He leads me …

Flowers give our lives a lift. The colours make the initial impact, but often can be backed up with a pleasant scent to provide a better experience. The effect is not lost on women and girls as we see each Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day when floral gifts go out in huge numbers. Flowers also provide a positive environment in hospitals and at events like weddings and parties.

They make a difference too when we see them as we.travel from town to town. There is a nice feeling when we drive into a community where there are flowers along each side of the main road. The colours of the flowers are cheerful and welcoming.

If flowers can impact our lives like this, what does the Bible say about them?

Probably the most familiar passage is Matthew 6:28-33 which is very similar to Luke 12:27-32. Matthew 6:28-33 in the New Living Translation reads -

 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

God does not cover His flowers in plain, boring, vague colours. Jesus uses Solomon’s finest clothing to show that even the very best clothing that mankind can craft cannot match what God has created with His flowers which only last for just a short time.

If we consider the day long life-span of a little wild lilies as Jesus tells us to, we see that their amazing beauty points to God as their sole Creator and Provider. If we then think about the love and care that God shows in providing us with the incredible impact of wild flowers, what do we think He can do if we pass over our concerns and worries to Him? It is not just what He can do, but also the emotional weight that we had is lifted because those concerns are no longer our problem. God has them. They are now His problem. He will help us sort them out. That is what He does because He loves us.

Surely this makes more sense than anxiously chasing after worldly desires or wasting our energy in worrying about our daily needs.

In July 2019, clinical psychologist, Dr. Lucas LaFreniere, released a study on worry. He asked a number of people to record how their worries caused them distress and interfered with their lives. Then, each night at 10 pm, they reported the amount of time they spent thinking on each specific worry during that day. Finally, 20 days after the results had been recorded, they went back over each entry and stated whether any of the worries had become true. Dr LaFreniere found that 91.4 percent of their worries never actually happened!

Dr. LaFreniere said, “This is what breaks my heart about worry. It makes you miserable in the present moment to try and prevent misery in the future. For chronic worriers, this process leads them to be continually distressed all their lives in order to avoid later events that never happen. Worry sucks the joy out of the ‘here and now’”[1]

The flowers of the field grow and display inspiring beauty without care, labour, planning, management, or emotional worries from human beings in any way. Their magnificence comes from the Lord. How much more will He care for us, who are His blood-bought children?

When fear develops in our heart, it can override our faith in God. Unbelief then overrules our faith in His Word and worry dominates our simple dependence on God as our faithful Provider.

We see that God cares for all of His creation. If He provides for even the smallest flowers, how much more will He provide for us? He loves us so incredibly much. He sees us in all our good times as well as the bad. While it might seem like God has not helped in any way, He is truly taking care of us in all that we do. His Word says that He will never leave us or reject us.[2] 

Our difficulty with this is that Christians often suffer violence or poverty or starvation or illness—just like everyone else. Richard Niell Donovan, a retired clergyman, who has subsequently published SermonWriter resources for preaching for 23 years, has researched this issue, but cannot claim a definitive answer.  However, the following are his thoughts: -

• Both Old and New Testaments tell of situations where God has failed to answer prayers (Job 19:7; 30:20; Psalm 18:41; 60:1-3; Isaiah 40:27; Lamentations 3:8-9; 2 Corinthians 12:7-9; Matthew 26:39; Hebrews 11:39-40; James 4:3).

• There are lots of reasons why prayers are not answered. Maybe a person who has been praying lacked faith—or maybe they asked for the wrong thing or for the wrong reason.  Whatever the reason, God knows best, and will answer in a way that is better than what we asked for or even imagined could happen. 

The Bible is clear that the person who suffers here on Earth will prosper in Heaven.  While there are benefits in having these thoughts, a mother standing by the grave of her infant child is not going to find them either comforting or convincing.  We need to tread very carefully here, because there are broken hearts in every church as well as in life generally.  These people need love, not insensitive, ill-considered Biblical quotations.

• If God were to answer every prayer on the same basis that it was asked, the result could be turmoil.  Most people lack the spiritual experience to ask prayers that God would be comfortable answering in the way that they were asked.

• Having said this, our prayers are precious to God, because we are precious to God.  He invites us to come back again - and again - because He loves to hear from us.  He loves to have us near.  He really does love us.

• While God might not always give us everything we want - any more than we would give our children everything they want - Jesus promises that God will bless us when we call on Him day and night (Luke 18:7).[3]

When we read about Paul’s suffering in the Bible we see that no matter what he went through he was not going to give up.

In summary we can probably say that like Paul, suffering not only humbles us, but it draws us closer to the Lord. It also allows Him to display grace, while perfecting His power in and through us. Remember, we are only as powerful in Him as we are weak in our own strength.[4]

[1] Sarah Sloat, “Researchers Prove That What You're Worried About Isn't Likely to Come True” Inverse, 8-4-19; www.PreachingToday.com

[2] 1 Peter 1:24 by Dr. Grant Richison, VERSE-BY-VERSE COMMENTARY; https://versebyversecommentary.com/1997/05/07/1-peter-124-25

Verse of the Day, Knowing Jesus Luke 12:27; https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/luke-12-27

Antidote For Anxiety Series by C. Philip Green, Scripture: Matthew 6:25-34; https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/antidote-for-anxiety-c-philip-green-sermon-on-faith-244936?page=1&wc=800

[3] Biblical Commentary Matthew 6:24-34, Sermon Writer; https://sermonwriter.com/biblical-commentary/new-testament-matthew-624-34/

[4] The Benefits of Suffering for Christ, by John MacArthur, Grace to You; https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/81-106/the-benefits-of-suffering-for-christ