Fourth Sunday Meditation: Consider The Lilies And Stop Worrying

"Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations"

Psalm 90:1

Crown Anemone

(Kalaniyot)

The "lilies of the field"

Wildflowers

(Israel)

"And why should you be anxious about clothes?

Consider the lilies of the field and learn thoroughly

how they grow; they neither toil or spin.

Yet, I tell you, even Solomon in all his magnificence

was not arrayed like one of these.

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which

today is alive and green and tomorrow is tossed

into the furnace, will He not much more surely clothe

you, O you of little faith?

So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow,

for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own.

Sufficient for each day is its own trouble."

Matthew 6:28,29,30,34

Theology Of Flowers

"Why are you so anxious?  Take a lesson from the wildflowers.

They neither toil or spin, yet even Solomon in all his royal glory

was not arrayed like one of these.  And if your Heavenly Father

gives such attention to the appearance of flowers, many of which

grow in unseen places, surely He will attend to you too.

So take a deep breath. Don't let worry blind you to God's

ongoing care; don't live like those without faith.

You have a place in your Father's heart;

you have a share in His house above.

See the Lord as your Dwelling Place in all generations;

behold His unchanging glory despite the fleeting

shadows of this world.

We must first look to the Eternal to rightly see the finite;

we must look upward before we look downward.

As we contemplate God's eternality and power, we

realize the wonder and sanctity of our short time here.

The Eternal is our refuge,

our "dwelling place in all generations"

and that means in the present generation as well as

 on the other side of fleeting appearances of this world.

When we pray to God as,
 "Avinu She-bashamayim"

"Our Father in Heaven"

we are calling to
 "the One who is in the midst of

the waters of Life."

Revelation 22:1,3

The psalmist says: "I shall not die but live."

Psalm 118:17

In order to live, you must give yourself to death;

but when you have done so, you discover that you are

not to die, but to live.

Here, "giving yourself to death" means surrendering

to God's will, accepting the yoke of Heaven, and

trusting in His governing "flow" over all of creation.

This is the deeper meaning of "baptism", as we are

immersed into God's care for our lives.

Yeshua gives us abundant life.

The bloom of every flower is by eternal purpose, and not one

common sparrow is forgotten by your Heavenly Father.

Luke 12:6

God's irresistible providence comprehends and orders

all things, from the realm of the subatomic to the cosmic

motions of the heavenly bodies.

The Lord is the Center of reality:

"All things were created by Him, and for Him, and in

Him all things hold together."

Col. 1:16-17

In light of this, the 17th century theologian Blaise Pascal 

 asked, "What is left for us but to unite our will to that of

God Himself, to will in Him, with Him, and for Him

the thing that He has eternally willed in us and for us?"

In other words, what else can we do but learn to trust, accept,

and to say "yes" to life-even if at times we may feel like

strangers in exile?

 All our days are ordained; recorded in God's scroll.

Therefore, may God, "teach us to number our days to get

a heart of wisdom." 

Psalm 90:12

So, don't lose heart, friend.  He who cares for you is a

good Shepherd and you shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

"Theology of Flowers"

A teaching by John J. Parsons

Zola Levitt Ministries
(July 2017)

Beginning in the month of January and lasting through March,

God carpets the barren places of the Negev Desert region in Israel

with beautiful red Anemone, which are called Kalaniyot in Hebrew.