---

The Jews regarded these words as a prophecy of Christ. As such take them. How beautiful is the morning! How refreshing is the rain!

I. BOTH ARE INDEPENDENT OF MAN. "The day is Thine, O Lord, Thou hast prepared the light." "He prepareth rain for the earth." They both emanate from God. How true of grace and mercy! He who gives morning to the world gives dawning to the soul.

1. How softly, and silently come the light and the rain! How true of Christ's coming into the world and of His mission among men! "He shall, not strive," etc. "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation — with spectators looking on.

2. How true of Christ's entrance into the soul! Not in the storm, but in the still small voice. "My conversion," says a French evangelist, "was as gentle as a mother's kiss."

II. BOTH ARE NECESSARY TO MAN. Nansen tells us how they longed for the light! In India and Australia, how the thirsty land cries out for the refreshing showers! So the soul of man needs Christ.

III. BOTH ARE FULL AND FREE FOR MAN. The sun and the rain come for all. No "Trusts" can monopolise them. How true of the Divine love! It is like the great sea whose waves beat upon every shore. "Draw up the blind," said George Dawson; "let in the light." When the gentle rain descends, you put out your ferns and flower-pots. Get where there are showers of blessing that your soul may be refreshed.

(A. Hampden Lee.)

---

---

KJV: Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

WEB: Let us acknowledge Yahweh. Let us press on to know Yahweh. As surely as the sun rises, Yahweh will appear. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain that waters the earth."