This morning … sunny, bright, windy. A lovely morning to wake up, tea in bed and sharing devotionals with the Mem Sahib.
We often just ask Holy Spirit to show us something special and we are often not disappointed. Usually we use a devotional as a starting point, reading the whole chapter of the bible rather than just the verse[s] expounded by the author. Then we prayerfully see what stands out for us either individually or together. It’s very re-assuring how often we have either been encouraged onward into something or warned away. Sometimes the Lord just seems to highlight aspects of who He is, just because He wants to do so. Today was like that for me. We had read Song of Solomon Ch.2.
Son 2:1 I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
Son 2:2 As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
Son 2:3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
Son 2:4 He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.
Son 2:5 Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.
Son 2:6 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.
Son 2:7 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.
Son 2:8 The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
Son 2:9 My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice.
Son 2:10 My beloved spoke, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
Son 2:11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
Son 2:12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
Son 2:13 The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
Son 2:14 O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.
Son 2:15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
Son 2:16 My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.
Son 2:17 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.
If you are an experienced and highly qualified theologian, expert in exposition, hagiography, eschatology and biblical philosophy – you need to look away now. I’m just a bloke, loving the Lord in a new fresh way [ for me ] and I haven’t the time or the training to do the context thing, I simply read it, pray it, sense it and go for it.
To me the Lord was showing me just how full of vitality He desires the relationship with humans to be. He and we are supposed to operate on so many levels as we submit our lives to Him. Firstly there is the visual as we are led to contemplate the beauty of the blossom, possibly the fragrance too. It’s a sensual thing – not sexual – but a bombardment of our senses as we meditate on the Word and the implications. Look at how the verse contrasts the beauty of relationship with the Lord with the barrenness of the thorns. Life with Him is the complete opposite of anything else, and can be a delight to the senses when we choose to engage as fully as we are able with Him. I’m not for one moment suggesting that I saw the lily or smelt the fragrance, but I believe the testimonies of those who have experienced a fragrance at times of very deep prayer or presence. And why not!? He is God and with Him nothing is impossible.
The apple tree spoke to me of the sumptiousness of the Lord’s love. That blossom, so profuse, so over the top, so beautiful even though it’s just for a fleeting season till the pollination is done. He is SO extravagant in His mercy, grace and love towards us and in due season we get the sweet fruit at harvest with a season of anticipation in between. How many of you have looked forward to a wedding, a birthday, a meal with friends, some event that you knew would bless you or others? Wasn’t the anticipation, the planning, the expectation, the oncoming moment almost as good as the fulfilment?
How great is His love ??
Sight, smell, taste. The sense of love.
Then when we have allowed Him to fill our senses, we become full. The writer describes it as being ’sick of love’. This reminds me of those occasions when the food has been too good to leave and perhaps I’ve taken a little too much. Some gourmets would describe themselves as being replete, filled to capacity, not able to take any more. We are limited in what we can hold, but He is unlimited in what He will give us. He wants us to have everything. He holds nothing of Him back!
And then the embrace. On two or three occasions in my life I have sensed a touch, an arm around my shoulder, a hand in the small of my back. Maybe it was just my longing, but it didn’t feel that way. There is a spiritual tactility that can be so intense it feels physical. How wonderful to feel embraced, enfolded, encircled and protected.
The hart and roe skipping on the hills just spoke to me of a youthful, playful vigour. A zest of being that is exhilerating to watch and in which to participate. The section continues with the beloved playing peek a boo through the lattice. I know that several commentators [ including our devotional ] speak of this section indicating that the woman [ = us ] is withholding herself from fully committing to the beloved – and I agree that is often the case. But today all I could see was the interplay between a courting couple as he calls her out to be with him….’showing himself through the lattice’.
The season continues with the freshness of growth, the sounds of creation and the promise of future fruit. We note the warning of things that would come and ruin the delicacy of this loving relationship and we remember that elsewhere we are called to be on guard as we live beyond the cross.
“My beloved is mine, and I am his.”
Can you sense a season for you to revel in that relationship, keeping in mind the cost that brought you to Him, but delighting in how it is meant to be for you?
