God is such an awesome Master, Creator, Artist and most of all a Father. He made the world, He made humans, He made a way for Humans to still fellowship with Him after the Fall in the Garden, he made everything we needed to live, work and feed ourselves. He even uses all the things He made to teach us about ourselves. For those who love the visual, take any part of Nature and it glorifies God, it teaches about his provision, about creation and about how we should be. Plants for example, are so beautiful, there are hundreds of thousands of them all in different families, some similar, but many very different. Some for food, some for containers, some for fabrics and dyes, spices and herbs, trees for shade, wood to build with, designed by Him to memorialize things in the bible, be symbols to remind us everyday that He designed everything for good, and if used correctly even the Thistle, which was a curse can be a blessing and can teach us to be diligent and discerning, it will only take once of allowing a few to grow and find in a short time they have taken over the area and choked out our "planned" crop or garden, if watched they are enjoyable. If we do not know which plants are good and which plants need to watched carefully we will quickly find ourselves with a garden of undesirables.
This year for school we have been proving the Bible, studying the other historical records and archaeological records of things found and the carbon dating that is recorded. Many of the plants have other historical accounts that make the Bible's record even more meaningful. Many of the research sources quote the Bible, which is a sign that many are aware of the Truth, but cannot accept it, because it will cause them to change. Many of the scriptures will make so much more impact when we have an understanding of the words and plants used. The miracles God did with the plants, like having pine trees growing in the desert, where they were not before. The provisions he gave by having full grown plants that would produce fruit, and seed to spread and fill the earth, just like He commanded the people, "Be fruitful and multiply".
One of the plants that I found so amazing is the Tamarisk or Tamarix, it is mentioned in the Bible in Genesis 21:33, Abraham is recorded to have "planted a tamarisk at Beer-sheba". He had built a well there earlier. The tamarix is a flowering plant, deciduous or evergreen shrub or small tree that forms dense thickets, in the Tamaricaceae family, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa. It can grow in saline (salty) soils, tolerating up to 15, 000 pp, soluble salt and can also tolerate alkali. It is said that it produces crystals that taste like honey. They are fire-adapted, and have long tap roots that allow them to intercept deep water tables and exploit natural water resources. They are able to limit competition from other plants by taking up salt from deep ground water, accumulating it in their foliage, and from there depositing it in the surface soul where it builds up concentrations temporarily detrimental to some plants. The salt is washed away during heavy rains. The tamarix can spread both vegetatively, by adventitious roots or submerged stems, and by seeds. Each flower can produce thousands of tiny seeds that are contained in a small capsule usually adorned with a tuft of hair that aids in wind dispersal. Seeds can also be dispersed by water.
When I read this I thought, that is a "visual" of how a Christian is to be, and the characteristics they should possess. There is a scripture that tells us to be the "salt of the earth". How cool to have a beautiful tree with flowers to try to emulate. God designed this plant to serve a purpose, its deep roots allow it to have an uninterrupted supply of good water, and it has the security of knowing it is protected from other invasive plants, it cannot be overtaken and it can release the salt to plants around it to keep things at a safe distance, and isn't it cool that it is FIRE-adaptive, just like the redeemed!!! That makes me think of three men thrown into the furnace in Daniel, they were not harmed by the fire either!!! And we can spread our seeds of the gospel either by close relationship or by speaking the Truth and sharing whenever we can, each believer can spread many seeds that can take root in difficult soil with contaminents and it can remove those things that can hind growth.
Check out this weblink http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamarisk
If you would like the file of all the Plants of the Bible, that I researched email me.
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