2 Timothy 2:7

Consider what I say; for the Lord shall give thee understanding in all things.

Plumptre rendered this verse, "Make the effort to reflect; for if thou do the Lord will give the discernment, which thou needest."[10]

The word "consider" comes from Latin roots which mean, when taken together, "with the stars"; and, therefore, Plumptre's rendition surely gives the thought. There is nothing more needed upon the part of rushing, harried, heedless multitudes than that of reflection upon life and death, their meaning and purpose, and the need of facing both in a frame of reference that takes the will of God into account. And yet, how difficult, how nearly impossible is it properly to reflect upon such things! Henry Ward Beecher, one Sunday, commenting upon the appearance of his great audience sitting under the panels of sunlight streaming through the great colored windows of the church, noted that:

Sometimes the audience has a scarf of yellow running over them, or one of blue, or one of red, according as the window is painted. Man's reason is like a painted window; the light that goes through it and falls upon his conscience is bizarre, wrinkled, grotesque or distorted ... Man's understanding is like a window. The sunlight is all of one color, but all the light that goes through the window is not.[11]

Therefore, let men take heed how they consider and reflect. Consideration is the bottom layer of all true faith and worship.

[10] E. H. Plumptre, The Biblical Illustrator (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1956), p. 152.

[11] Henry Ward Beecher, The Biblical Illustrator (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1956), p. 153.