Genesis 17:1-2 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me… Have you seen the tulip bed in the garden of the florist? have you marked the gorgeous colours, the rich variety, the delicate pencilling? All these gay flowers were once of a dark dingy hue. Year after year did the gardener watch them, tend them, transplant them from soil to soil, till at length, one by one, some sooner and some later, they broke into these glorious hues, this boundless variety of stripe and freckle. Then did he remove them to his choicest border, and shelter them from sun and shower; and now thou gazest on them in their beauty. Thus dark and unlovely once were the redeemed of the Lord: such pains and watching did He bestow upon them; year after year did He look for the lovely graces of the Spirit in them, till one and another, not all at once, like the tulips, but by degrees, oftentime slow and painful, shone forth in the beauty of holiness. And thus as He transplanted them to His heavenly courts, where, never scorched by the sun, nor smitten by the shower, nor torn by the winds, they shall bloom forever and ever. "Those that he planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the court of our God" (Psalm 92:13). (H. G. Salter.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. |
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