Genesis 8:22

"While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease."—Gen. viii. 22.

— Genesis 8:22

My soul, look at this gracious covenant promise of God, which was made more than four thousand years since, and is as faithfully confirmed to thy experience this night, as in the first hour wherein the Lord delivered it. How hath the seed-time and harvest, the cold and heat, the summer and winter, and day and night, through every generation, proclaimed the unfailing truth! And although we are taught to expect, and by faith both to look and to long for the "new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness;" yet is this blessed promise not less sure, or less to be depended upon, while the present earth remaineth. And do not overlook that special feature of divine faithfulness, in the fulfilment of this gracious promise; I mean that amidst all the unworthiness of man, God's bounty continues the same. Were the sun to cease its beneficial influence, or the clouds to withhold their fatness, until man deserved those blessings, the sun would rise no more, neither would the bottles of heaven pour down their fruitfulness. Sweet thought to the heart of a poor sinner! The Lord's goodness is all in himself, and from himself, and to himself for his own glory. Indeed, so abundantly gracious and compassionate is the Lord, that he very frequently takes occasion from our misery, to magnify the riches of his mercy; and "where sin hath abounded, grace doth much more abound; that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." There is one delightful thought more arising out of this blessed scripture, in the confirmation which the regular return of day and night gives to the faithfulness of the almighty Promiser, namely, that the Lord himself appealeth to this fulfilment of his covenant in nature, as the confirmation that he will fulfil his covenant in grace. "Thus saith the Lord, if ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, that there should not be day and night in their season; then also may my covenant be broken with David my servant," Jer. xxxiii. 20, 21. Oh! precious words of a gracious covenant God in Christ! Lord, I bow down before thee, under a deep sense of thy grace and love! Thou hast indeed "sworn once in thy holiness, that thou wilt not lie unto David;" even the David of thy people, thy dear and ever blessed Son! Oh! grant that, each night and morning, as well as through all the changing, but sure seasons of nature, all may be sweetly sanctified in their regular visits to my soul, while remaining on earth; that I may have a double relish and enjoyment in a sanctified use of them; and accept thy daily faithfulness in nature, as a sure pledge of thy everlasting faithfulness in grace, that "in Jesus all the seed of Israel shall be justified, and shall glory."