From J. C. Philpot's Daily Portions
November 26 "And they shall spring up as among the grass."
Isaiah 44:4 The Lord's people are spoken of here as at once
"springing up" under the influence of the water poured, and of the floods
given. We cannot mistake the spiritual meaning of the figure, as it is so
clear and certain. In those burning regions where rain does not fall at all
seasons from the skies, as in our dripping climate, the effect of copious
showers falling upon the parched vegetation is almost miraculous. A few days
completely reverse the scene, and on every side vegetation springs up as if
it started with gigantic growth out of the bosom of the heated soil. To this
the figure in the text alludes, "They shall spring up," that is, Zion's
children, "as among the grass," with all that young and active growth which
so clearly manifests the power and the blessing of God. But what may we understand by the expression "grass?"
May we not interpret it as emblematic of the flesh, according to the
words of the prophet, "All flesh is grass!" (Isa. 40:6.) All the pride,
pomp, and beauty of the flesh are but as grass, for "all the glory of man is
as the flower of grass" (1 Peter 1:24), which, when cut down by the scythe,
soon withers, is gathered into heaps, and swept away out of the field. In
this point of view we may consider the children of God to spring up among
the sons of men as flowers among the grass, bedecking it with beauty--the
only beautiful objects among the green blades. O how blessed it is to see
children of God springing up here and there among the grass which everywhere
so thickly covers the meadow! Time may have been when you were hidden
beneath the grass--when, though a flower in God's sight, your root was in
the dust, and you lay undistinguished amid the thick herbage. But being a
flower, one of the Redeemer's own lilies, among whom he feeds (Song Sol.
6:3), when the rain of heaven dropped upon you, you sprang up amid the
crowded blades which before hid you from view.