Episode 4 - A Lily Among Thorns (Song of Solomon 2:1-2)

Have you ever wondered why God has you where you are?

In this episode, Val shares a powerful revelation from Song of Solomon 2:1-2 about being a lily among thorns. Through life's hardships, opposition, and hidden seasons, God is still growing something beautiful within you.

If you've been questioning your circumstances or wondering why God has planted you in a difficult place, this message will encourage you to trust His process. The thorns may surround you, but the soil is rich, and God is using this season to prepare you for what is ahead.

You may be hidden, but you are still growing.

Thank you for listening to Valetha's Greatest Moments with God.

If today's episode encouraged you, be sure to follow the podcast and share it with a friend.

Until next time,

Hear God's Voice.
Find Healing.
Build Intimacy and Trust.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello everyone, how are you doing today? Um, popping up with this video um because I wanted to just take a few minutes to chat. As you know, every time I get some kind of revelation or inspiration, I know I am not the only one that can benefit from it. So I wanted to be able to just quickly pop on um en route to work. It's a little chilly here in Michigan today. Um, but I only have a few minutes, and I know you probably only have a few minutes as well, but I wanted to share my testimony um with you today. Um, for those of you that don't know me, hello, how you doing? My name is Val. Um, thank you so much for watching. I greatly appreciate it. Love you guys. So let me just hop right into it. Um, this week has been tough um mentally, and not even just this week, it has been a period of time. I know we go through waves, at least I do personally, where I'm having great days and then I'm having just quiet moments, and it's just a combination of um, you know, chaos that's going on around us in the world, um, things that are going on just in my workplace, where you start just really asking God, why am I here? You know, why why do you have me in this place? Why can't I leave? Um, you know, what's what's going on? Because I don't like it here. It's crazy. It's it's just so much going on, it's mentally taxing. You know, God, when can I be relieved? I know I'm not the only one that have those moments and those questions that we send up to God. So recently, um, I have a lot going on at my work, my job place, and I just didn't have the motivation, didn't have the desire to press forward and do the things that I know I need to do. It's not even an issue of me not knowing how to do it or how to structure it. I just don't want to do it. And um, I've been dealing with that probably for a minute now, where it's starting to weigh heavily on me. Um, so what I tell you guys a lot, when I start going through pressures of life mentally, I stay at the altar, I stay in front of God because I know if I don't, I will end up in a depressed state or a drowsy state where it's so much harder to get out of. And if you're like me, you have too many others that are depending on you to press through so they can get what they need to get, not just from work, but from family and things of that nature. So I have to stay in front of God. So um, the last couple days, God got with me and said, Um, I need you to do better because you are better, you are capable of doing everything I have called you to do. I need you to step up to the plate and don't ask God why am I here? Because all things will be revealed in due time. So I took that and I knew the things that I have been delaying to do when it comes to work, when it comes to personal things, and I'm trying to do it myself and move forward. So I took it, I got up, dust myself off, and jumped back into it. But the weight of it was still there. Um, and because the weight was still there, I still found myself struggling with doing the things I needed to do. So I got into the start of a fast today. Um again, I am a part of the beautiful community up under um Prophetess Yolanda, under the Yolanda Worldwide Ministries, and she hosts a um Focus Fasting every month. So we just started this month today. So if you're not a part of that community, I highly encourage you to do so. Um on Facebook, you can find a group on Focus Fasting. But anyhow, we always start our fasting with repentance, it's like cleansing your heart, washing your hands, so that way no residue is on you as you start getting closer and connected to God and start asking for the things you're desiring. So during the repentance stage, you know, I released the things that I am sorry for and trying hard not to continue to do. And the Lord led me to um the book that I'm currently studying, which is the Song of Psalms. Um, and if you know that book in the Bible, it's a beautiful um song um poetic story, or however you want to call it, of a man and a woman um who are so in love with each other um that they end up getting married at the end. And um it's it's juicy in a sense, but it's rich. And it pretty much just to me is a story of a good man which represents our father, how he is expressing his love for us, and how the woman is so grateful in also expressing her love back to him, and it it just reminds me of the intimacy that God wants to have with us, he is definitely showing us how much he loves us, and in return, because of that love, we show how much we deeply love him. So, long story short, um, I went into my reading this morning, which is in chapter two. And um, in chapter two, I'm pulling up my notes here, so that's why I'm looking down. Chapter two, verse one and verse two stopped me in my tracks. As I continue to tell everyone, as um you read the Bible, don't just read it just to read it, read it for revelation, read it for what is God really trying to tell you in the moment. Because if you allow him to lead you while you're reading the Bible, he's speaking. You just gotta know how to go deeper so you can understand what it is he's trying to tell you. And in that um chapter 2, verse 1 and 2, it it breaks it down. I have the NIV version, so it shows when she speaks, it shows when he speaks, responds, and it shows when she speaks again. So you can see the conversation going back and forth. And my computer's going awfully slow, so I'm hoping it pulls this up one second. Um, because I want to read it directly to you. Um, okay, here it goes. So Song of Solomon in chapter two, verse one starts off with, I am a rose of Sharon and the lily of valleys, as the lily among the thorns. Oh, and then God responds when he says, As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. So I I really stopped at that two verses. So she goes to him and says, I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys, and then he responds to her as this lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters, and I really had to just stop and think about that. So she's calling herself um the rose of Sharon, which is a rose, and she's also calling herself a lily that's planted in the valley, and when I went to Chat GPT, Chat D GPT just blessed me. I know this is the Holy Bible, Holy Spirit in Chat GPT, because it really, it really blessed me this morning. That's why I'm on today. I asked ChatGPT, what is these two scriptures telling me about these two flowers? Why is the Bible calling out the lily that's in the valley and the roles of Sharon? Um, why it why is he calling this out? And then why is God responding back saying you're a lily, but you're among thorns? So I really, really wanted to dig into that. And what what Chat GPT came back and said um was that Sharon Um was a fertile um coastal plain. So back in that era, when we're reading the Bible and under to understand the true context, you got to kind of understand the timing that they wrote it, so you can better understand the words that they chose at that time. So the Sharon was a fertile coastal plain in ancient Israel, stretching near the Mediterranean Sea. That land was known for rich soil, I'll explain it later. Its beauty, it's grazing land and abundant wildflowers. So when you think about the Hebrew word um that references that today, you're thinking about um natural beauty, you're thinking about the delicacy of that flower and the fragrance that it produces, the flourishing that it's doing in that fertile ground. So when the woman first starts out, the Shilamite woman who says, I'm just a lily in the valley, I'm just a sharing, a road of sharing. She's really just hump dumb, I hate to say dumbing herself down, but she's just showing herself just just someone out here. I'm not, I'm not anybody special. I am just simple, you know, I'm amongst all these people here. You know, I'm just a sharing, and I'm just a rose in the sharing, you know, that's a ground that's covered. Lilies, when you think of lilies, they don't just grow one, that's many that grow. You know, so I'm just a simple person out here. I'm I'm not anybody special, you know. Like, why are you choosing me? But then the second verse says that God responded, or the man responded, I should say, but it's still God. He said, You are a lily among thorns. Now, I could that's why I really wanted to dig more further. Why is he saying she's a lily among thorns? Because when you think about it, that lily itself represents purity, it represents beauty, it represents tenderness and grace and fragile is representing fragile. When you think about it, when you pick up a lily, just by itself, it does easily break apart. But the thorns is what got me. When you think about what the thorns represent in that story, it represents hardship, it represents sin, it represents curse, it represents wilderness, and it represents painful oppression. So when God is telling her that she is a lily among the thorns, he's saying to her that you're beautiful, that you're pure, and I recognize that you are surrounded by hardship, that you are surrounded by sin, that you're surrounded by painful opposition, but yet you are still standing out, and he recognizes that you're fragile, that you're sensitive, but you're still beautiful, and that you are a sharing because you are delicate and you're still producing a fragrance. That alone knocked on my heart real good, and it because it is what I'm going through today. I'm going through surrounding of hardship, surrounding of people doing what they shouldn't be doing, oppression. You know, I am currently surrounded by that, but yet God is saying, I still see you, and you are the lily that is surrounded by all of that. Being a lily, it also tells us not only is she's a delicate flower, not only is she beautiful, but she stands out because her beauty is rare. When you look at where she's planted, where she stayed at, she does stand out. And even though she's still in that harsh environment, she remains tender, she remains precious despite everything that's surrounding her. Scripture reminds us that valley means that you're often tested, but that you're in a place where you're hidden. And in that hidden place, you can depend on God, and with that, you're going to grow. Beauty forms in low places, growth occurs even in hidden seasons. Then the light bulb came on. Then in the midst of where God planted me, at my job, in my neighborhood, my community, even with my family, I am this lily that is surrounded by thorns. But the revelation that came out of that is when I saw when it broke down the meaning of the valley. When it broke down the meaning of the Sheeran, the Mediterranean that was by the sea. That land was known for its rich fertile soil. That when you're planted there, you're gonna grow, but no one can see your growth, and sometimes you can't see your growth because you're purposely hidden and you're surrounded by the thorns. But I never equated that my steps, I knew my steps were ordered. Where I'm working today, where I live, the things I'm doing, my steps are ordered. But I always found myself asking, God, why here? Why am I here? Why are you keeping me here? Do you see what's going on around me? Do you see what I'm dealing with? Why am I here? And these two verses brought such revelation that God has planted me where he's planted me, because the soil is rich, that I can grow and be hidden amongst thorns and develop into the woman that he is calling me to be. So when that dew season arrives, I will be ready. That gave me so much encouragement and revelation, and it allowed me to even step back into the place that I got to go do. So I wanted to share this revelation with you because you two may be in a in a place where you're surrounded by thorns. What did we say? Thorns were the thorns were um trying to get back to it. Hardship that's all around you, sin. People are doing all kinds of things. Got no business doing, but yet you're still in the center of it. The wilderness. Financially, times could be tight. You know, chaos can be a go around you. You're trying to figure out how you're gonna make it to tomorrow when you're barely surviving today. Painful opposition. I'm dealing with, like, I think I shared crazy neighbors and things of that, things of that nature. You know, oppression at the job when you're battling unnecessarily things. Whatever those thorns that are around you, the reason God have you planted there is because the soil is rich. And not everyone can grow in those places because they weren't planted by God. God knows the land, God knows the soil, God knows how to fertilize it and water it in that spot, even though you're surrounded by thorns, and he recognizes that you are a lily, that you're delicate, that you're sensitive, but you're also beautiful, you have grace, and because of that, you're able to grow. Because that that encouraged me, and I pray it encourages you and give you a chance to relook at your surroundings and where you're placed, but ultimately why you were placed there. We don't know the plans that God has for us for tomorrow, but we know there is a plan. We know that our steps are ordered, and he reveals little pieces at a time. That was enough to encourage me to say, okay, I'm here. I can't go to work in a few minutes. This is some rich soil, so let me grab everything I can grab out of it while I'm here. Because there's obviously something here that God wants me to get or bless or do with is in his will. So I don't want to keep you long. I just wanted to share that revelation because I gotta go. But I hope it blesses you, I hope it encourages you to just continue to press forward. Because anyone that tells you to be a true follower of Christ, it's not always good days. There are days where you have to take everything within you to press forward. But the blessing is we don't do it by ourselves. We have the Holy Spirit within us. And when we feel ourselves settling back because it feels overwhelming, if you stay at God's feet, if you constantly go to Him, either fast, reading your Word, whatever it is, stay with God. You will get through, you will get through. And you will find yourself dusting off the ailments, the weight that was carrying you solarly, slowly, excuse me, lifts up. You'll make it through. You'll make it through. It's gonna be alright. You got this because you got God with you, and it should be enough to get you through today. God said, Don't worry about tomorrow. You got enough going on today to even focus on tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself. Let's get through today. Let's step through today. I love you. I hope this blessed you. Um during my Saturday Let's Talk at 10 a.m. I just don't want to put it out there just yet. Um, but it is coming, and I'm so excited, and I can't wait. All right. I love you with the love of God, and I pray you have an amazing day today. Bye bye.