold, which marks the canon of Scripture. As it was then, so may it be again. There may come a time in this land when people shall profess to worship the Word of God; and yet, like those old scribes; make it of none effect by their own commandments and traditions. When they shall command men, like the scribes, to honour every word and letter of the Bible, and yet forbid them to take the Bible simply and literally as it stands, but only their interpretation of the Bible; when they shall say, with the scribes, "Nothing new can be true. God taught the apostles, and therefore He is not teaching us. God worked miracles of old; but whosoever thinks that God is working miracles now is a Pantheist and a blasphemer. God taught men of old the thing which they knew not; but whosoever dares to say that He does so now is bringing heresy and false doctrine, and undermining the Christian faith by science falsely so called." From ever falling into that state of stupid lip-belief, and outward religion, and loss of faith in the living God: Good Lord, deliver us.(C. Kingsley, M. A.) The eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it. Observe here a type of the condition of the natural and the spiritual man. In this world in temporals and in all other respects the merely carnal man has to be his own providence, and to look to himself for all his needs. Hence his cares are always many, and frequently they become so heavy that they drive him to desperation. He lives in Egypt, and he knows no joy. But the spiritual man dwells in another country; his faith makes him a citizen of another land. It is true he endures the same toils, and experiences the same afflictions as the ungodly, but they deal with him after another fashion, for they come as a gracious Father's appointments, and they go at the bidding of loving wisdom.I. First, we will consider THE TEXT AS WE FIND IT. "The eyes of the Lord." What is meant here? Surely not mere omniscience, No, there is love in the text to sweeten observation. "The Lord knoweth the righteous" with a knowledge which is over and above that of omniscience. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, not merely to see them, hut to view them with complacency and delight. 1. The meaning of the text then is, first, that God's love is always upon His people. The big heart of Deity is set upon us poor insignificant, undeserving, worthless beings. 2. The expression of the text teaches us that the Lord takes a personal interest in us. It is not here said that God loves us, and therefore sends an angel to watch over us; but the Lord does it Himself. 3. Further, the text reminds us of the unwearied power of God towards His people. What, can His eyes be always upon us? This were not possible if He were not God. The next word that seems to sparkle in the text is that word "always." "The eyes of the Lord are always upon it." And it is added, as if that word were not enough for such dull ears as ours, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year. I tried to discover the other day what time there was in one's life when one could best afford to be without God. Perhaps imagination suggests the time of prosperity, when business prospers, wealth is growing, and the mind is happy. Ah, to be without God then, why it would be like the marriage feast without the bridegroom, it would be the day of delight and no delight, a sea and no water in it, day and no light. What! all these mercies and no God? If you can do without God at all, it certainly is not when you are standing on the pinnacle. What then? Could we do without Him in adversity? Ask the heart that is breaking! Ask the tortured spirit that has been deserted by its friend I Ask the child of poverty, or the daughter of sickness tossing by night and day on that uneasy bed, Couldst thou do without thy God? And the very thought causes wailing and gnashing of teeth. With God pain becomes pleasure, and dying beds are elevated into thrones, but without God — ah! what could we do? Well then, is there no period? Cannot the young Christian, full of freshness and vigour, elated with the novelty of piety, do without his God? Ah, poor puny thing, how can the lamb do without the shepherd to carry it in his arms? Cannot the man in middle life then, whose virtues have been confirmed, do without his God? He tells you that it is the day of battle with him, and that the darts fly so thick in business nowadays, that the burdens of life are so heavy in this age that without God a man in middle life is like a naked man in the midst of a thicket of briars and thorns — he cannot hope to make his way. Ask yon grey beard with all the experience of seventy years, whether at least he has not attained to an independence of grace, and he will say to you that as the infirmity of the body presses upon him it is his joy that his inner man is renewed day by day, but take away God, who is the spring of that renewal, and old age would be utter wretchedness. Ah! there is not a moment in any one day that you or I have ever lived, that we could have afforded to dispense with the help of God, for when we have thought ourselves strong, as, alas! we have been fools enough to do, in one five minutes we have done that which has cost us rivers of tears to undo; in an unguarded moment we have spoken a word which we could not recall, but which we could have recalled if we should have had to bite our tongues in halves to have had it unsaid. The next word that springs from the text is that great word "Jehovah." He who surveys us with love and care is none other than the one and indivisible God, so that we may conclude if we have His eyes to view us we have His heart to love us, and if we have His heart we have His wings to cover us, we have His hands to bear us up; we have all the attributes of Deity at our command. Oh, when God says that He always looks at you, He means this, that He is always yours, there is nothing which is necessary for you which He will refuse to do; there is no wisdom stored up in Him which He will not use for you, there is no one attribute of all that great mass of splendour which makes up the Deity which shall be withheld from you in any measure, but all that God is shall be yours. He shall be your God forever and ever. He will give you grace and glory, and be your guide even unto death. Perhaps the sweetest word of the text is that next one — the eyes of Jehovah "thy God." Ah, there is a blessed secret! Why? Ours in covenant, our God, for He chose us to be His portion, and by His grace He has made us choose Him to be our portion. We are His and He is ours. II. We are now to TURN THE TEXT OVER; that is to say, we will misread, it, yet read it rightly. Suppose the text were to run thus — "The eyes of the Lord's people are always upon Him from the beginning of the year to the end of the year." We like the text as it stands, but I do not believe we shall ever comprehend the fulness of it unless we receive it as I have now altered it, for we only understand God's sight of us when we get a sight of Him. III. In the third place, we will imagine that we BLOT THE TEXT OUT ALTOGETHER. We are to suppose that it is blotted out, to imagine that you and I have to live all the year without the eyes of God upon us, not finding a moment from the beginning of the year in which we perceive the Lord to be caring for us or to be waiting to be gracious to us. Imagine that there is none to whom we may appeal beyond our own fellow creatures for help. Oh, miserable supposition! We have come to the opening of the year, and we have to get through it somehow, we must stumble through January, go muddling through the winter, groaning through the spring, sweating through the summer, fainting through the autumn, and grovelling on to another Christmas, and no God to help us; no prayer when God is gone, no promise when God is no more. There could be no promise, no spiritual succour, no comfort, no help for us if there were no God. IV. Let us close with USING THE TEXT. The way to use it is this. If the eyes of the Lord will be upon us His people, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, what shall we do? Why, let us be as happy as we can during this year. You have your trials — do not expect that you will be free from them. The devil is not dead, and sparks still fly upward. Herein is your joy, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ will never leave you nor forsake you. Up with your standard now and march on boldly! I would have you use the text by the way of seeking greater blessings and richer mercies than you have ever enjoyed. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) The land which the Lord thy God careth for. This is true not only of the land of Canaan which was considered in the proper sense of it, but also of any other land together with it, which is the place and residence of the Church, and ordinances, and people of God. This is reductively, and interpretatively, and proportionably the land which the Lord thy God careth for.I. WHEN IT IS SAID HERE THAT HE CARETH FOR IT, THIS WORD CARE MAY ADMIT OF A THREE-FOLD EXPLICATION. First, as a word of respect. He cares for it — that is, He regards it. Secondly, as a word of providence. He cares for it — that is, He looks after it and takes care of it. Thirdly, as a word of solicitude. He cares for it, is anxious about it. 1. As a word of respect. The Church of God, and such a land where the Church resides. God cares for it — that is, He regards it, and has an esteem for it. It is precious and of great account with Him. 2. It is a word of forecast or providence. He cares for it — that is, He looks after it, and inquires into the state of it. He casts about what may be best and most convenient for it, and answerably does bring it about. 3. It is a word of solicitude and perplexity. He cares for it — that is, He is anxious about it (Hosea 11:8). There is no man can express more affection in any thing whereof he is solicitous as to the welfare of it, than God does express towards His Church, as there is occasion for it. It is the land which the Lord cares for in the full extent and latitude of care.Now as there is a three-fold expression of God's care for His Church; so there is a three-fold account also, which may be given to us of this care, as from whence it does proceed in Him. 1. From His relation. The Church is His own land by special purchase and redemption, and so He takes care of it more particularly in that respect. 2. From His covenant. It is the land that He cares for upon this consideration also. Because He has engaged Himself hereto. 3. From His interest and more peculiar concernment. The Lord takes care of His Church as that which He receives the greatest advantage from any other besides; not in a strict sense, but in a qualified, and as He is pleased to account it. The use of this point to ourselves comes to this purpose. First, as it serves to inform us, and to satisfy us in the truth of this point, which we have now before us, that we be persuaded of it. It is that which we are ready sometimes to doubt of whether God cares for His Church or no. Especially according to the circumstances wherein it may be as Gideon sometimes reasoned with the angel (Judges 6:13). This proposition which we are now upon, it hath both an inclusive emphasis and an exclusive. It has an inclusive emphasis in it, as it does signify; that God does indeed take care of His Church and land. An exclusive emphasis, as it does signify that He does care of it both in the denial of others' care for it, and in His own denial of care for others. And so now I have done with the first general part of the text, which is the interest this land here had in God's affection expressed to us in these words, "The land which the Lord thy God careth for." II. The second is THE INTEREST WHICH IT HATH IN GOD'S INSPECTION IN THESE WORDS. The eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of, etc. Wherein, again, we have two branches more. First, the privilege itself, and that is of being under the eyes of God; the eyes of the Lord thy God are upon it. Secondly, the continuation of this privilege, and that is expressed in two words more. First, in the word of perpetuity, and that is, always. Secondly, in the words of extent. From the beginning of the year to the end of the year. 1. First, we will take notice of the former, namely, the privilege itself here mentioned. And that is, of being under God's eye. First, an eye of observation, that is one which God hath upon His Church, He does mark, and mind, and take notice of the state and condition in which it is. Secondly, an eye of compassion; He has an eye upon it, to pity it, and to comfort it in the state in which it is. Thirdly, an eye of direction, a teaching eye; God has such an eye as this which He does sometimes vouchsafe His Church. There is a great matter in the eye to such a purpose as this is, and it is here considerable of us, as we have it in Psalm 32:8. Fourthly, an eye of protection and preservation and authority. 2. Now for the second, which is the continuation of this privilege, that is exhibited to us in two expressions more. First, in the word of constancy or perpetuity; and that is always. Secondly, in the words of extent, or production. From the beginning of the year to the end of the year. First, we may take notice of the continuance of the privilege he mentioned in the word of constancy or perpetuity. And that is always. It hath three properties in it, which are here particularly considerable of us. First, it is a quick eye, there are many persons which see a thing at last, but it is a great while first before they come to do so; yea, but God beholds His Church, and the state and condition of it, as soon as ever there is need for Him to see it. Secondly, it is a fixed eye. He looks upon His land, as if He would in a manner look through it and pierce it with His eyes. Thirdly, it is a frequent eye. His eyes are never off it. The second is the words of extent or production. From the beginning of the year to the end of the year. Where there are three periods, as I may so call them, of the care and providence of God towards His land and people. There is the initial, and the intermediate, and the final. First, here is the initial point of God's providence, taking its rise from the beginning of the year. Thus it signifies to us God's earliness, and readiness, and forwardness in His goodness towards His people, that He takes the very first season and opportunity that is afforded unto Him, for the hastening of His favours upon them. Secondly, here is the intermediate point, in the rising or progress of the year, that is also included as joining both terms together: God is not only kind a little at first, when the year begins, and so making a good entrance, but He holds on and proceeds in His goodness as the year itself rises and gets up. This is God's manner of dealing, not only like some misers, perhaps, to make a feast for a time, and once a year, but like a liberal and free-hearted person — that keeps open house all the year long, from the beginning of the year to the end. The third is the final point or conclusive. He ends the year as well as begins it, with the expressions of His goodness in it; "He crowns the year with His goodness" (Psalm 65:11). Thus is God gracious to His land and people, in all points and periods of time, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year; from one year to another: yea, from one age to another. Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Lessons: 1. First, in a way of thankfulness and acknowledgment, where we have at any time the experience of this made good to us in our own particulars, as we very much have. 2. In a way of faith and dependence, let us make use of it also, that so we who have had experience of His goodness in the past may still wait upon Him and rest comfortably in His providence. 3. In a way of fruitfulness and obedience, we are to improve this point so likewise. That as the eyes of the Lord our God are upon us, in this extent and production, so our eyes may be upon Him likewise in the same extent. As His in a way of providence, and protection, and preservation; so ours in a way of obedience, and fruitfulness, and circumspection. To begin the year with Him, as He does with us, and thereby to lay a good foundation of holy conversation to ourselves; to set ourselves in a good way at first, in this entrance of time. If we have hitherto been any way failing in our duty, and neglected it, let us now at least and at last keep it. Let us proceed also, as God does with us. He begins, and He goes on in His goodness, His eyes which He cast upon His Church and people, they never fail, but continue, and hold good still. So should our eyes be also upon Him, we should perfectly continue in goodness; and proceed in it, from one degree of it to another. As the year rises in the light of it, so should we rise also in the improvement of it. Let us also end well; be especially careful of that. (T. Horton, D. D.) Consider Canaan, with its privilege of being ever under the open eyes of the Lord, as setting forth to us, in a very real manner, the spiritual condition of the Church of Christ, and the blessedness of that state.I. THE SPIRITUAL GROUND OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 1. The freedom of the new land, though Divinely given, was to be acquired and retained by courageous conflict and endeavour. 2. The productiveness of the new land was to be a blessing to the producer. God has expended His Divine treasures, that His children may bring forth the rich fruits of His own glorious life. 3. Purity of life was to be realised in the new land. The Church exists to promote the worship of the Revealed Father in spirit and in truth. The Church's worship is the drawing forth of its strength from God — the reception of the Divine life into the human. 4. The beauty of the new land was to be the counterpart of spiritual beauty. The fruits and flowers of earth were the response to the light and rains of heaven. The Church exists, that the beauty of the Lord our God may be upon us. Nothing in creation is more beautiful than the sight of consecrated spirits cooperating in the work of God and of His Christ. II. THE DIVINE OBSERVATION OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. A high privilege and blessing. 1. For the condemnation of wrong. 2. For the approbation of right. No encouragement to the pursuit of goodness can be so great as that which is derived from the truth that God is beholding the fight with evil. (W. R. Percival.) Homiletic Monthly. Palestine included everything required to make a perfect commonwealth, an earthly paradise. It had —1. God's special husbandry. God cared for it. (1) (2) (3) (4) 2. The perennial watchfulness of God. (1) (2) (3) (4) (Homiletic Monthly.) II. BUT THE EVIDENCE THAT WE ARE A CARED FOR PEOPLE, and, therefore a fresh ground for our devotedness and love, IS TO BE FOUND IN THE TIME WHEN THIS BLESSING OF AN ABUNDANT HARVEST HAS BEEN SENT TO US. III. But here the scoffer may interject, "Why, if this be 'a land which the Lord careth for,' IS IT SUFFERED TO BE DARKENED HERE AND THERE BY THE OVERHANGING PESTILENCE, or drained of its best blood to keep down a despot's pride?" Should we call that a cared for land over which the ploughshare had never passed, neither iron had entered to break up the fallow ground? Many can see this with regard to the wasting sickness, who find it hard to apply to the case of a tyrant's misdoing. But we cannot allow a Divine purpose to the pestilence, and refuse a heavenly mission to the sword. It would be a deep enigma in Providence, and contrary to all that has been hitherto known among men, if the desolating scenes which are now taking place in the East should be without some great moral — should pass away, like the dark shapes upon a storm cloud, and leave no trace behind. All God's judgments, whatever the instrumentality employed, are to teach men righteousness. It is so with individuals; it is so with nations. (D. Moore, M. A.) I. LOOK BACK ON THE YEAR WHICH HAS EXPIRED. The man of business is accustomed at this season to review the transactions of the preceding year, that he may ascertain the amount of his gains and losses. And it becomes you as rational, as immortal, and as accountable beings, to reflect seriously on all that you have received and endured and done during the past year, that thus you may be able to correct what has been wrong, and to supply what has been wanting, in your character and conduct, so as to be better prepared for the trial which you must undergo when you leave the present scene of activity. 1. The outward blessings you have received, and the manner in which you have employed them. 2. The spiritual privileges with which you have been favoured, and the improvement which you have made of them. 3. The trials you have endured, and the effect which they have had upon you. 4. The sins you have committed, and the sentiments and feelings which they have awakened in you. Have you been led gradually to think less of the evil involved in them, and to indulge in them with diminishing repugnance? Or have you been prompted to increased vigilance, in avoiding everything that has a tendency to betray you into them, and increased care to keep at a distance from them, and shun even the appearance of them? In the one case, there is evidence that you have been making a mock at sin, or have looked on it as a trivial thing, which ought not to awaken in you any deep distress; in the other, there is ground for the conclusion that you possess the broken and contrite spirit which God does not despise. II. LOOK FORWARD TO THE YEAR WHICH HAS COMMENCED. I do not mean that you should look forward to it with the design of discovering the events which will occur in your history, or the vicissitudes which you will experience during its course. That would be a vain attempt; and if it were practicable, it would be unwise in you to make it. But your ignorance of futurity should urge you to seek preparedness for the events that will befall you, whatever they may be. You ought not, indeed, to conjecture new and unusual circumstances in which it is possible that you may be placed, and to distract your thoughts from present duties, by considering what in all probability you would do, were these conjectures to be realised; for the grace, or Divine assistance, which the Christian is encouraged to ask, is grace for present need, and not present grace for future supposed necessities. Still, however, there is a state of habitual preparedness for everything that may occur in his future life, which it is of the highest importance for you to possess. Now, there is a two-fold preparedness for death which you should desire to possess. The first is a preparedness as to state, which imparts a title to eternal blessedness. And the second is a preparedness as to character, which fits or capacitates for the enjoyment of eternal blessedness. III. LOOK UPWARD TO GOD, IN CONNECTION BOTH WITH THE RETROSPECT OF THE PAST, AND WITH THE ANTICIPATION OF THE FUTURE. 1. With self-dedication. Cherish a sincere desire and resolution to have Jehovah for your God. Enter now into covenant with Him, if you have not hitherto done so; and if in past times you have chosen Him to be your God, renew your solemn engagement to Him. 2. With confession of sin, and engagement to holiness. Let your contemplation of the past prompt to an humble acknowledgment of the greatness and inexcusableness of the offences by which you have provoked the Divine displeasure, and let the anticipation of the future be accompanied with sincere resolutions of new obedience. 3. With prayer for forgiveness and needed grace. Ask God in His great mercy to pardon the sins of the past year, and to grant to you that assistance which will enable you to avoid these sins during the year that has commenced. 4. With gratitude and confidence. While you cherish thankfulness to God for the goodness which He has manifested to you during the past year, cherish also reliance on His kindness and care for the year that is to come. (D. Duncan.) 1210 God, human descriptions 7258 promised land, early history 4854 weather, God's sovereignty The God of the Rain Gilgal, in Deuteronomy 11:30 what the Place Was. Josiah, a Pattern for the Ignorant. The Blessings of Noah Upon Shem and Japheth. (Gen. Ix. 18-27. ) Subjects of Study. Home Education in Israel; Female Education. Elementary Schools, Schoolmasters, and School Arrangements. In the Fifteenth Year of Tiberius Cæsar and under the Pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas - a Voice in the Wilderness The Worship of the Synagogue Among the People, and with the Pharisees Covenanting Confers Obligation. The Old Testament Canon from Its Beginning to Its Close. Deuteronomy |
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