CONSIDER THE LILIES by L. A. R.

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jun 9, 1914

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 22.

"CONSIDER THE LILIES"

By L. A. R.

A Flower Not Contaminated by Surroundings—The Lesson of the Thorn and the Thistle

Words Still Active That Were Spoken Six Thousand Years Ago—The Eternal Decree That Follows

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow." "If God so clothe" them, "shall He not much more clothe you?"

EVERY flower is a thought of God. Yes, every flower embodies many thoughts of God. Yet there are numerous people in this world who never got one thought of God from any flower.

DID NOT SEE ITS MEANING

We read, in an English poem, of one, a type of many others, who sees in a flower only a flower. And by this we do not mean the real wonder and glory that is in the flower. We quote from the poet:

"A primrose by a river's brim A yellow primrose was to him, And it was nothing more." When we view it as it really is, we find that every flower shows within its own life the providences of God. This is how it grows; and Jesus admonishes us to "consider the lilies of the field, how they grow."

PURITY OUT OF THE MIRE

The flower comes in all its purity out of the dirt. The lily grows out of oozy slime and mud, yet it carries with it no taint of the blackness of the dirt in which its roots grow. In the coal-fields, there grows out of the black carbon dust a flower of waxy whiteness, that is not soiled either by the dust in which it takes root or by the dust that settles all around it but can find no lighting place upon its smooth, waxy petals.

From "The Guardians of the Columbia," by John H. Williams "OFTENTIMES THAT LAND IS SOON COVERED WITH A GLORIOUS GROWTH OF FLOWERS — FIREWEEDS SOME CALL THEM"

After the fire has swept a tract of land, and left it black with its devastation, oftentimes that land is soon covered with a glorious growth of flowers — fireweeds some call them. Thus by the provision of God, the very blackness of nature is made beautiful.

USE MADE OF THE THISTLE

Some people can see no use for thistles; yet there must be a use and purpose for them, or they would not be here. God has decreed that the earth should bring forth thorns and thistles, and His word is not arbitrary. It is not given merely to try and vex us. We will seek an explanation of this in a moment.

But before we seek the explanation, let us say that the thistle is here because God decreed it. When He told man of the consequences of sin, He declared that the earth was to be under the bondage of corruption, and that henceforth it should bring forth thorns and thistles. This was God's decree. Sin came by man's will; and when it came, then God decided the condition under which it would

be allowed for a time to exist. And the present condition of this world is the condition which God has permitted while sin reigns.

HATRED OF SIN MANIFESTED

The world manifests to-day God's hatred of sin; and it speaks to man from every side, to lead him away from his sin to obedience to God.

We know that neglect works havoc anywhere. If a man neglects his business, that neglect is disastrous to his business. If parents neglect their families, the families suffer. So in the realm of the soul — if you or I neglect our soul's welfare, evil results to the soul.

When a farmer neglects his land, havoc is wrought with the land; and one of the signs of that neglect, as likely as not, will be a patch of thistles. And every thistle, as it grows on that farm, and lifts itself up in prosperity, and finally puts forth its blossoms, says thereby: "I stand here to witness to this man's neglect. I am the result of neglect. And I tell you, O soul of man, that if you are neglected, there shall grow in you something worse than thorns and thistles. Beware of neglect!" Viewed in this light, even a

thistle can teach us, for it stands like a beacon to warn against neglect.

MEANING OF THORNS

And when we study into the meaning of thorns, we find that they are but twigs and limbs arrested in their development. Life was not sufficient to grow a full-formed twig or limb, and the aborted twig or limb was a thorn. Nature has lost some of the life of God that it once had. It can not come to its full perfection. This is a mark of sin, of the load resting upon nature, bearing it down, causing it with much travail and labor to bring forth its fruits, and then with immeasurable loss.

And so again the thorns, like the thistles, warn us against sin, against neglect, against failure to be completely in harmony with God, who is the foundation of life.

THE SIGNIFICANT CROWN OF THORNS

When Jesus hung upon the cross, by wisdom that was deeper than any intention of man, there rested upon His holy head a crown of thorns. Thorns mean, in nature, the consequences of sin; and Christ, by wearing thorns, said to all, I take all the consequences of sin, that you may have all the consequences of My life. So He wore a crown of thorns, that we may wear a crown of immortal glory.

Thorns and thistles are still with us and teach their lessons. We have not exhausted yet the lessons they teach, but we will mention but one more thing here.

THE DECREE OF SIX THOUSAND YEARS

It has been six thousand years or thereabouts since God uttered the words, "Thorns also and thistles shall it [the earth] bring forth." And that decree has lost none of its power. The earth still brings forth thorns and thistles, and it will do so until sin is removed.

Then when sin — or, to put it more directly, when the mind of man — has ceased to oppose the mind of God, nature will show the harmony that exists between God and the new man, by a world where there shall be neither thorns nor thistles; for the desert places even shall blossom as the rose, and without thorns.

ANOTHER DECREE TO BANISH THEM

The Lord, who decreed thorns and thistles, has decreed a world where there shall be no thorns and thistles. God's will is supreme. Whatever He decrees, shall be exactly as He has decreed it. His word does not lose any of its power by lapse of time. It keeps all its energy undiminished; for within that word, flowing out of that word, is the might of the eternal God.

And so the presence of thorns and thistles in the world to-day teaches of the power that decreed them to exist while sin existed; and also it teaches of a power that can cleanse us from all sin, and fit us for the world where there will be neither thorns nor thistles.

O, the wisdom of the Creator, who has ordained that even thorns and thistles shall teach us of the awful consequences of sin; shall teach us that Christ accepted these consequences of sin in order that He might give to us all the benefits of His life; and last of all, shall teach us of the undimmed power of the word of God, that can save us from sin and death!

L. A. R.