Evening
Time: 8:47 PM PST
"I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours
of your hands." --Haggai 2:17
How destructive is the hail to the standing crops, beating out the precious
grain upon the ground! How grateful ought we to be when the corn is spared so
terrible a ruin! Let us offer unto the Lord thanksgiving. Even more to be
dreaded are those mysterious destroyers--smut, bunt, rust, and mildew. These
turn the ear into a mass of soot, or render it putrid, or dry up the grain, and
all in a manner so beyond all human control that the farmer is compelled to cry,
"This is the finger of God." Innumerable minute fungi cause the mischief, and
were it not for the goodness of God, the rider on the black horse would soon
scatter famine over the land. Infinite mercy spares the food of men, but in view
of the active agents which are ready to destroy the harvest, right wisely are we
taught to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." The curse is abroad; we have
constant need of the blessing. When blight and mildew come they are
chastisements from heaven, and men must learn to hear the rod, and Him that hath
appointed it.
Spiritually, mildew is no uncommon evil. When our work is most promising this
blight appears. We hoped for many conversions, and lo! a general apathy, an
abounding worldliness, or a cruel hardness of heart! There may be no open sin in
those for whom we are labouring, but there is a deficiency of sincerity and
decision sadly disappointing our desires. We learn from this our dependence upon
the Lord, and the need of prayer that no blight may fall upon our work.
Spiritual pride or sloth will soon bring upon us the dreadful evil, and only the
Lord of the harvest can remove it. Mildew may even attack our own hearts, and
shrivel our prayers and religious exercises. May it please the great Husbandman
to avert so serious a calamity. Shine, blessed Sun of Righteousness, and drive
the blights away.