Letters of Hope

 “The LORD by wisdom has founded the earth; by understanding He has established the heavens. 

By His knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.”  (Prov. 3:19,20)

“My teaching, let it fall like a gentle rain, My words arrive like morning dew, like a sprinkling rain on        new grass, like spring showers on the garden.”  (Deut. 32:2)

Recently I have been learning about “dew.”  Inspirational thoughts have come to me from three sources, and I would like to share them with my readers.  First of all, I needed to understand what “dew” is; its definition, or description.  It is a physical phenomenon with which most of us are familiar and since, in Scripture, it is also applied in a spiritual sense, I thought it would be worth meditating on it.

Simply put, dew is the name given to the glistening beads of moisture that often appear on grass and vegetation early on a clear morning.  Dew forms when air near the ground cools to the point where it cannot hold all its water vapor.  The excess water vapor then condenses on objects near the ground.  During the day, objects absorb heat from the sun.  At night, they lose this heat and, as they cool, the temperature of the air around them is also reduced.  Colder air cannot hold as much water vapor as can warmer air. If the air continues to cool it eventually reaches the dew point, which is the temperature at which the air contains as much water vapor as it can hold.  If the air cools further, some of the vapor condenses on the nearest available surface.  (When it freezes, I discovered, it is called frozen dew – or frost!)

Moist air drawn in from the sea is largely responsible for dew-fall in western Palestine, especially in the districts near the coast and on the western slopes of the mountains.  The maximum dew occurs in the beneficial summer months when the plants need moisture most.  Dew is beneficial to summer crops.  This has been proved conclusively by agronomical field studies made over the last 60 years.  The ancients therefore were not exaggerating it as a source of blessings, and the absence of it was considered a cause of severe plight.   To the Hebrews, according to the Talmud, its preciousness was taken up as an emblem of resurrection:  “The dew of resurrection!”

“I will be as the dew unto Israel:  he shall grow as the lily, and cast  forth his roots as Lebanon.”  (Hosea 14:5)

Quoting Watchman Nee, “these words describe the beginning of everything in the experience of God’s children.  Dewfall is altogether vital to the life and growth of trees and flowers, and to us the Lord Himself promises to be as the dew. Everything in our life as Christians comes down to us from Christ as the Source.  He is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, holiness – yes, everything, and there is no human need that we shall find unmet as we receive Him, nor indeed will anything be given to us as a separate gift apart from Him.

Then this thought from Malcolm Smith:  “The dew is God’s method of daily reviving and renewing His creation in the midst of death…His mysterious act of His love to the creation.”  In places like Israel, everything would wither in the heat of the sun, if it wasn’t for the gently falling dew that quietly waters the plants during the night.

From Frances Ridley Havergal, I gleaned this truth:-  “You look out some dark night after a hot dusty day;  there is no storm, no rain, there is not the least token to your senses of what is going on.  You look out again in the morning, and you see every blade and leaf tipped with a dewdrop; everything is revived and freshened, prepared for the heat of the day, and smiling at the glow.

“Just so, His words are silently falling on your souls in the darkness, and preparing them for the day.  They do not come with any sensible power, nothing flashes out from the page as at other times, nothing shines so as to shed any pleasant light on your path, you do not hear any sound of abundance of rain.  You seem as if you could not take in the words; and if you could, your mind is too weary to meditate on them.  But they are distilling as the dew all the time!”

Springs of life in desert places
Shall thy God unseal for thee;
Quickening and reviving graces,
Dew-like, healing, sweet and free.
Springs of sweet refreshment flowing,
When thy work is hard or long.
Courage, hope, and power bestowing,
Lightening labor with a song.

We have seen in Hosea that, first of all, Christ is the Dew.  As we are united with Him, members of His Body, we are His representatives to the world.  As He is, so are we in the world.  His purpose is that we should be the channels of Divine Dew to bless, refresh, revive and restore the needy ones around us.  If we are to “live Christ” as Paul exhorted, then we shall indeed become as dew in a needy world, a refreshing for the thirsty hearts of those around us.

Now may the God of HOPE
fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
that you may abound in HOPE
by the power of the Holy Spirit.

(Romans 15:13, NKJV)

In Agape,

Eulene

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