September 12 – Blossom Like A Lily
Hosea 14:5: I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots.
The lily described in Hosea is thought to be the Lilium candidum, The origin of the L. candidum is probably the Middle East and/or Greece. In the East, wild lilies grow abundantly in Mediterranean woods and Carmel and Upper Galilee. They grow in shades woods and blazing sun. Growing from a bulb planted just below the soil surface. Typical of plants in Mediterranean climates, this lily’s leaves die down in the very hot summer and grow up again in the rainy fall and early winter. Usually each stem has several large flowers which live for 5-6 days. The dazzlingly white corolla is funnel shaped with six pointed petals that form a symmetrical star shape. The lily fruit splits open and disperses many small seeds which can germinate in up to four weeks. Most gardeners purchase small plants or bulbs for propagation.
The symbolism of a lily in the Bible is purity, chastity and innocence and in Latin, Lilium means shining or pure white. In Hosea 14, the lily symbolized chastity and innocence. White is used in the Bible as purity. Jesus broke down the middle wall and there is no Jew, Gentile, male, female, low cast or high cast. All are His precious saints under the new life! The saints wear robes of white!
We have to stop bowing before objects that enslave us in a cruel world system. We are to be pure and spiritually white before God.
God invites each of us to become pure, clean, spiritually white as a Lily, chaste and innocent, no matter how deeply entangling our weaknesses. We maintain our purity, chastity and innocence by walking in the Light. Remember, we are not perfect, each day we do some wrong but in a spirit of purity as we live, this washes and purifies our hearts and God pours more into us, as He removes the dirt in our souls. Instead of guilt entangling us, we actually get free and joyous. (1 John 1:9).
Rita
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