BY C. H. SPURGEON.
"I will water it every moment," Isaiah 27:3.
WHEN the Lord is most intent on justice He is, at the same time,
earnest in His love. The day of vengeance of our God is also the
acceptable year of the Lord. In the Scripture before us, the Prophet
says, "Behold, the Lord comes out of His place to punish the
inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity," (Isa. 26:21), and he
foretells that the Lord will come forth as one armed with a great and
strong sword to smite the fiercest of His enemies with a deadly wound
(Isa. 27:1). Yet before He had bared His arm for the battle, He
prepared chambers of refuge for His people that they might dwell as
within closed doors until the tempest of indignation was past (Isa.
26:20). The shouts of war did not prevent the Lord from remembering His
beloved and His song of love concerning her, for He says, "In that day
sing you unto her, a vineyard of red wine. I the Lord do keep it; I
will water it every moment."
Happy people, who even in the day of wrath are satisfied with favor!
Blessed heirs of Grace who hear the just and terrible Avenger say
concerning them, "Fury is not in Me" (v. 4). The love of the Lord
towards His whole Church goes forth to each individual member–the care
which He displays towards the vineyard is exercised upon each vine
which He has planted. So, then, we may without hesitation believe that
the Lord will do for us, personally, that which He promises to do for
His people as a whole! Or else there would have been exceptions stated
and the Word of God would have run thus–I will water a part of My
vineyard, but a portion of the plants shall be left to be dried up."
The Lord's Word is so truthful that it would never raise ungrounded
expectations by general statements if there were, indeed, cases not
included therein.
We are always safe in concluding that if the Lord had meant to shut out
one believing soul from a privilege, He would have mentioned it, for He
has not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth, anything which
would deny the happiness of any one of His people. This, then, beloved
Friends, is the pledge of love concerning the spiritual life of my soul
and yours–and the soul of every humble Believer in Jesus–"I will
water it every moment." This is a precious promise and the more we
meditate upon it, the more rich it will appear. May we now be watered
by the Holy Spirit while we meditate upon this promised watering!
In warm climates irrigation is essential to fertility, therefore
travelers see on all sides, pools and watercourses, wheels, cisterns
and channels for the water to flow in. The watering arises from
necessity and it is carefully attended to because otherwise the farmer
or gardener would look in vain for fruit. I remarked to a gardener in
the South of France that the weather was bad, but he replied that it
was good for the garden, for the rain gave plenty of water and that was
the chief thing. In Paradise it was no mean advantage to its verdant
bowers that a fourfold river pursued its course through its midst and
that before the rain had fallen upon the earth there went up a mist
from the earth and watered the face of the ground.
From the necessity and value of water to the plants of the earth, the
Lord would teach us our own need of His Grace and the preciousness of
that Grace–and render His promise of supply the more delightful to our
souls. That we may prize the goodness of the Lord in the promises
before us, we shall consider the necessity of our being watered; the
manner in which the Lord promises to supply our need and the certainty
that He will do so. O for a living meditation, not upon the letter of
the Word, only, but upon its innermost teaching!
I. There is a great NECESSITY for the watering promised in the text.
This we might conclude from the promise itself, since there is not one
superfluous Word of promise in the whole Scriptures! It becomes more
evident when we reflect that all creature life is dependent upon the
perpetual outgoing of Divine power. Existence is a continued creation,
for the creatures have no power within themselves to preserve their own
being–even the solid rocks and the great mountains would reek away as
so many shadows if eternal Omnipotence did not, every moment, keep them
in being. The
world is not like a wheel, which, having received a great push from a
strong hand, continues to revolve long after the hand is withdrawn,
but, Divine energy goes forth continually to uphold all things which
God has made.
Now, the same law holds good in the more choice and illustrious works
of God in the kingdom of Grace and multitudes of illustrations of this
are to be found in Holy Writ. Believers are stones, but their upholding
comes continually from the foundation–they are branches perpetually
sucking nourishment from the stem–members of the body always deriving
life from the Head. Towards God we are streams and not fountains; rays
of light, not suns; lamps which must be trimmed and nourished with oil;
sheep which need unceasing care and feeding. The inner life cannot live
upon itself! It is one mark of its presence that the Believer is not
only dependent as a creature, but feels it as a living, sensible,
instructed and trustful creature. The Christian has no quarrel with the
hint of utter weakness which is implied in the text, for he is well
aware that he must be watered, each moment, or he will dry up from the
root and cease to be.
Moreover, the Truth of God is specially certain as touching the
Believer, for a multitude of agencies are at work to dry up the
moisture of His soul. As far as this world is concerned, he is planted
in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. His sorrows tend to
parch him like a hot wind from the desert and earthly joys are still
more like a sirocco which burns as an oven. Satan's temptations scorch
and wither our hearts unless the Water of Life is abundantly laid at
our root–and the men of the world act after the same manner. If we
trusted in ourselves, we should soon be as the heath in the desert, or
as the grass upon the housetops. Indwelling sin is especially a
devouring blast and would, if it acted without check and
counterbalance, turn the garden of the soul into a desolate wilderness.
We are as plants set in the blaze of a tropical sun upon which a
burning oven pours forth its tremendous heat. One moment without Divine
watering and shade would dry us up root and branch.
Neither have we any other source of supply but the living God. "All my
springs are in You." We have the ordinances and means of Grace, but we
cannot, of ourselves, fetch a blessing from them. The Spirit of God is
as the dew and the rain, but we cannot command His influences–these
lie altogether at the Sovereign disposal of the Lord. To convince us of
our utter impotence in the matter, the Lord asks us in the Book of Job,
"Can you lift up your voice to the clouds that abundance of water may
cover you?" No, the bottles of Heaven drop at Jehovah's bidding and
unless His good pleasure gives the land its refreshment, "the dust
grows into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together," the brooks
are dried up and the springs of water fail. None can afford us a drop
of spiritual water unless the infinite depths of Divine Grace overflow
to us and the Lord visits the heart and waters it from the river of God
which is full of water. Therefore the need that we cry with David, "I
stretch forth my hands unto You: my soul thirsts after You, as a
thirsty land."
Remember, also, that our need of Divine watering is clearly seen when
we consider what drought, barrenness and death would come upon us if
His hand were withdrawn. Then would be fulfilled in us the prophecy of
Jeremiah, "Their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they
came to the pits and found no water; they returned with their vessels
empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.
Because the ground is chapped, for there was no rain in the earth, the
plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads." Then would our leaf
wither and our root fail. As for fruit–there would be none and we
should be only fit for burning! Without watering every moment, the most
faithful among us would be cast forth and be only fit for the
fire–every Prophet would become a Balaam, every Apostle a Judas, every
disciple a Demas! We must be watered and watered every moment, or we
die! Lord, save us, or we perish! Look down from Heaven and behold and
visit this vine and the vineyard which Your right hand has planted.
II. This point is clear and our experience daily brings it under our
notice. Let us now carefully regard THE MANNER in which the Lord
promises to water His people–"I will water it every moment." Our first
thought is excited by the perpetual act–"every moment" the Lord will
water the vineyard! There is never a moment in which it ceases to need
it and, therefore, the supply is as constant as the demand. He further
says, "Lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day," so that at all
hours of the night, as well as of the day, the Lord's care is over His
people! Mercy knows no pause! Grace has no canonical hours, or rather
all hours are alike canonical–yes, and all moments, too.
We may stop our asking, but God does not stop His giving! We may not
perceive the flowing of His Grace and yet they are never suspended, no,
not for a moment, or else it were not true–"I will water it every
moment." This leads us to rest assured of our final perseverance, since
His perseverance in watering will produce our perseverance in budding,
leafing and fruit-bearing, else His watering were in vain, His Grace
ineffectual, His purpose defeated and it would not be true that none
had hurt the vineyard. Glory be to the great Keeper of the vines, He
will give a good account of His
charge, saying, "Of all that You gave Me, I have lost none." Between
here and Heaven there will never be a moment in which the Lord will not
water His people and, therefore, never a moment in which they will be
dried up and left to perish. Let faith lay hold of this and gather
strength from it.
Nor is this all–the Lord's watering is a renewed act. He does not
water us once in great abundance and then leave us to live upon what He
has already poured out. He does not cause so much rain to fall in one
day as may water the earth for seven years, or there could not, then,
be a daily dependence upon Him for rain and dew! Neither does He give
Grace enough to His servants at any one time to serve them for a month,
or a week, or a day, or even an hour–He waters them "every moment"
that they may know that at no one instant of time can they do without
Him. He placed the whole fountain of Living Water in His Son, for in
Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. But in our case He
releases His showers that we may seek and obtain new out-flowing of the
Eternal Life and every moment come under new debts to His infinite
love.
It is very sweet to have it so, for thus we have, each moment, a reason
for coming to Him, inasmuch as every moment He has something to impart
to us. If we are conscious at this moment of our poverty, we need not
despair, nor even hang our heads, for the next moment has its appointed
watering and before the clock has ticked, faith may receive a flood of
Grace, according to the promise, "I will pour water upon him that is
thirsty and floods upon the dry ground." Attention should be gratefully
directed to the fact that the watering promised by the Lord is a
personal act– "I will water it." Apollos waters, but he cannot do it
of himself, nor can he do it every moment, nor at all except as an
instrument in the hands of God! The Lord does His work effectually–as
in Creation He spoke not in vain, but He spoke and it was done. So in
Grace He waters and we are watered, indeed!
Sweet is the Truth of God that we are not left to second causes or
agents–these might fail us in the hour of need, yes, they must prove
liars if we depended on them–for it would be impossible for any of
them, or all of them put together to water us every moment! But the
all-sufficient God, out of the measureless stores of Grace, can and
will, in His own Person, supply all His saints forever, giving them to
be filled with His fullness and never to know a need. Not even to
angels has He left the care of His saints, but He, Himself, through the
mediation of His dear Son, does every moment keep and water us by His
effectual Grace! How condescending is this on the Lord's part! He who
leads forth the stars by their armies, bows the heavens to visit your
soul and mine, taking care that there shall be a channel for the Water
of Life to flow to the poorest and meanest of His people!
How near this brings the Lord to us and what an idea it gives us of His
perpetual active Presence. As the gardener stands over the plant,
gently pouring the water all around it and upon it so as to feed the
roots and wash the leaves, even so does the Lord, as it were, stand
over His people, watching over them for good and dispensing His Grace
with all wisdom and prudence as they are able to receive it. Our need
calls for His abiding Presence and His love vouchsafes it. Every moment
is the Lord near us, for every moment He waters us. Every moment does
He love us because His love is actively demonstrating itself in
condescending actions.
His love suggests the watering and the watering proves His love. He is
never weary of the work which He has, Himself, undertaken in love and
which He will not delegate to others because He is so well pleased with
doing it Himself.
III. This much suffices to fill our slender space–let us now, in the
third place, consider THE CERTAINTY that the Lord will water every
plant that His own right hand has planted. Here a vast number of
arguments suggest themselves, but we will content ourselves with the
one ground of confidence which is found in the Lord Himself and His
previous deeds of love. The Lord our God is true and cannot lie and,
therefore, if He says, "I will water it," we need no further guarantee
that it will be done. "Has He said, and shall He not do it?" Has He
ever broken the Word which has once gone out of His mouth? Assuredly
not!
The Lord is mighty and cannot, therefore, leave His promise unfulfilled
from lack of power to make it good. He may safely say, "I will,"
because nothing is impossible with Him! Man's, "I will," is often an
empty boast. Never is it so with the Lord of Hosts! Our souls need
supplies so great as to drain rivers of Grace, but the all-sufficient
God is able to meet the largest demands of the innumerable company of
His people and He will meet them to His own honor and Glory forever.
Here, then, we see His truth, His power and His all-sufficiency all
pledged to provide for His chosen and we may be sure that the guarantee
will stand. The Immutability and Omnipresence of God both speak to the
same effect. The
Lord has watered His people up to now and, as He cannot change, they
may expect the same treatment at His hands. He will neither revoke His
promise nor cease from fulfilling it.
Moreover, He can be with His needy servants every moment as His promise
implies, for it will never be said of Him, "Perhaps He is pursuing, or
He is on a journey, or He sleeps and must be awakened." While He is
working in Heaven and on earth and in all deep places, yet can His
gracious hand be busy among the tender plants of His Grace and that at
all times, yes every moment! If we needed further confirmation we might
well remember that the Lord has already watered His vineyard in a far
more costly manner than it will ever need again. The Lord Jesus has
watered it with a sweat of blood and can it be supposed that He will
leave it now? Gethsemane worked for the Church much beyond any future
need which can possibly arise to her–He who spared not His own blood
will not withhold watering from those He has redeemed!
Dear Friend, you and I have already cost the Savior so much that there
is no fear of His parting with us, or losing His reward in us by giving
us over to barrenness! Jesus has already fulfilled, on our behalf, a
weightier engagement than that which is contained in the text. He said,
"I will redeem it," and He has kept His Word–and now, if He declares,
"I will water it," it would be a superfluity of unbelief to distrust
Him! Up to now the sacred promise has been fully kept, for we have been
graciously preserved in spiritual life. Times of drought have befallen
us and yet our soul has not been suffered to famish! Why, then, should
we question the goodness of the Lord as to years to come?
His delight is in us as much as ever, because Jesus, in whom He beholds
us, is as fair and lovely as ever! And therefore we may expect the same
kindness from the same loving heart. He has not only pledged Himself to
water His people, but again and again He has spoken to the same effect.
Hear how Isaiah speaks by the Holy Spirit–"And the Lord shall guide
you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make fat your
bones: and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of
water, whose waters fail not."
Jeremiah also speaks to the same effect in his 31st chapter at the 12th
verse. Shall the Lord run back from His Covenant? Shall we so much
blaspheme His name as to suppose that He will be false to His
engagements? Unbelief, hide your guilty head! Doubting one, be
comforted–He who said, "I will water it every moment," must not be
dishonored by your guilty suspicions, for He will do even as He has
said! It is true your heart is, by nature, barren and dry, but what has
that to do with the promise of Free Grace so as to render it of no
effect? Is not your parched and desolate condition rather to be viewed
as a reason why the Lord should open the windows of Heaven above you
and pour out His blessing?
One thing is never to be forgotten–we are the Lord's. Therefore, if He
does not water us, He will, Himself, be the loser. An owner of
vineyards, if he should allow them to be parched with the drought,
would derive nothing from his estate. The vineyard would be dried up
and he would receive no clusters. With reverence it is spoken–Our Lord
Himself will never see the travail of His soul in untended vines, nor
in hearts unsanctified and unrenewed, nor in men whose Graces droop and
die for lack of Divine refreshing! The Lord must carry the work through
or lose what He has done– and that would not be consistent with the
foresight of His wisdom or the purpose of His heart!
He chose us. He bought us. He delights in us. He put His very Glory in
pawn concerning us and we may, therefore, be sure beyond all doubt that
he will water us to the end. Does He water us every moment? Then let
His praise continually be in our mouths. Does He thus care for us? Let
us, then, watch for the advance of His cause, the extension of His
kingdom, the good of His people. He who is thus watered should water
others! If the Lord puts within us a well of Living Water through His
Divine watering, then let us give forth to others rivers of Living
Water! Yet let not this be our first thought, but rather let us go away
crying, "Lord, make my soul as a watered garden! Saturate my fleece!
Fill my vessel to the brim and keep it full forever! Fulfill this Word
unto Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope, and water me
every moment, even me."
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The Son Glorified by the Father and the Father Glorified by the Son