... ...and by his light I walked through darkness!    JOB 29:3 NIV

 

Lilly or Thorn

by Pat Nordman

 

Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the maidens

  Song of Solomon 2:2


The lily is beautiful, simple, pure and fragrant; the thorn is unsightly, sharp and barren. Which are we, lilies or thorns? Are we clothed with the graces of His Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22,23) – or are we bound in a corset of the disgraces of the unholy spirit?

"Do not be afraid, though briars and thorns are all around you- ..." (Ezekiel 2:6b). Jesus was not only surrounded by human thorns, he was crowned with them: "They ... twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him" (Mark 15:17). The prophet Micah laments, "The best of them (us!) is like a brier, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge" (Micah 7:4). We crown Jesus time and again with our bristles and barbs of acts and words, sins that crucify Him again and again because He loves us so.

Let us beware of deciding who the thorns are, too: "[God] causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45). God's generosity seems unfair to us righteous ones, but only God knows when a thorn will convert into a fair flower. And it may take a lot more sunshine and whiteness from the lilies who profess to receive Light from the Son!

The lily stays soft and pure; the thorn becomes hard and causes pain. There is that inside each of them which causes them to react to the outside elements differently. What a lesson this is for us. God's grace dignifies us that we may flourish as the lily rather than be thorns because we lack decency and graciousness.

"I will be like ... dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily" (Hosea 14:5). The dew of God's love makes us gentle and beautiful and fruitful lilies in His valley.

 
Let us beware of deciding who the thorns are.


© Pat Nordman

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