Lily of the Valleys

Song of Solomon 2:1 “I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.”

Our Savior, Christ Jesus, came to us not in an exalted way, but in a humble way. He was not born in a palace and surrounded by splendor, but He was laid in a manger as a newborn. He did not grow up in royal courts. He was not a nobleman by profession, but raised by a carpenter in Galilee. The region of Galilee was not held in high regards by its neighboring regions as they viewed Galileans as uneducated. Jesus lived in a forgotten little town in lower Galilee called Nazareth.

Though Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He positioned Himself on earth in the most humble of places. In Matthew 4 when Jesus begins His ministry after His baptism, we see that He starts preaching the Gospel in Galilee and chooses His disciples from Galilee. He did not choose disciples from the esteemed and wise by worldly account, but men who were not respected. He did not first go to preach to kings, but to the people on the northern shore of the sea of Galilee in Capernaum.

How beautiful that Jesus is our lily of the valleys, not a lily of the mountaintops, not a lily in the walled castle garden. No, He was a lily of the valleys, of the low places, of the humble places. How truly beautiful that our Savior would grow up and begin His mission of salvation in the lowly places first.

2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich.”

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, Who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’”