If our minds are open to the impressions of the Spirit of God, we may learn lessons from the simple and beautiful things of nature. I feel oppressed in the crowded cities where there is naught for the eyes to look upon but houses. The flowers are to us constant teachers. The shrubs and flowers gather to themselves the properties of earth and air which they appropriate to perfect the beautiful buds and blossoming flowers for our happiness, but they are God's preachers, and we are to consider the lessons which they teach us.
Just so has God given us the precious promises throughout His Word. The Scriptures are open to us as the garden of God, and their promises are as fragrant flowers blooming all over that garden. God especially calls our attention to the very ones that are appropriate for us. In these promises we may discern the character of God and read His love to us. They are the ground upon which our faith rests, the support and strength of our faith and hope, and through these we are to delight our souls in God and breathe in the fragrance of heaven. Through the precious promises He withdraws the veil from the future and gives us glimpses of the things which He has prepared for those who love Him....
We should not regard them with carelessness or indifference. But as we would examine the precious flowers, . . . delighting our senses with their loveliness and fragrance, just so we should take the promises of God, one by one, and examine them closely on every side--take in their richness, and be soothed, comforted, encouraged, and strengthened by them. God has provided for all the comforts the soul needs. They are suited to the friendless, the poverty stricken, the wealthy, the sick, the bereaved--all may have their appropriate help if they will see and take hold upon these by faith. God scatters blessings all along our path to brighten the rugged way of life, and we want to be receiving all the comfort and tokens of God's love with grateful hearts. That I May Know Him 213
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 2 Peter 1:2-4 (New King James Version)