This morning we were enjoying the reach meaning of a simple and sweet word, Lily. In Hosea 14:5 the Lord said, He will bud like the lily… Israel will bud like a lily, one who lives a life fully trusting in God.
If we look throughout the Bible for the mentioning of this word, LILY, we will realize that it typifies those who live a simple and pure life trusting in God, under the care of God, even in the midst of all kinds of complicated and complex situations around them.
We need to be such ones, those living a life fully trusting in God in the midst of our intermixed and complicated situations.
A life of faith in God, fully trusting in God
The Lord Jesus told the disciples in Matt. 6:28, And why are you anxious concerning clothing? Consider well the lilies of the field, how they grow. They do not toil, neither do they spin thread.
We may worry about this situation or that person, or we may be anxious about our clothing, shelter, food, etc. But our Heavenly Father knows our needs and He can provide for us. We need to be those who simply trust in God, those living a life by faith in God.
This is our life on earth today, a life of trusting in God, a simple life under the all-inclusive care of God. What can we change by being anxious or worrying? Nothing! It is better to trust in the Lord!
One of the main problems in the modern society today and in our Christian life also is that we have too many things that clutter our personal life, our church life, and our family life. In order for us to become vital we need to live a simplified life, a simple life.
Yes, all the people in the world pursue their daily necessities to the uttermost, they spend a lot on their adornments, and they run after entertainment – but all these distract us from a life of trusting in the Lord.
We as lovers of Christ are small persons, living a trusting life in the low place (see Song of Songs 2:1). This is the kind of people that Christ appreciates: those who trust in Him, who live a pure and trusting life among the filthy and unbelieving people (Song of Songs 2:2).
Living by faith in the midst of our complicated situations
Another place in the Bible where lilies are mentioned is in 1 Kings 7:15-22, where we see that part of the temple were some pillars with a complicated and intermixed nets of chain work, and there were lilies there.
Who would design such an intermixed and complicated work for a building? It is only God, the Master Architect, who would design such a thing not only physically but also in our Christian life and church life.
There are many complicated and intermixed situations in our life (checker work and chain work) in which we place ourselves under God’s judgement (bronze pillars), counting ourselves as nothing. In this way, we are able to bear responsibility in full (number 10) and express the riches of the divine life (pomegranates) in all these situations out of the process of resurrection! This is all because we do not live by ourselves but by God (lilies).
How can we live a life of trusting in God? How can we bear the testimony of living by faith? We need to realize that in ourselves we are incapable, unqualified, and fallen – we are nothing.
We can’t solve these intermixed situations and complicated issues in our family life, personal life, or church life.
In ourselves, we are incapable of doing this, but we can do so if we live by faith in God. It is no longer I, but Christ who lives in me! This is the life of a lily, as Gal. 2:20 says – it is not I who lives but Christ, the One I trust and I am organically linked to by faith!
God is and I am not. I am nothing, but He is becoming my everything and He does everything in me. We live not by ourselves, by our ability or capacity, or by what we are or can do – we live by faith in God (see Gal. 2:20; 2 Cor. 1:24; 5:7; 4:13).
Lord, make us those who live such a simple life of trusting in You. We want to live a life by faith, organically joined to You, in which we allow You to live in us. Lord, may it be no longer I but Christ! We can’t do it, we can’t be it, and we can’t make it. We are nothing. Lord, we are NOT: You are! In the midst of all our complicated and intermixed situations, Lord, we are not: You are!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired from, Life-study of Genesis (msgs. 83-84), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of the Minor Prophets, week 2 (entitled, The Restoration of Israel — Transformation in Life by God’s Love).
- Further reading: 1 Kings 7:16-20, and note 1 on v. 16;
- Hymns on this topic:
# Viewing You like a dove uniquely, / Trusting You singly as a lily.
# Simply trusting every day; / Trusting through a stormy way; / Even when my faith is small, / Trusting Jesus, that is all.
# A lily she is now to Him / (For still the Lord draws on), / Her faith is not in earthly toil, / But in the wondrous Son.
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Oh for grace to trust Him more! Amen
amen, praise the Lord
It matters to Him concerning us. It is such a relief to trust in the Lord!
Amen Lord!!!! Just by enjoying You and not to be shaken with the world's circumstances. Overlay us with gold by a constant fellowship with You, by drinking the fountain that never runs dry and by being constituted with Your divine element so we can express You. You know our needs and You always arrange everything for our own good. All we have to do is trust You for everything…
The footnote 1 on 1 Kings 7:16 [from the Recovery Version Bible] is so encouraging and yet so detailed, giving us an insight on what it means to live a lily life in the midst of all the complicated and intermixed situations we are in…
A life of faith that expresses the riches of the divine life is the issue of the experience of Christ’s crucifixion in and through the complicated and intermixed situation (cf. 2 Cor. 4:7-18). In spiritual significance the bowls of the capitals [in 1 Kings 7:16-20] are a testimony (two) indicating that those who place themselves under God’s judgment (bronze), counting themselves as nothing, are able to bear responsibility (five) in full (ten) and express the riches of the divine life (pomegranates) in the midst of a complicated and intermixed situation (the checker work and chain work) out of the process of resurrection (the base of the capitals, three cubits in height) because they do not live by themselves but by God (lilies). A believer who is a pillar as a sign of God’s building must bear the testimony of living by faith to bear responsibility and express the riches of life through the process of resurrection under the crossing out of the checker work and the restriction of the chain work. (1 Kings 7:16, footnote 1)