Weekly Pursuit – Week 3 of January
Verse:
1 Kings 7:15-19 “And he formed the two bronze pillars…. And he made two capitals of molten bronze to set upon the tops of the pillars…. There were nets of checker work with wreaths of chain work for the capitals that were at the top of the pillars…. And there were two rows of pomegranates around the one network, to cover the capitals that were at the top of the pomegranates…. And the capitals that were at the top of the pillars in the portico were of lily work, four cubits in diameter.”
Excerpts:
In order to bear the responsibility in [the] complicated situation, we must live by faith in God…. The lily signifies a life of faith in God. Firstly, we must condemn ourselves, realizing that we are fallen, incapable, unqualified, and that we are nothing. Then we must live by faith in God, not by what we are or by what we can do. We must be a lily existing by what God is to us, not by what we are (Matt. 6:28, 30). Our living on earth today depends upon Him. How can we possibly bear the responsibility in the intermixed and complicated church life? In ourselves, we are incapable of doing this, but we can do so if we live by faith in God. It is not I, but Christ who lives in me—this is the lily.
What earthly architect would have designed a brass pillar bearing brass capitals with lily work on the top of them? Humanly speaking, this is not meaningful, but spiritually speaking, it is very significant. On the one hand, we are the condemned and judged brass; on the other hand, we are the living lilies. The brass means, “Not I,” and the lily means, “But Christ.” Those who are lilies can say, “The life that I now live, I live by the faith of Jesus Christ.” By all this we can realize that we are lilies bearing an impossible responsibility in an intermixed and complicated situation full of checkerwork and chainwork. The elders should not say, “Lord, take these complications away.” Rather, they should expect more complications. I am quite certain that the more you pray for the complications to be reduced, the more complications there will be. All the checkerwork is the base, the bed, in which the lilies grow. (Life-study of Genesis, msg. 83)
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