Room to Grow - Lessons from the Lilies
“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these" (Luke 12:27).
Our Father, You alone are the Lord. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down before You (Nehemiah 9:6).
Creator God, Your hands formed stars, and suns, planets and galaxies, and Your hands formed buds, and blossoms, and petals. What a mighty God we serve!
You tell us, Lord, to consider Your might, Your power, and Your providence, displayed in the wild flowers of the field. They do not labor or spin, You remind us, and yet they are more beautifully arrayed than even Solomon in all his splendor.
Father, Solomon himself learned about the futility of roving appetites (Ecclesiastes 6:9). As everyone comes, so they depart, and what do they gain, since they toil for the wind? (Ecclesiastes 5:16). Work is a gift from You (Ecclesiastes 5:19), but You do not want us to be endlessly driven by the the meaninglessness of greed, and the compulsive toil of never enough, and never satisfied (Ecclesiastes 5:10).
Neither do You want us to be consumed by worry. You know our need (Luke 12:30). Help us to trust You. You instruct us to seek [God's] kingdom, and [the needs of life] will be given to you as well (Luke 12:31).
You are Jehovah Jireh. Help us to take You at Your word. Take us to a true understanding of what it means practically in our lives to seek God's kingdom. Help us not to become choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures. Fill our lives with the rich soil of godliness with contentment (1 Timothy 6:6), so that we have room to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).
Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come, Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heav’n and home, When Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is He: His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
Refrain: I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free, For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear, And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears; Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise, When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies, I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
~ Civilla D. Martin ~ 1905
コメント