Bits and Pieces – 206th Edition – September 1, 2024

     We had a kind gift from a friend last week – three pots of autumn chrysanthemums. They had a mass of buds, and over the last few days have been blossoming out.  Watching them made me think of the wonder of flowers created by God.

     Flowers are living creatures. Man cannot create life, only God can.  The modern inventions of man are truly amazing, but he cannot make life.  He assembled all the necessary ingredients but has failed to make life. The establishment of life is the prerogative of God alone.  The next time you look at a flower remember that it was made by the great Creator of all things.

     Look at the tiny little flower bud.  Within it is a plan made by God to detisaimine what the flower will be like – its size, shape and colour.  I dissected one flower and found it contained well over a hundred tiny petals, and there are over a hundred blooms!  All this coming from a tiny little plan in each bud!

     There are three pots containing white, red and yellow blooms, but each bud brings forth the right colour.  You would expect an occasional slip that would produce the wrong colour.  But no, God’s plan is perfect, and each plant produces blooms, “after his kind” [Genesis 1:11].

     How anyone can accept that these evolved without the work of a Great Designer is beyond me.

“All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures, great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,

Each little bird that sings,

He made their glowing colours,

He made their tiny wings.”

“Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer” [Psalm 86:6]

      The fact that God is high and holy is too often forgotten today.  We have so gloried in His nearness as to forget His greatness, resulting in a people who do not bow sufficiently low before His power nor do we as sinners deserving judgment, sufficiently humble ourselves before His holiness.  The spirit of contrition and meekness is with God of great price..  God dwells with such as are lowly and promises to hear their cry and deliver them.

     Our drawing near to God must therefore be with becoming humility; we are to submit and humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand.  In so doing, the Lord will have respect to us, will give us grace and exalt us.

     Indeed, the moment we seek Him in a right spirit, we shall be heard.  The answer may not come immediately, but the prayer will be heard immediately.  There are no delays in our prayers reaching the throne of God, though there may be delays in the answer reaching us, but God’s delays are not denials.

     The Lord’s goodness and mercy are as active when He denies as when He supplies, when He delays and when He hastens.

     All this is meant to encourage us to draw near to God, who is good and ready to forgive, and full of mercy when we call.

This may be a day of trouble for some, indeed for many.  Today some will be bereaved or stricken with some kind of grief; some Christian may be in financial straights or pressed in difficult circumstances.  Some reading this, will be almost ready to break and yield, but, the situation will be relieved, and the burden lifted if we call on Him.

     The first requisite for receiving the Lord’s help is a broken spirit.  The second is that we call on Him in our time of need. [Isaiah 49:23].

     Study it carefully. Think of it prayerfully.  Deep in thy heart let its precepts dwell.  Slight not its history, Ponder its mystery.  None can e’er prize it too fondly or well.