The common day lily grows prolifically along country roads and highways, as well as in many of our gardens in the northeastern region of the United States. I suspect its growing range may go far beyond that, for this plant is so very hardy, it seems to grow easily most anywhere. We call it “common” because of its wide spread range, as well as its ability to produce such a profusion of blossoms. In reality it is anything but common, rather another evidence of our Creator God’s breathtaking handiwork and matchless design.
I don’t know if our day lily1 is the same as the “lily of the field” referred to by our Lord Jesus in Matthew 6:28-31 and Luke 12:22-27. If not, it would seem to surely be a similar one, because our familiar day lily fits so perfectly two of the characteristics of the lily our Lord referred to. First, our brilliant orange day lily is certainly a spectacular burst of bright vivid color, beautifully shaped with petals rolling open in six directions, always positioned so regally high on its stem, well above the bowing leaves below. It truly presents a majestic display for all to see. Secondly, the lovely blossom is very short lived– just one day, then it’s gone.
In our home garden we grow day lilies for several reasons. They are easy to grow, requiring minimal care. They are perennial, that is, they come up from the same roots year after year, well able to survive the cold, frosty ground of winter. They also grow to a fine tall height of about four feet or more, creating a good background for the shorter flowering plants at the front edge of our garden. They stand alone unsupported, needing no stakes and the work of tying them up. Lastly, we just thoroughly enjoy them, never ceasing to marvel at their glorious display every year through June and part of July.
The day lily comes by its name with good reason. Each bloom lasts about twelve hours or one period of daylight. Each plant sends up a strong stem, with every stem producing a series of buds. Just this year I’ve counted as many as fourteen buds on one stem, all near the top of the stem. Each of these opens one at a time, more or less on a one-blossom-a-day schedule, until the last one has had its turn bursting into bloom. Each one has its day in the sun, beginning as the sun rises in the morning.
Just as surely when the sun later sinks beyond the western horizon, that blossom so dazzlingly bright and beautiful in the morning and throughout the daylight hours, now wilts into a shriveled mass. Soon it dries up, then falls to the earth from whence it came. True, the next bud on the stem opens in its turn to the sun’s call next morning for its day of grandeur; however, it will also pass away at God’s appointed time.
While working on this oil painting. I’ve observed these flowers always have six petals–like the number of man, and how like man this flower is with such a short life span in comparison to eternity. It is created by God in such perfection–but it too, like man’s fall into sin, has a germ of decay within, which at the end of its day causes it to perish.
Now the verses in Matthew 6 and Luke 12 are very instructive to us, for how many times do we find ourselves fretting and chafing over details of life, such as clothing, food or shelter. Here the Lord reminds His disciples that the lilies of the field are not encumbered with the concerns of toiling and spinning. “Yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Can you just imagine how King Solomon when dressed in all his finery must have appeared? Listen now as Christ gives us His insight. Solomon’s most lavish splendor never compared with that of this lily of the field. For Solomon’s glory was hung up in the closet at night, but the flower’s glory is intrinsic to it.
The Lord reminds us, that if God clothes the grass of the field which is here today and becomes fuel for the oven tomorrow, how much more will He clothe you, oh you of little faith.
These verses certainly are not teaching in any sense that God’s people have a loophole through which to shirk responsibilities nor to avoid laboring to meet the needs of life. Far from such thoughts, rather we are to have implicit faith and complete trust in God our Father who –knowing our needs–provides for us. This may well be accomplished by His providing employment through which we then have the means to purchase needed food, clothing, and shelter. The Lord’s provisions are new every day and His methods are limitless.
Did not the same God lead His people through the wilderness for forty years–yet their clothing and sandals never wore out? Was it not our same God who provided manna in the wilderness, always enough for the day at hand, always sufficient for the whole host of Israel? Did not our same God feed His servant Elijah, using ravens to fly food to him morning and evening? Was our Lord not able to borrow from a lad five loaves and two fish, then dividing them to feed thousands to their satisfaction?
Can’t you just see the excited boy joyfully telling his parents the story? Our same Lord Jesus Christ changed ordinary water into the finest wine the wedding guests had ever tasted. Is He not still abundantly able to provide for our needs today? Yes, even through Y2K? We would do well to ask ourselves, Is there reason for Him today to repeat, “Oh you of little faith”?
Remember, dear friend, and ponder the deep and loving lesson of the lily of the field.
ENDNOTE
1 The word for lily is shushan, shoshannah, a generic term for a number of flowers: lilies, irises, anemones, etc., similar to the Arabic susan. The design of the lily was part of the ornamentation of Solomon’s temple. Four psalms (45, 60, 69, 80) bear the title Shoshannim (eduth) or shushan-eduth, “lily (lilies) of testimony.” –ed.