Consider the Lilies
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (Matt. 6: 28b, 29 – KJV)
How often have I heard this verse? And yet, last night, I felt almost like I read it for the first time.
How often do I forget the lilies?
Last week I was watching over some children with my sister. One little boy, about three years of age, (who is normally the picture of a “good child”) was getting all riled up over a fireman’s helmet. He wanted to wear it, and we didn’t know where it was. He approached the father of the household, asking him to go get it.
He was directed to two yellow construction helmets in the corner.
No, those won’t work. It has to be the red fireman’s helmet.
A red helmet was brought downstairs.
No, the fireman’s helmet has a face guard. That’s the wrong one.
He was offered a blue helmet with a face guard.
NO. The fireman’s helmet. It’s red. With a face guard. IT IS upstairs.
~
But isn’t that just like us? Don’t we have in our mind the perfect picture of what we want? The perfect schedule, the perfect job, the perfect summer… Only God isn’t an indulgent parent racing up and down the stairs to gratify our every whim. God must be thinking, My child. Consider the lilies.
”Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” (Matt. 6:30 – KJV)
Shall he not so much more clothe us? Plan for us? Provide for us? We smile and shake our heads at a small child when he tells us of his outlandish plans for his life. Are we not the same?
Of course we must lay plans. God never tells us not to. But to trust in anything of ours, over anything of God’s… is to forget the lily. And what man-made object outshines the brilliance of this small example of God’s handiwork?
Filed under: Attributes of God, Christian Living, Faith, Knowing God, Satisfied
How true that is. I have always loved “considering the lilies”… and the trees and the sky and the birds and the wind. Whenever I see these things, I know and am joyful that God has thoughts which will give us an expected end.
Mmm…excellent points, DJ. I especially need to be reminded of that a lot after this past week and the week to come. Sometime life just gets so busy…we wonder how it can ever all “fit” together.
Then a lily blooms.
Excellent. Thanks for the miraculous reminder.
God has been teaching me this lately, too. I want to get to the point of resting in Him — like a small child would quietly rest against her mother and not worry at all, but trust completely. I’ve been reading about WW2 lately to research some stories I’d like to write and it has been so interesting to me to hear how children handle war compared to how adults do. In the Bible, Paul talked about being content with whatever God provides. How much better we would do this if we were more childlike in our trust in God and looked at things from a child’s perspective. So often we undermine God’s Plans because we forget that we are His children and that He will take care of us and that He, definitely in the end, directs the plans and has the final say. How much easier it would be for us, though, if we let Him direct us from the beginning. How much better it would be if we allowed Him to lovingly care for us and plan our lives instead of attempting so much on our own and only allowing Him in when we can’t do it on our own anymore. May we learn daily more of what it means to be His children and how to better joy in the privileges of being such.
God bless!
What beautiful pictures you added tot he end of the post. I too have seen that passage in a new llight after reading your post and understand why you also seemed to “be reading it for the first time”. I have a TNIV Bible and the wording is different for this part.
“See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you - you of little faith?”
It seems ike new revelations are abounding from the scriptures for me lately. Thank you for that. These posts have shown mea few new thigns about my faith and about passages I had read so many times before.
-Bee-