Song of Solomon 2:16 – My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.

Matthew 6:28 – And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

Matthew 6:29 – And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Matthew 6:30 – Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Luke 12:27 – Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Luke 12:28 – If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Hello readers, thanks for reading and today we are talking about the lilies of the field. Jesus said to consider the lilies of the field, so today we will do that! We know from the direct context that Jesus was talking about how God takes care of us and he does it better than we could ever do. So instead of worrying, we should trust him, he is the very definition of faithful.

I looked for the word “lily” and “lilies” in the Bible, and they come up quite a bit in the book of Song of Solomon. That’s a unique book in the Bible! It’s the song of songs, and your salvation is the song of songs. Getting saved puts a song in your heart. Where you danced to the devil’s tune, now your life is a very different tune.

The Song of Solomon is a love song. The song is about two people who are each other’s most prized possession. You may read it and really struggle through it or not get anything out of it. Maybe you just like it as a beautiful story with beautiful poetry but really there is no edification it can provide. If the Bible is about the Lord Jesus Christ, where is he in this book? Well read it and let God show you. Most people read it as a sensual book, but it’s a spiritual book, and like the rest of the Bible, it takes the illumination of the Holy Spirit to really get it.

Is the Lord Jesus Christ your most prized possession? God said all the way back in Genesis, I am thy exceeding great reward. Paul said in Philippians that he counted all things but dung that he may win Christ, he talked about “that I may know him”. You do get this in Song of Solomon. You get how they both truly love and esteem each other exceptionally and exclusively.  In the book of Song of Solomon there is a looking for and a longing to be together. There’s also a separation, they have time apart, which drives the longing to be together. A believer can really identify with the love story of Song of Solomon, there’s a sweetness, and tenderness, and intimacy in this book that the consideration of lilies of the field evokes. Lilies are beautiful, exceptional, tender flowers, and there is nothing like true love.

The problem with our lives is that we don’t really love God. We lack love. Many people talk about and espouse love, but God is love, and if you haven’t received God’s love and got his love to give to others, you don’t yet know a thing about true love. Jesus said, if ye love me, keep my commandments. The reason why we have that adversarial attitude to his commandments is because we don’t esteem him quite like these lovers do each other in Song of Solomon. You read about them praising each other, Christians these days have no praise for the Lord Jesus Christ at all, all they can do is dispute and debate and doubt everything. The truth is, we wouldn’t have too much problem obeying God if we loved him. A lack of love, a lack of charity, is why everything falls apart. The Bible says faith works by love, that’s why charity is greater than faith and hope, because without charity, we’ve got nothing, and we are nothing.

So let’s consider the lilies of the field. The Bible says in Song of Solomon 2:1 – I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. Of course we know that this is a wonderful description of Jesus Christ, our most prized and valuable possession. The problem is, most of us have our treasures  stored in something and someone other than Christ. You may think your life has had it’s fair share of valleys… well every valley in your life, the Lord Jesus Christ is there, there’s a flower, there’s a bloom, there’s redemption there. He’s the lily in your valley if you’re a saved, born again child of God. Don’t ever wander from his love, his fold, from his way and will for your life. Center your life and your choices and your decisions and your relationships on him. That’s when you’ll have something to sing about in your heart.

There are many things to be derived from the Song of Solomon, many essential truths. They had such a specific and exclusive love for one another. And our love should be solely centered on Christ. My beloved is mine and I am his. So often we are torn in love, because we love a lot of things we shouldn’t. The problem is, you’re settling for less.  As exceptional and distinct and standout as this lily is, there is an unmatched and exceptional distinction between Jesus Christ and his love which is also in those who truly believe him… and what this world offers. That’s why even in choosing our own partner, it’s gotta be someone who loves Christ first. If Christ’s love is not the foundation, we won’t have this song to sing. We won’t experience a relationship of true love, devotion and commitment if it’s not based on the Lord Jesus Christ. If anyone knew this, it was Solomon. Our heart is so divided between who and what we have affections for, we are not settled on Jesus Christ as our exclusive love and devotion. These guys in Song of Solomon wanted each other not anyone else, it was a special love and relationship.

No love is as good as Christ’s love for us. We should not settle for anything less. So often everything else is our lily and prize and joy apart from him. That’s why we are reaping thorns all through our life. Thorns hurt, ever got a thorn stuck in your finger? We are often our own worst enemy, our own decisions motivated by selfish lust and desires choke and strangle out our own lives. We should be desiring Christ’s love and acceptance, that’s what we should be seeking for, just as these lovers sought each other out. You see, they got separated. There’s a bit of a separation at the moment, we don’t see Christ yet, we live in hope of being with him forever. But when he comes back… Jesus said, will he find faith? What are you doing while Christ is away? See, when there was separation, she was earnestly seeking for him… saw ye him whom my soul loveth? Are we faithful in our lives here, faithful in our love towards him while we don’t yet see him? Are we walking by faith in the hope and promise of his love toward us?

The Bible says as the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. Everything else is thorns. You don’t want a thorn, surely you want the lily for your life? Yes? We have to make sure we seek and choose the lily and not the thorns, because so many people choose thorns for their life. They choose sin, rebellion, lust, pride, flesh, this world, Satan… and it’s all thorns. Thorns are a result of the curse of sin, thorns hurt, they’re horrible… especially when compared to the wonderful glory, purity, innocence and beauty of the blooming lily.

Jesus Christ was the lily among thorns, there were plenty of thorns around him, a nation that was full of religion, full of deception, full of corruption, full of wickedness, full of empty profession, full of sin… and he was the lily amongst it. This world is full of treacherous, treasonous traitors. In amongst all the crookedness and perversion and filth, in the valley the lily blooms. You know, that’s a picture of the gospel, and we are the lilies of the field, meant to share and preach the gospel so others find true love, true hope, and a new song, the song of songs. Looking for love and fulfillment and happiness and peace and rest outside of Jesus Christ and his word is bound for failure. A relationship with Jesus Christ and relationships founded on Jesus Christ are lilies when all this world has is thorns.

Jesus’ life blooms in this dark world today through the gospel, and we should also bloom that same life to others. The picture of innocence and beauty and grace mirror the sinless perfection and tender love of Jesus Christ. He is love, and he extended true love to each one of us. People in love usually give a flower to the person they are in love with as a token of that love and appreciation.  When Jesus said consider the lilies, well when we are saved, we should be lilies of the field, every true believer is a lily in the field of this world. There should be a fragrance and beauty and glory to God in our lives. They praised each other’s qualities, where is our praise to God in our words and deeds?  So often our lives are instead all thorns. In going somewhere else for love we’ve been choked out in thorns.

If you think of walking through a field and seeing an exceptional, beautiful flower blooming in the field, that’s what your eyes are drawn to. It stands out. We should be like that. Jesus Christ said if he was lifted up he would draw all men unto himself. As lilies we can lift up Jesus Christ to others who are seeking hope and fulfillment and love in all the wrong spots. The lily in the thorns is a picture of Jesus Christ identifying with sinners, becoming sin, being numbered with the transgressors. Are you willing to be a lily among thorns in your sphere of life and influence? Jesus said we should be salt and light in this dark world. When we consider the lilies of the field, consider our own lives… is your life giving glory to God? Is your life a sweet fragrance of Jesus Christ? Are you like a lily in the field of this world? Or is your life all thorns, choked out by sin, choked out by pleasure and riches and selfish pride and ambition?

Jesus said to consider how the lilies grow. You know, man does nothing to help those lilies of the field grow. God takes care of them. He plants and waters them. He provides their nutrition. God is their source of life, sustenance and glory. They bloom because God has created them to do that. Often our lives lack that purity and simplicity that we should have. So often there is no growth in our lives at all, because there is no life source of God in us, we are not born again, and we are not getting our sustenance and nutrition from his word. Lilies look better than Solomon in all his glory… why? Because the work of God and his life and light in our lives is far better than anything that we can produce with our own efforts. Your life is going to bloom a whole lot more when you trust and obey God. When you repent and believe, when you seek his love, and receive his love to you by trusting what he has said and promised you.

God has created us to bloom. So often there are the leaves of profession, but there’s no bloom. There’s no flower to our life. There’s no glory to God, there’s no adorning this dark world with our shining light. There’s nothing. We don’t achieve the purpose to which we were created. Consider this. We were created for his pleasure and to bring him glory. That’s our purpose for being here. The lily knows that, why don’t we ever bloom?

God clothes the lilies, and their clothing is better than anything man can spin. Often our lives are spinning a story, but a story that is one of lies and deception. Your only true righteousness will come from receiving Christ’s righteousness. We are not right, Christ is right ,and we are only made right by him when we believe on him. All your good works, best efforts, self improvement… they’re dung. They were to Paul, and they are to you, just he knew it… but do you? We like to think we are right and our cause is just and we know what we are doing but no. We need Christ’s righteousness. Adam and Eve tried covering themselves, but their fig leaves were wholly inadequate. Our life needs to be covered by God, by his forgiveness and righteousness which he gives to us when we trust and obey him. And the thing is, unless you’re clothed by God in his Son’s righteousness, you are going to burn up, just as the flower withers away in the heat in 1 Peter. Maybe you think your life is flowering, but the heats coming, and your flower won’t abide it because you’ve got no root, you’ve got any empty profession and a false reality.

Jesus said the lilies don’t toil or spin. What an amazing truth in here. For a Christian there is finally rest and peace in your life. Because Jesus has done all the work. There is rest in believing on him, you’ve found the source of truth and light and life when you’ve come to that acknowledging of truth and repenting and believing on Jesus Christ. Rest in Christ’s finished work. The lily is a tribute to God, and so are we, we are a tribute to this love, mercy, and grace. We don’t have to and can’t save ourselves, but God provided a way for us to be saved from our sin. God has provided it fully, freely and forever. Stop toiling and trying to spin life and your life story your way, and instead trust in the Lord with all your heart. There’s a rest that comes from abandoning a life of lies, and sin and best efforts.

There is great beauty to a lily of the field, that exceptional one of a kind flower which man cannot replicate or fake. And there’s a beauty and innocence to a believer’s life and love for God that cannot be faked or produced or worked up. It’s going to take believing and trusting God, just taking him at his word. Letting him do the work, while he makes our feet like hinds’ feet. Follow him and trust him in faith.

That lily is a very special flower, it’s an exceptional flower, it’s a one of a kind flower. The glory is to God, because the lily’s beauty and grace and bloom sings praise to its Creator. Why aren’t we like the lilies of the field when we should be? In Song of Solomon, they saw beauty in each other that was unmatched and unfulfilled anywhere and everywhere else. Our lives need to be based on the Lord Jesus Christ, without which we will be settling for far less in life. Why are we settling for thorns when we are looking for lilies. A thorn brings cursing doesn’t it, but a flower brings blessing. A believer has peace and beauty and rest that is unique to the believer because it’s based on a type of love, a foundation of love, a source of love found nowhere else and that nothing else can replicate.

You know, the very start of the Song of Solomon makes it clear that it was Solomon’s song. You have to take ownership of the truth of God’s word for yourself. Salvation is personal. Going outside of Jesus Christ in any pursuit and venture of life is choosing thorns. Stay in his truth, his life and his love. Never look outside of him for love, fulfillment, purpose, direction or anything you’re doing in life. Even when it’s hard, because there were hard times in this book be assured. The hard times of waiting, and separation, and living on promises and hope.  You won’t have a song until you get saved, until God puts that song in your heart, a song of love towards your Saviour, the apple of your eye… because he first chose you and loved you. If you haven’t got that song yet, you need to get saved. The problem is our lives are a very different tune. True love and a true song in your heart and true fulfillment comes in believing the gospel, laying hold on it, and sticking with it even when the going is tough. Getting saved and continuing on in God’s love in every area of life. We lack a song because we’ve been separated from God by our rebellion. God’s love to me is better than me pleasing myself, choosing another love, going my own way… but will I have the wisdom to see that? Ironically, Solomon the man who was given wisdom, surrendered wisdom chasing what would be many thorns in his life.

I sought him but I found him not. That’s in this book, the woman seeks her lover, and can’t find him. Ever been like that? So many times in life we wonder… where on earth is God in this? Why is he so hidden from me? There seems to be no direct line of communication, what’s going on? Love will be tested. You say you love God, well life will abundantly reveal the truth of that assertion. God will try our faith and our love to him, so that the true love is revealed versus love that says so but isn’t.

You know what happens to a beautiful flower? Usually it gets cut off and given to someone. The plant puts all its energy into that flower and it gets cut off to bring joy to someone else. Love is sacrificial, it gives freely of itself, and many times at cost to itself. This world has a love that takes, not gives, this world has a love that’s about me, not about others. If you’re going through tough times for Christ, know that God is using it to bring glory to himself. When we make our life about God, like Jesus did, it’s a completely different life. Would you obey God if there was no payoff? If you just did it out of love for him? One of the things about true love is that it freely and willingly gives with no expectation of repayment. That’s the essence of the word charity… giving to those who cannot repay.  Our motives are usually just so wrong, that’s why we go cold on God when we get cut down. The plant gives its life for the flower, and in the flower is the seed. You and I have a bit of seed to share with this world… the precious seed of God’s word. We can be lilies in the field of this world.

I hope you can read Song of Solomon and God put a new song in your heart. I haven’t really touched the hem of the garment of this book or lilies of the field, but hopefully it gets you thinking and God ministers himself to you through the truth of his word. If there’s one thing this book teaches it’s worth noting the warning of settling for anything less than Christ in your salvation and also in your relationships here. Song of Solomon deals with issues of salvation and spouse, two of the most important issues you’ll face in your life. Christ is the source and foundation of love, he’s got the love found in nothing and nowhere else in this world. Christ’s love is infinitely superior and there are thorns and foxes mentioned in here for a reason.

Think about Solomon. If anyone knew anything about settling for less and thorns over lilies, it was him. He had more women than any man could desire and you’d think he had a good deal, but none of that was a song worth singing. Instead of a song, they brought him woe and waste. Those wives brought him very low in life. Because of their influence he ended up sacrificing his own sons to devils. They took his heart far away from God. Because he loved them instead of loving God first and foremost and basing his life on that. But in Song of Solomon this was his distinct song, because he found the lily of the valley, the rose of Sharon. So often those foxes spoil our tender grapes, and Satan is out to rob us of love, of happiness, of joy, of peace, of tenderness, innocence, beauty, purity. You have to guard and protect against things that are going to spoil your walk with God, which threaten and rob and murder the most precious things you can have in this life, like being right with God, walking in love and truth with him.

All believers should be lilies of the field, blooming for Jesus Christ in a dark and wicked world. There should be some life in us. Our lives should show forth his praise and his glory. Why doesn’t it? Because we’re choked out by the thorns. The thorns of the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. That seed got choked out by thorns in Jesus’ parable of the sower, and we get choked out. God’s word never takes root in our lives, there’s no blooming like a lily because we’re all choked out. For us many of our lives are as choked out as those hogs full of devils that plunged to their death in the sea. There’s no bloom because we’ve done a Solomon, we’ve traded God in and settled for far less. We’ve gone looking elsewhere in life, we’ve gone our own way, Jesus Christ is not the basis for what we are doing. That’s why there’s no song.

Our life is a very different tune when we do things our own way. Maybe your tune is a little more like Ecclesiastes because you made selfish choices, you made lustful choices, you made ungodly choices, you made faithless choices, you made disobedient choices. You strayed from his love, his way, and his word. And like Solomon we’ve been left with the ashes of a misspent and wasted life, a life choked out, a life  full of vanity and vexation of spirit when we knew better and we didn’t have to go that way. Do you choose the lily or the thorn? We know the end of the life of someone who rejects Jesus Christ and turns away from truth. Solomon experienced both, the Bible is written so we can choose wisely and consider the end of the path we are on. Jesus chooses and loves each believer just like the king chose and loved her in Song of Solomon. Our lives lack Christ’s love and a love of Christ, that’s why we are dry and barren and there is no blooming but thorns. I do hope you get in Song of Solomon and get something out of it, and may God bless your heart as you read his word and consider the lilies of the field today.

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