Faithful City

DEVOTION

ISAIAH

FAITHFUL CITY

Isa 1:21-26

21 See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her — but now murderers! 22 Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water. 23 Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow's case does not come before them. 24 Therefore the Lord, the LORD Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: "Ah, I will get relief from my foes and avenge myself on my enemies. 25 I will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities. 26 I will restore your judges as in days of old, our counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City."

NIV

Historically we know this is what happened, but what about today? Is there any resemblance to our country now? Once our capital city, our country stood as a beacon for the world and now look at us. Once upon a time we actually had justice and righteousness among the people, among the leaders. Now millions of innocent lives are murdered because of the leaders who have become harlots, living for the sake of silver, and gold, power and fame. But what about seeing this in a personal manner. Are we the once faithful who have become a harlot? Have we turned our ways or allowed our ways, the path of God to become diluted? Does our heart rebel? Are we chasing after the bribes of the devil and the gifts of the world? Are we taking a stand for the fatherless and what about the widow? What does our life look like? Can the world tell we are different, that we stand up for Jesus? Has our faithfulness been corrupted by our selfishness? Has our righteousness been replaced with self-righteousness? Do we even rebel against the correction of the Lord? He will purge all our impurities from us. That is what Jesus did on that cross. Our sin is our impurity, he removed all of it. He will restore us, if we give in, if we do not insist on rebelling against him. Sure, we do not go about looking for ways to rebel. But the self within always wants what it wants. How can that be? We should want what God wants, but the self keeps fighting for superiority. Our sin, our impurities have been removed, we are in Christ and he is our righteousness, but still we want. Again it is about this two masters concept, We cannot serve God and serve self. It just does not work, self seems to always win. How can that be? We want to do want is good, but every time we try, self gets in the way. We try not to do that which is not good, but against self gets in the way. How can that be? Sometimes even when we are serving the Lord, it seems self wants the credit. Is that pride that is driving the self? Oh Lord cleanse away the dross! Restore your justice, your judgement as in the days of old, counsel us as in the beginning, then we will be called righteousness, the faithful city. This applies to both our country and our self, we want to be that faithful city.

In Spirit and In Truth

DEVOTION

ISAIAH

IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH

Isa 1:10-20

10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 11 "The multitude of your sacrifices — what are they to me?" says the LORD."I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? 13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations — I cannot bear your evil assemblies. 14 Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; 16 wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, 17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

18 "Come now, let us reason together, "says the LORD." Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; 20 but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

NIV

This is all about living in a created religious environment rather than is simply living trusting in God. The people of Israel had done more than the Lord had required concerning sacrifices and festivals, they had gone off the deep end, so to speak. They had developed somewhat of a pagan approach to religious practices. At the same time they were steeped in sin, this word uses incest, and compares their lifestyle to Sodom and Gomorrah. All the fake religion, it is meaningless to God. He does not want or need all their sacrifices while they live in this unruly, unholy manner. The incest may not be as we think of the word, but in a spiritual sense. It could be in the sexual context, which is not far-fetched for in the laws given to Moses the Lord deals with that behavior. Yet when we think of adultery, we think of how we commit adultery with the world. Because we are the bride of Christ, when we engage in the affairs of the world’s ideologies, we commit adultery against God. So this incest can also be in that same sense. They were so involved, so engaged in their own form of religion, they were committing religion, the new moon, their appointed feasts, their evil assemblies with themselves and really had nothing to do with true worship of the Lord. It reminds us if how we have developed so many traditions instead of the truth. We appear to applaud the truth, but we surely like our traditions much better. If our church service is not exactly like we have always had our service, all hell breaks loose. We have had church splits over the dumbest matters of tradition with no attention paid to the truth. Is God pleased with our stick in the mud type of wordship? Although the system of sacrifices ended with Jesus being the true and only sacrifice needed for the forgiveness of our sin, we still get into the mode of thinking we have to bring some form of sacrifice. It has become our tithe and offerings that we think of as our sacrifice to God. It is almost if we don’t give to the church, for we are no really giving to God, he has no need of money, then we are not a good Christian and he will not hear our prayers. But what does God require from us as far as a sacrifice is concerned. Yes, we are to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice. This is living for God, not living with God. This is not having God be a part of our lives, it is God being our lives. We cannot simply be religious people, doing religious things, doing church, doing religion. We need to cleanse ourselves of the traditions of religion like the pagans act. Freedom in Christ means we can worship God in Spirit and in Truth. Are we excited to be able to worship God, or has it become a matter of fact, traditional behavior? It is not about always being at every church function, every festival, every new moon, so to speak. It is about worshipping him in Spirit and in Truth. “Come, let us reason together”. That is what God wants to do with us. Let us think about what Spirit and Truth mean. Although we have sin, although we continue to sin, God made our sin white as snow on that cross. Although our sin is scarlet or crimson, the sacrifice Jesus made for us, turns our sin to white as snow, as white as wool. We must be willing and obedient. But how can we obey when we still commit certain sins? Sure, it is not that we murder, steal, cheat, or commit adultery, in the world’s sense. But how about gossip, or harboring ill feelings, not forgiving someone who supposedly offended us? In the first place the only reason we feel offended is because we think more highly of ourselves then we should and that is sin too. Any ill feelings, bitterness, unforgiveness, envy, jealousy, pride, are all matters of the heart and are not right before God. This is why we need Jesus. Yet we have to make every effort to live in peace with all men. That means none of those traditional ill feelings. God desires to give us the best of the land, the best of everything if we but only live with him, worship him, love him with all, not part, all our heart, our mind, our spirit and our strength. Let us shed those traditional boundaries and worship the Lord our God in Spirit and in Truth.  

Survivors

DEVOTION

ISAIAH

SURVIVORS

Isa 1:7-9

7 Your country is desolate,  your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers. 8 The Daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a city under siege.  9 Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.

NIV

We do have to remember this is a vision given to Isaiah from the Lord. It is not a history of what is actually happening at the time Isaiah is speaking these visions, it is what will happen, and what did happen at some time later. We would have to do a side by side comparison with these events spoken of with verses in either or both the books of Chronicles and Kings to find times that might correspond to this vision. That would take hours, perhaps days or even months of study which we are not inclined to undertake, besides that is not what we are after here. We want to see any truths we can gleam in order to enhance our understanding of our relationship with the Lord. What we can know is that these people were a stiff-necked group, disobeying the Lord although they have such an almost supernatural history with him. Over the course of their history as a people they had miracle after miracle from the hand of God. They were and still are his chosen people, not because of them, but because of him. He chose them to reveal himself to all the peoples of the world. They are the people who he chose to demonstrate his power, his sovereignty, his love, patience, compassion, mercy, and justice to all the world.  This is not actually a story of Israel, but a story of God. When a country turns its back on God, it will be desolate. We can also see that when we turn away, or live in disobedience, which in essence is not living by faith, not trusting him, our lives are desolate. This is not about how much stuff we have, or how much money we have, or how well we live in the physical realm of this world. The desolation, the feeling of being desolate is within our spirit, we do not feel the presence of the Lord. The country we live in is being burned with fire, which is what we think about when we think of hell, burning fire. Our country has corrupted itself under the influence of hell, Satan. It is becoming worse as the years roll by. It is being stripped of anything which bears a resemblance of a Christian nation. It has been overrun by strangers, by people who do not know God. What we have to also be aware of is that we must always be on guard that we are not overrun and overthrown by strangers. These are the things, the ideas, and the ideology of worldly thinking which is foreign to the ways of God. If we allow ourselves to become more and more like the people of the world, in our thinking and our actions, or behaviors, our lives will be like nothing more than living in a shack in the vineyard of God. Within our soul, we will be desolate, empty, without the joy of the Lord, without the benefits of his hand at work in our lives. It always come back to the idea of not trying to serve two masters. We need to be among those survivors, those handful of faithful servants of the Lord. We can see how dangerous it is to dance with the devil, to embrace the ideas of the world. We can see how disastrous it was for Sodom and Gomorrah because of their perverted lives. Our world is not far behind those cities in its ways. Let us not get ourselves trapped into any thinking which could be seen as acceptance of this behavior of ideologies. It comes down to whether we are being an influence in the world or the world is being an influence in our lives. We need to be among the survivors.  

Self Inflicted

DEVOTION

ISAIAH

SELF INFLICTED

Isa 1:4-6

4 Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. 5 Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. 6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness — only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil.

NIV

It is so easy to view all that the Lord spoke through the prophet Isaiah as a history lesson or at least a record of what Israel did and how the Lord dwelt with them. But then of what use is it to be in the Bible. It has been said the Bible is a witness to who God is, or that it is a means for God to reveal himself to his creation. We know that all scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for us, to correct us, to rebuke us, to teach us and to train us in righteousness. Then as we see what the prophet says about Israel we must view this in light of our own way of life. We have to know that Israel did not deny the existence of God, they just rebelled against him. One cannot rebel against what one does not believe exists. It is like children who rebel against their parents. They are not saying their parents are not their parents, they are just refusing to obey them. This is the way in which Israel is a sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption. Surely we are not like that, are we? No, we have become perfectly holy upright and never ever do anything that would be considered sinful. Sarcasm at its finest. How could we be so prideful to think we do not sin? Ah, we are a sinful people, we are not without guilt. If we were not so, we would have no need of Jesus. Even though we are saved, using Jesus as our Savior, our sacrifice for sin, to regain our rightful place in the kingdom of God, being now an eternal being, it does not mean we have no further use for Jesus. Once we have been forgiven we don’t need any further forgiveness if we now are made perfect in Christ. That seems to be the thought in some Christian communities, or at least among some of the members of the community of believers. But in fact every time we make a choice to seek our own path, make our own choice, decide to fulfill some need, yield to some temptation, we are children to corruption. The world’s ways can corrupt us so quickly we may not even recognize it has happened. We cannot say that we sinned by accident, that we did not mean to, it was no our fault. We cannot say the devil made me do it. We made a choice to turn our backs on the Lord. Surely not on a permanent basis, but just for that brief moment in time. Ah, we say, we are only human, and we are not perfect so we are going to sin from time to time. That is true, we are all that and more. But we must know we cannot be like Israel and forsake the Lord completely. Israel kept rebelling, living almost as pagans, wanting to have all the pleasures of life, seeking their own path, and in doing so it hurt them. They were causing more harm to themselves then they needed to, if only they would turn to God. This is how we must live. We cannot go about living in the same manner as the world, trying to please our own desires, our own ambitions, planning out our own life. This will cause us harm. We will not gain anything at all. Even if we gain the whole world, if that is in our plan, then we have lost our soul. We cannot chase after the things of the world and chase after God, it will split us in two. We cannot serve two masters, God and money. We know all these verses and still at times we try, but it is useless. We must not turn the slightest bit from the Lord, even when we sin. Because we do still sin, we are all the more in need of staying in the everlasting arms of Jesus. He stands before the Father continuing to make intercession for us. Yes, we sin, but Jesus has covered our past, present and future failures in his blood. One day we will be perfect and in the presence of God. For now we must see the result of rebellion. It pains God, but it hurts us more.  

Being Reared

DEVOTION

ISAIAH

BEING REARED

Isa 1:1-3

1:1 The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2 Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: "I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel does not know,

NIV

So, having examined the idea of a vision and how God speaks to us, let us begin to look at the first words spoken to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. The Lord is telling everyone to listen, all the angels in heaven and all the people of the earth. We remember a very old television ad that was for an investment group or a bank. It was some man who began to speak and everyone on the bus, or train, or in the subway or a restaurant, that was filled with the hub bub of noise, suddenly became extremely quiet and turned to hear what this man from Smith Barney had to say. Then the announcer would say, When Smith Barney speaks everyone listens. This is what God is wanting to happen here. When he speaks, everyone is to stop everything, put down whatever we are doing and turn our ear to the voice of God. It is not possible to share his voice with all the activity we are doing. We have to calm ourselves, sit and listen. It is the words of Psalm 46:10 which make this clear, “Be still and know I am God”. How can we hear that still small voice, that gentle breeze, as Elijah did, if we are making noise as an earthquake or a mighty wind or that of a crackling fire? Be still and listen, the Lord is speaking. Here He tells his chosen people that he has reared them and brought them up, but they rebelled against him. Even animals know who is master, and where their pen, or home is, but Israel has lost sight of who God is and what he has done for them. It is interesting the use of the word reared children. The Hebrew word implies to grow, or to become great, to magnify. It is interesting how we use the idea of raising children instead of rearing them. We have thought we raise corps and rear children. Proverbs 22:6 uses the word train up a child in the way he should go, and that Hebrew word implies to start, or disciple. So God has reared, he has caused Israel to grow, to become great, magnifying them among the nations. Yet they rebelled. Can we say this about ourselves? Can we say the Lord has initiated us, he has reared us? He has brought us up from the pit of sin and despair and darkness into his light. He has taken the sting of death from us, and replaced it with eternal life. He has reared us. He has done it all, making us grow, making us great, so we would glorify him. This is what Israel was supposed to do, honor God and bring him glory, but they rebelled. Have we rebelled as well? Do we pay close attention to every one of his commands? This is not about the list of do’s and don’ts that we have created, as that kind of thinking is not much different than how the Pharisees thought, adding all sorts of rules to the commands of God. This is about obeying his voice, living in a manner that glorifies him, that brings him honor and praise. This is about living a life of faith, believing God, believing his word, and honoring his word above all else. Our rebellious heart wants what it wants when it wants it, and God wants us to still our heart and listen to him, such as seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and then he will add all the stuff we need. They say patience is a virtue, so we wait on the Lord, we wait for he is God and we are his people, we know where our home is, and who is our master. We are being reared.

God is Speaking

DEVOTION

ISAIAH

GOD IS SPEAKING

Isa 1:1-3

1:1 The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2 Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: "I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand."

NIV

There is always someone who hears the voice of God. Throughout the history of mankind, God has always found a man who would listen to him. There have been many who have not listened to him, but even if there is one, God speaks to him. We know God spoke with Adam, Noah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We know he spoke to David, Nathan and many others throughout the Old Testament times. Scholars have determined two types of men who God used to speak to his people, the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets. It may be the difference is in the length of their words. We begin with this Major Prophet Isaiah to see what he said to Israel and how that is might apply to us, the people of God, today. We must first recognize that God spoke all this to Isaiah in a vision. What exactly a vision consists of is not precisely explained, however the Hebrew word does give us a clue that it is something seen that is unseen. That is something revealed as in a dream, or some ecstatic state. What this means in the context is to have an experience of mystic self-transcendence, to be somewhere other than in the normal state of mind. This would be as a result of Isaiah being in worship, or prayer, or seeking the Lord in some way. It is not a happenstances of life, but a determined course of action. This might give us some clue as to how we might hear the voice of God. It would seem if we are so busy with life, with the pursuit of our own ambitions, we would not attain any state of mind that would allow God to voice his desires for us into our heart and mind. Although this word of the Lord given to Isaiah in this vision was for the whole of the people in Judah and Jerusalem, which meant all of Israel, God now speaks to all people in various manners. He has not necessarily selected just one man to speak to the nations, but speaks to whoever will listen. He speaks in or through his recorded word, we call the Bible. He speaks through the Spirit who dwells within us. God can speak to us in an audible voice, directly into our ear. Of course there may be many other ways in which he can chose to speak, for who are we to put God in a box, deciding how and when he will speak and to whom. But the point is God will speak to his people and we need to hear his voice and response positively. As God spoke through Isaiah, the people of Israel had a choice, to hear or to ignore. Let us not ignore the word of the Lord in and for our lives for God is speaking. We will move forward to what he has said to Israel, but for now let us just consider, God is speaking, and we are to listen and obey.

Come Away

DEVOTION

SONG OF SONGS

COME AWAY

Song 8:8-14

8 We have a young sister, and her breasts are not yet grown. What shall we do for our sister for the day she is spoken for? 9 If she is a wall, we will build towers of silver on her. If she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar.

10 I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. Thus I have become in his eyes like one bringing contentment. 11 Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon; he let out his vineyard to tenants. Each was to bring for its fruit a thousand shekels of silver. 12 But my own vineyard is mine to give; the thousand shekels are for you, O Solomon, and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit.

13 You who dwell in the gardens with friends in attendance, let me hear your voice!

14 Come away, my lover, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the spice-laden mountains.

NIV

Here is the conclusion of what some people think of as a play, with some the characters making their final appearance, in fact, according to some a new group, the brothers of the Shulamite. But again why bother to see this in the humanistic view when God is inspiring these thoughts in the heart of Solomon. So then who is this young sister? Who is the one who is a wall? Is this young sister the new church, or simple new believers? Once the new believer is spoken for, or the church, not the building, but the people, are spoken for, they become a wall, a tower of strength in Christ. Either we bring to contentment to Jesus, or he brings contentment to us. In his eyes we are like one bringing contentment, so then we are the ones who are content in his eyes. This has to be the church. The vineyards represent the truth of the gospel. It has been rented out, in a manner, it has been given out to the tenants of the earth. Each tenant, each person was to bring the fruit of their life back to the leaser, to God. But it appears that is not what had happened, yet for us, the very vineyard of God, the church, who bear the fruit of the Spirit, we give all our vineyard back to God. We give all to God and to Jesus from the fruit of the Spirit, which is we use for his glory and honor. Solomon represents the Lord and we proclaim he dwells in the garden with friends, Jesus dwells in the church with his friends, and we ask to hear his voice. What use is the church if it does not hear the voice of the Lord? What good is it for us to be in attendance with the Lord, if we are the only ones talking? Did not God talk with Adam in the garden? Surely Jesus wants to speak to us as we are in attendance in the garden. Let us hear your voice, O Lord, without your words, your instruction, your salvation, we will surely die. Jesus does answer our plea and he does speak to us, but we must listen, we must come away with him, leaving everything behind. We must be like the gazelle or the young stag, running up the mountain to God. The gazelle and young stag feed on the spices laden upon the mountain. We too feed on those spices, the very words of God. They are a sweet aroma to our senses, a sweet fragrance in our mouth, His voice is a spice to enjoy, to devour, to gorge ourselves upon this mountain of God. There is nothing else upon his mountain then the spices, his word, his grace, his love, the Spirit of truth and understanding. His mountain is laden with his gifts, his fruit, his armor, all that we need to survive. Both the gazelle and the young stag do not run on the streets of the cities below, but stay climbing upward on the spice laden mountain of the Lord. Jesus calls us, come away my lover, my beloved church who loves me. Come away with me, come up to the mountain and live, come away.

this is the end of Song of Songs, Now I am asking you for a request. Where would you like to go next, you can simply add a comment to let me know, or post a commend on my FB post. 

Leaning

DEVOTION

SONG OF SONGS

LEANING

Song 8:5-7

5 Who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her lover?

Under the apple tree I roused you; there your mother conceived you, there she who was in labor gave you birth. 6 Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.   7 Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.

NIV

Leaning, Leaning, Leaning on the everlasting arms of Jesus. What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms. How can we possible come out of the desert unless we lean on the arms of Jesus? It is not so much life as the desert, but rather death and there is no way to come up from death unless we are leaning on Jesus. This portion takes us all the way back to the Garden of Eden, the Paradise of God, filled with fruit trees of all kinds, and there we are conceived, we were formed and given birth, given life. What a history mankind has had since then, at times leaning, and at other times running away from those arms. Our history is sorted to say the least. But now it is our turn to make history, it is us who have that choice to lean or rebel. We cannot be sure how those people of the past survived, but since the last two thousand years when someone turned to those everlasting arms, accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior they were sealed with the Holy Spirit. This is our life, we have been sealed, our heart has a seal placed very it, the Holy Spirit.

Eph 1:13-14

13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession — to the praise of his glory.

NIV

Then we are reminded that Christ’s love for us is as strong as death, he experienced the pain of death because of his love for us. His love for us so strong, although he is jealous, he does not want to share us with the world. We cannot live in both realms. We cannot ride the fence, one foot in the Lord and one foot in the world. Sure, we have been send into the world, but we have been sent as his ambassadors, to speak for our King. His jealously is unyielding like the grave. The grave will not yield it holds on us, unless we are in Christ, in his loving everlasting arms. Nothing can overcome the love of God. No flames can destroy or consume it. No water can wash it away, no flood can carry it off. There is no wealth large enough to buy his love, in fact all the wealth we could ever hope to accumulate and give to the Lord, it would be scorned. Although it might be true in some local churches the large givers are lifted up, given praise in some fashion, the Lord scorns their giving. We simply have to remind ourselves of the lesson he taught when sitting in the temple and the widow gave her two copper coins.

Luke 21:1-4

21:1 As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.   3 "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." 

NIV

He scorned those who gave from their wealth, for after they gave, they still had great wealth, but this widow gave it all. We can see another truth there concerning our lives. We need to give it all to the Lord, not just give a lot of our life and keep a great deal of it for ourselves. That might apply to leaning on the everlasting arms. We cannot lean half-hearted, we have to lean completely, all the way, giving all to Jesus who brought us up out of the desert, out of death. Let us lean with all we have.

Awaken and Aroused

DEVOTION

SONG OF SONGS

AWAKENED AND AROUSED

Song 8:1-4

8:1 If only you were to me like a brother, who was nursed at my mother's breasts! Then, if I found you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me. 2 I would lead you and bring you to my mother's house — she who has taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates.

3 His left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me. 4 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.

NIV

We have come to the last chapter in this saga of the Lord and his church, this love affair we have with God. We are reminded of how wonderful it must have been for Adam and Eve before their fall, their act of disobedience. How they had such an intimate affair with God. He would come down and walk in the cool of the day with them, talking face to face with his creation. It is described as a paradise and indeed it had to have been the most wonderful place in all the earth, filled with fruit trees, with pomegranates, even spiced wine, from the vineyards. We can see it in our minds eye, imagining the beauty, the peace, the joy that must have been in the heart of God, having his creation, the two who he created in his own image, waiting to spend that cool of the day with him. Here in the beginning of this portion of the song, it is a continuation of the proclamation of the Shulamite or the church about the Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is this desire for him to be like a brother. We are brothers and sister of Jesus, Co-heirs with him in glory.

Rom 8:12-17

12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation — but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba,  Father." 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

NIV

We are called sons of God, which means sons and daughters of God and thus brothers and sisters of Jesus for He is the Son of God. We too may call out to our Father, “Abba Father” for we have received the Spirit of sonship. It is right to kiss him among the confines of the building we call the church, but here we see that as we find Jesus outside the church we too can kiss him, we can show him the affection, the praise he so deserves, as our brother, as our Savior, as our Lord. Who of us denies our relative in public? Who would ignore our brother or sister in the streets of this world? If we saw our brother or sister walk in to a store, or at our work, or some gathering, would we not embrace them, kiss them, because they were also at our mother’s breast? Yet do we ever have a tendency to deny our brother Jesus when we are with the world? We should kiss him always, embrace him publicly, show him our affection and praise whenever and wherever we are. Yes, we will give him the fruit of our lives, the love and respect, the devotion of a brother, and we will praise his name. He is the one who upholds us, he gives us honor and glory before our Father. And it is not us, as an individual, although he also does that, but it is us, as the church. We just have to notice how we speak in the plural when we pray like Jesus taught us, “Our Father”. It is not that we say my Father, or give me this day my daily bread, or forgive me my trespasses as I forgive. We all speak in the plural, Our Father, we come as a family, as brothers and sisters of Jesus asking the father for his will to be in our lives. This idea of the charge given to the daughters of Jerusalem about not awaking or arousing love until it desires seems a little strange, but it would make sense in regards to the love of the world verses the love of the Lord. We are not to arouse our love for the world, but wait for the desire inspired by the Spirit to love the Lord. We know no one can love the Lord without the Spirit.

1 Cor 12:3

3 Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord ," except by the Holy Spirit.

NIV

So the Spirit arouses our love for Jesus, he awakens our dead spirit and brings us into fellowship with Jesus. Praise God, our passions have been aroused, we have been awakened to the truth of God, the glorious life we have in Christ. We have been awakened and aroused.

The Sweet Fragrance of Praise

DEVOTION

SONG OF SONGS

THE FRAGRANCE OF PRAISE

Song 7:9-13

May the wine go straight to my lover, flowing gently over lips and teeth.  10 I belong to my lover, and his desire is for me. 11 Come, my lover, let us go to the countryside, let us spend the night in the villages.   12 Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vines have budded, if their blossoms have opened, and if the pomegranates are in bloom — there I will give you my love. 13 The mandrakes send out their fragrance, and at our door is every delicacy, both new and old, that I have stored up for you, my lover.

NIV

After seeing how Jesus looks at us the church and how he describes how beautiful we are to him, the church responds. We respond explaining, proclaiming that our praise, the wine, go straight to our Lord. May our praise flow over him, may he delight in the taste of our praise. We proclaim that we belong to him, that we do not belong to any other, not even ourselves. We belong to him and his desire is for us. The Lord desires us, we are his people, his church, and his love is poured out upon us. We tell him, we beseech him to go with us in our life, whether that be in the countryside, during the day or the villages at night, or the vineyards where we labor. Whatever we do, wherever we go, we want the Lord to be with us, and we want to show him all our being, giving him access to our inner self. Show him we have budded, that our blooms are open, our heart, our mind, our spirit and our strength are open to his love and that we will love him with all our heart, mind, spirit and strength. Our praises, our worship send out a sweet fragrance to the nostrils of our Lord and God. Our door, our life is every delicacy to the Lord. Which can be seen either both our old life of sin, and our new life in him or the brand new believer, and the old believers, those who just found salvation or those who have walked in the way for years upon years. We both are a delicacy to the Lord. This could also be everything in our life, all that we are, all that we do is open to him and all we have stored up is for him, our lord. We do not store up for ourselves, like that rich farmer fool, but all we store up, all our labor, all our love, all our life, is for him. No matter what time in life we are, or where we are, the countryside, the village or the vineyard, all we have belongs to him. As we make those promises in our wedding vows to each other, that we are now as one, all we have belongs to the other, so it is with Jesus. We, being his brides, his spouse, enjoy all he has, and he, being our bridegroom, enjoys all we have, especially our sweet fragrance of praise.

The Love of Christ

DEVOTION

SONG OF SONGS

THE LOVE OF CHRIST

Song 7:1-9

7:1

How beautiful your sandaled feet, O prince's daughter! Your graceful legs are like jewels, the work of a craftsman's hands. 2 Your navel is a rounded goblet that never lacks blended wine. Your waist is a mound of wheat encircled by lilies. 3 Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle. 4 Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath Rabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon looking toward Damascus. 5 Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel. Your hair is like royal tapestry; the king is held captive by its tresses. 6 How beautiful you are and how pleasing, O love, with your delights! 7 Your stature is like that of the palm, and your breasts like clusters of fruit. 8 I said, "I will climb the palm tree; I will take hold of its fruit." May your breasts be like the clusters of the vine, the fragrance of your breath like apples, 9 and your mouth like the best wine.

NIV

This may be what appears to be the most sensual portion of the whole of this Song of Songs. Those who would see this as such, look not into the deep things of God, but into the lust of the flesh. We have just been looking at how the Shulamite, the bride, the spouse of Christ, the church has described his beauty, his holiness, his majestic and divine nature. Now Christ, not to just receive honor and praise, gives it that same honor and praise to this church. This is all either a metaphor, or simile, but most likely because of the “are likes” much of it is a simile, however there are also statement without the “are likes” which would then be a metaphor. Still, the point of all this is to show us the honor Christ gives to his church. It reminds us of the verse which states, how lovely are the feet of him who brings good news.

Isa 52:7

7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation,

NIV

This is the church, the people of God who step out into the world to proclaim Christ. We could go through each of the similes and metaphors to describe how they relate to the church, but that would require far more words, in fact, nearly a whole book could be written on this subject. However, what we need to know is Christ not only loves us, but he adores us, he cherishes us, every part of us, and the whole of us. Those parts of the body described for us tell us of how each member of the church is special in the eyes of our Lord. Sometimes we, as people, have a tendency to view some people as more important than others. Some have more visible roles in the church than others. Some are highly involved in public ministry, those who sing for the glory of God, those who preach in the airwaves, and those prolific writers who fill the shelfs of bookstores. There are many who appear high and lifted up, ones in the church, but here we can see words like feet, legs, naval, waist, breasts, neck, eyes, nose, hair, palm, breath and mouth to show us every aspect of the church, every member of the body of Christ is precious in his sight. We have to notice how some of those body parts of areas we usually cover up, in our modesty. Those are not just the, public figures, but also the quite ones who love him, and maybe sweep the carpet, or clean a window, or are the behind the scenes prayer warrior. Every member of the Body of Christ is special to the Lord. He loves everyone with the passion of a bridegroom as he takes his bride to his chamber. With that same love and devotion a husband has for his new wife, he presents her to his Father, holy and blameless. “Look at my Bride, Father, see how beautiful she is”. This gives us such a word of encouragement, to know Jesus loves us, this we know, for the bible tells us so.  

His Favorite

DEVOTION

SONG OF SONGS

HIS FAVORITE

Song 6

6:1

Where has your lover gone, most beautiful of women? Which way did your lover turn, that we may look for him with you?

2 My lover has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and to gather lilies. 3 I am my lover's and my lover is mine; he browses among the lilies.

4 You are beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, majestic as troops with banners. 5 Turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Gilead. 6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing. Each has its twin, not one of them is alone. 7 Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate. 8 Sixty queens there may be, and eighty concubines, and virgins beyond number; 9 but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, the only daughter of her mother, the favorite of the one who bore her. The maidens saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines praised her. 10 Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession?

11 I went down to the grove of nut trees to look at the new growth in the valley, to see if the vines had budded or the pomegranates were in bloom. 12 Before I realized it, my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people.  

13 Come back, come back, O Shulammite; come back, come back, that we may gaze on you!

Why would you gaze on the Shulammite as on the dance of Mahanaim?

NIV

If we were to ascribe to this conversation, or play consisting of various roles, this would be the daughters of Jerusalem asking the Shulamite where is her beloved with her answer and then the beloved’s words as he searches for her and as he described her beauty, with her response again and then his and ends with her question about him. It seems very much in the realm of humanity and we have to ask again as to why God would inspire Solomon to write about fleshly lovers. He has already indicated more than once that a husband and wife are one, that we are united together. So this searching for a lover is not in the realm of humanity, but has everything to do with God searching for us, and our response and how he sees us and us him. Jesus has told us that he and the Father are one, and his desire is for us to be one with him, to be united with him. But there is the everlasting searching going on. It is that we lose sight of him and he keeps after us to return to our first love? Who are the lilies that he gathers? Is this garden the world in which he browses looking for those who are lilies, to gather them to himself? The lilies are then we believers who he has gathered. Certainly we can say that the Lord is ours and we are his. So God describes again how he views the lilies, the people he has gathered to himself. The main thrust is how much he loves us, and sees our individual beauty. We are not just the church as a whole, the body of Christ, but God sees each one of us as his perfect one. Although they are many queens and many concubines and many more virgins we are seen as this one perfect one, unique, the only one born like us. As similar as all people are, as far as a species, there is no two of us that alike. With perhaps the exception of identical twins, no two of us have the same appearance, and even with the twins there personalities are uniquely different. God sees us just that way, in our individual appearance, personality, and abilities. Although we as individuals are his favorite one, he does not show favoritism, so then each one of us are his favorite one. That seems difficult to understand in our human minds, because we cannot have more than one favorite. Those maidens are the world, the people of the world, the non-believers who notice how we are blessed. The see the peace we have, the contentment in our spirit. They see that we are like the dawn, the moon and the sun as well as all the stars, majestic and they do not understand. That is of course if we are living as the favorite of the Lord. This idea of the Shulamite going down to the grove, and the plea for her to come back, is about how we can look somewhere else. We might look to the world for new growth, new blooms, new excitement or entertainment, finding pleasures in the things of the grove. In so doing we can get caught up in the ways of the world and before we realize it our desire set us among the royal chariots of other people. We are running a chariot race as in Ben Hur, just going in circles, around and around with the cheers of the people. The Lord beckons us, come back that he might gaze on us, be delighted in us. This should give us reason never to go down to the grove in the first place. Let us stay in the garden with our Lord being as always his favorite.

Glory and Grace

DEVOTION

SONG OF SONGS

GLORY AND GRACE

Song 5:9-16

9 How is your beloved better than others, most beautiful of women? How is your beloved better than others, that you charge us so?

10 My lover is radiant and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand. 11 His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven. 12 His eyes are like doves by the water streams, washed in milk, mounted like jewels. 13 His cheeks are like beds of spice yielding perfume. His lips are like lilies dripping with myrrh. 14 His arms are rods of gold set with chrysolite. His body is like polished ivory decorated with sapphires.   15 His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars. 16 His mouth is sweetness itself; he is altogether lovely. This is my lover, this my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

NIV

The church is looking for Jesus, and asks the daughters of Jerusalem if they find him, to tell her where he is because we are faint with love. We did not identify who those daughters were, because now they ask just how better is Jesus then others. In this we can see these daughters of Jerusalem as the Old Testament Jews being asked by the New Testament church about Jesus. Those Jews did not know how better he was then the law they loved. The church described Jesus to those living under the law, how wonderful he is. It reminds us of the picture painted for us in the revelation given to John.

Rev 1:12-16

12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

NIV

Certainly there are a lot of differences in how Jesus is described by Solomon and what John saw. But the point is the same, there is none like him. There is no one better then Jesus. There is no question the church sees Jesus as its Savior. He is called the Son of God. Yet he is God incarnate. He is the living God, in the flesh, a mystery no doubt as to how God contained himself within the limits of humanity, yet he did exactly that so as to redeem us. How powerful is that! There has never been, nor will there ever be anyone like Jesus. That is why he is described in all these ways. There are no words that can describe him. No one or nothing can satisfy our soul as Jesus can. We might try to look to some other source to give us peace, happiness, contentment, security or completeness, but they will all fall short of Jesus. That is what is meant that he is outstanding among ten thousand. Whatever we can think of to give us a sense of comfort, pleasure, or fulfillment, they all will fail us, and they all will fade away in one way of another. But Jesus never fails us, and he never fades away. He promised he would be with us, that he would never forsake us, and that he would be with us until the end. His words are sweeter than any other words. Man can write excessively using impressive language, deep words that appear to hold wisdom, but they are all just words of men, meaningless in comparison to the words of Jesus. Scholars have filled volumes of books using words we have difficulty in understanding, but Jesus’s words are plain and to the point, filled with the wisdom of God. So we remind ourselves to turn our eyes upon Jesus, look full into his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in light of his glory and grace.

Faint with Love

DEVOTION

SONG OF SONGS

FAINT WITH LOVE

Song 5:1-8

5:1

I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk.

Eat, O friends, and drink; drink your fill, O lovers.

2 I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! My lover is knocking:

"Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night." 3 I have taken off my robe — must I put it on again? I have washed my feet — must I soil them again? 4 My lover thrust his hand through the latch-opening; my heart began to pound for him. 5 I arose to open for my lover, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh, on the handles of the lock. 6 I opened for my lover, but my lover had left; he was gone. My heart sank at his departure. I looked for him but did not find him. I called him but he did not answer. 7 The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. They beat me, they bruised me; they took away my cloak, those watchmen of the walls! 8 O daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you — if you find my lover, what will you tell him? Tell him I am faint with love.

NIV

Again we could read this in the realm of the physical and it would become an extremely sensual piece of literature. But this is not about the physical realm of men and women, it is about God and his people. God is always revealing himself to us and seeking for us to reveal ourselves, to open ourselves up to him. The previous section ended with this prayer of asking the Lord to come to the garden and taste the fruit. Here we see the Lord’s answer to prayer. As the church prays for the affection and attention of the Lord, he answers, but does he find what he was invited to enjoy? The Lord beseeches us to open our hearts to him. He has made us flawless, he has made us holy and blameless in the sight of the Father. He has washed us in his blood and purified us, made us a new person. He has given us eternal life and we now live in this new creation of his. The question which is asked or implied is if we the church have fallen asleep. Are we at slumber while the Lord is knocking? We gather alright on Sundays we sort of sing, and sort of praise, and sort of look like the church, but are we just really asleep at the switch, so to speak, just going through the motions of church, of worship? Listen, the Lord is knocking at the door of our heart. He calls us to open up to him, to allow him to embrace us, to feel his presence, his hand upon us, how sweet it is to have him so close to our heart, if we do not allow him full access to our very being, our soul, our spirit, our mind, our  body, will be withdraw from us? If we want to long in our hearing his voice, his touch upon us, he may well seem far off from us. The song speaks of him leaving, and she could not find him. She called but he did not answer. See how we can sleep in our spiritual journey too long and we are not really in the place with the Lord we should be. It feels like we are alone, we do church, but we are dry, barren of his love for us, but it has not change, but we do not feel it. If we ask where he is, if we search for him, but if we are looking for Jesus in the world, if we are trying to live in the world and trying to be his church we will be beaten, we will lose our cloak. Have we allowed the world, Satan to distract us from our wedding bed? Has sin gripped us in some way that we cannot hear his knocking?  No, we must stay close to him, stay open to his arms. Hear his voice, not falling into slumber, but being alive, awake, spontaneous in praise and worship. Being loved and loving as we are his betrothed, his bride, his spouse, his church, so as he loves us, we love him. We embrace him for we are faint with love.

Lives of Praise

DEVOTION

SONG OF SONGS

LIVES OF PRAISE

Song 4:8-16

8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from Lebanon. Descend from the crest of Amana, from the top of Senir, the summit of Hermon, from the lions' dens and the mountain haunts of the leopards. 9 You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. 10 How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much more pleasing is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than any spice! 11 Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride; milk and honey are under your tongue. The fragrance of your garments is like that of Lebanon. 12 You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain. 13 Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, with henna and nard,   14 nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree, with myrrh and aloes and all the finest spices. 15 You are a garden fountain, a well of flowing water streaming down from Lebanon.

16 Awake, north wind, and come, south wind! Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may spread abroad. Let my lover come into his garden and taste its choice fruits.

NIV

More of the description of the love of Jesus Christ for his church, and not just the church collective, but for each individual member of the church. This is how much Jesus loves us, how he sees us, how he calls to us to come to him from the high and lofty places of the world. The worldly lift themselves up on those places, they see themselves as mountain top living, as lions and leopards conquering the world, the geographic, the economic, the world of knowledge and wisdom, the world of pleasure and pain. But Jesus calls his sister, which indicates spouse, not just bride, but his sister, his spouse, his church to come to him from all those places. He sees our love as delightful, the praise on our lips which is spawned from the praise in our hearts has stolen his heart. The love we express to him is better than everything else that would be considered as lovely, wine, perfume or spices. These were elements of great value in the time of Solomon and thus Christ expresses how he values our love for him. See how he describes our praise for him. Our lips, our mouth, our voicing of praise and love for him drop sweetness as the honeycomb, milk and honey are under our tongue. Jesus is absolutely delighted with our earnest praise, that which comes from within our heart, our soul, our spirit. In respect to that kind of praise, can we give a non-earnest or false praise? Is it possible we can just mouth the praise to appear Christian? Does Jesus delight in that kind of praise? We just need to see how much he loves us and is delighted in our praise. We, his church are clothed in garments of praise.

Put on the garments of praise, for the spirit of heaviness; let the oil of gladness flow down from your throne! Put on the garments of praise, for the spirit of heaviness; your joy is my strength alone, my strength alone.  Make these broken weary bones rise to dance again, wet this dry and thirsty land with a river! Lord our eyes are fixed on you and we are waiting, for your garland of grace as we praise you name! Hallelujah, sing Hallelujah! We trade our sorrows for garments of praise!

We are as a garden to the Lord, full of the fruit of praise that is so sweet to him. He beckons us to come to him, to be his spouse, his love, his church in which he delights. The last stanza of this section of song is the response of the bride of Christ, the church. We beseech the Lord to blow on us, this is the Spirit, who comes as a mighty wind. As the Spirit blows on us, we are sent out abroad, into the world spreading his word, his love and the praise we have for him. But we also call on the Lord to come into our lives, come to us and taste the fruit of our lives, the love we have for him. To enjoy, to be delighted by our lives of praise.

His Bride

DEVOTION

SONG OF SONGS

HIS BRIDE

Song 4:1-7

4:1 How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil are doves. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Mount Gilead. 2 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn, coming up from the washing. Each has its twin; not one of them is alone. 3 Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon; your mouth is lovely. Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate. 4 Your neck is like the tower of David, built with elegance; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors. 5 Your two breasts are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle that browse among the lilies. 6 Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of incense. 7 All beautiful you are, my darling; there is no flaw in you.

NIV

Almost this whole of chapter four is the description of the bride by the bridegroom. We will take just a portion of it at a time because it is quite long. Those who want to view this as some sensual piece of literature would take away any relationship the Lord has with his people, or that it his word is always about God revealing more of himself to his people. If we view this from the perspective of God, then we can see how Jesus Christ, the bridegroom views his church. To know that we are no longer withheld outside the veil, but we are in fact behind the veil in the Holy of Holies is a great truth. Our speech, our lips are filled with praise, at least they should be. They have been covered by the scarlet blood of the lamb. Our voice is filled with the words of God, our temples, our mind is set on the things of God, not on the world. We have the breastplate of Christ, all the warriors of heaven are at our disposal. We can run the race like a gazelle, we will not grow weary, we run among the lily of the valley, Jesus until that Day of the Lord appears and the shadow of night no longer exists. Here we stand, we take our stand upon the mountain of God. We are beautiful in his sight, he sees us without a single flaw, for as we have been washed by the scarlet blood of the Lamb until we are whiter as fresh driven snow. He sees us flawless, holy and blameless, pure and without spot or blemish. We are the bride of Christ always ready for our bridegroom to bring us home. Yet in the truest sense we are already his wife. We have been wedded to him since the day we were born again. This life we now live is the honeymoon, an extended honeymoon, until he is finished preparing a place for us in the home where we will spend all of eternity with him. Someday that home will be presented, coming down from heaven, shining as the light of Christ, filled with the glory of God. Until that day appears, let us enjoy this honeymoon, content being his bride.

Jesus Rejoices

DEVOTION

SONG OF SONGS

JESUS REJOICES

Song 3:6-11

6 Who is this coming up from the desert like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and incense made from all the spices of the merchant? 7 Look! It is Solomon's carriage, escorted by sixty warriors, the noblest of Israel, 8 all of them wearing the sword, all experienced in battle, each with his sword at his side, prepared for the terrors of the night. 9 King Solomon made for himself the carriage; he made it of wood from Lebanon. 10 Its posts he made of silver, its base of gold. Its seat was upholstered with purple, its interior lovingly inlaid by the daughters of Jerusalem. 11 Come out, you daughters of Zion, and look at King Solomon wearing the crown, the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, the day his heart rejoiced.

NIV

On the surface it would appear this is all about Solomon, but indeed it is not. Much of this Song of Songs is an allegory rather than simply surface or literal words. This has several visions within. First we can see the picture of God as a pillar of smoke leading the children of Israel out of Egypt. His carriage seems to describe the tabernacle made with silver and gold, and purple fabric. But it also gives us the picture of Jesus coming for his bride. He is the bridegroom coming in all his glory, silver and gold with fine linens of purple and an army of warriors. He is still covered with the scent of spices which could be from the Wiseman from the East or from the spices used to prepare his body for the tomb. But now Jesus is in his glorified state, the King of kings, the Lord of lords resurrected and Jesus certainly is wearing the crown as well as offering the crown of life to those nobles, the faithful church, which is to be resurrected. The best part of this is seeing Jesus, the bridegroom rejoicing on the day of his wedding, when the bride of Christ, we the church, the faithful who have endured to the end, are forever united with our Lord in the future tabernacle with posts made of silver and its base of gold, the golden streets of the city of Zion, the new city of Jerusalem. All after the great battle Armageddon, and the word of the Lord as a sword destroys the army of Satan and he is defeated once and for all. Jesus rejoices when we join him, to think we are the reason Jesus rejoices.   

Awaken Love

DEVOTION

SONG OF SONGS

AWAKEN LOVE

Song 3:1-5

1 All night long on my bed I looked for the one my heart loves; I looked for him but did not find him. 2 I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares; I will search for the one my heart loves. So I looked for him but did not find him. 3 The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. "Have you seen the one my heart loves?" 4 Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go till I had brought him to my mother's house, to the room of the one who conceived me. 5 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.

NIV

This is a search for God, or the Messiah, Jesus. This could be Israel or it could be the church. The night is a time as if it is a desertion of sorts, such as Israel seemed to have deserted the Lord from time to time. There are times when it seems the church, or should we say ourselves, have a certain indifference to the Lord, this bed of ours, this long night may be the times of our secret sins, or the secret of our failures. Israel could not find the Messiah in the business of the city, nor can we find the Lord in the hustle and bustle of life. But who is the watchman? Could they be the ministers? In Israel they could be the high priest or the teachers of the law. To us the watchmen could be the pastors of the church, the ones who supposed to keep watch for the truth.  It seems not to matter in the sense the watchman did not know where we might find Jesus. However the point in as we continue to search we will find him, and when we do we need to take him home with us. There is no other way to find Jesus than in our personal search. Others cannot find him for us, we must be the ones looking and having a thirst for him, a love for him. Nothing can satisfy our thirst, our hunger, our life other than Jesus. We can look for satisfaction in our work, or in our church, in our position, our good deeds or whatever seems to drive us to get up in the morning and make our way out into the streets. But unless we find our peace and contentment in Jesus, we find nothing, we continue to search, and asking where he is. The fact remains we will find him as long as we desire to find his love for us. But also finding Jesus without having that love for him, does not much for us. If we just add him to our daily life, it seems meaningless. We must add our daily life to Jesus. He must be our first love, then our daily life is based on Jesus, not Jesus on our daily life. Let us awake our love for him.

Freedom of God

DEVOTION

SONG OF SONGS

FREEDOM OF GOD

Song 2:14-17

14 My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. 15 Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom. 16 My lover is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies. 17 Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, turn, my lover, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the rugged hills.  

NIV

We are supposed to believe some of this is spoken by the Shulamite, with a couple of words stuck in there from her brothers, and the lover responding. That is if we believe this is all about the love affair between a man and a woman. It is just odd to think God inspired such a humanistic romance novel. What we are reminded of is that God hid Moses in the cleft of the rock because Moses wanted God to show himself to him. God spoke in a voice to Moses, his voice was sweet to him, but sounded as thunder and lightning to the children of Israel at the base of the mountain. This might relate to us in that same sense. To us the voice of God, and we could say the scripture is his voice to us, is sweet, we savor it, but to those who are at the base of the mountain, or living in the base condition of sin, only hear judgment and wrath in his voice, thunder and lightning. Then we have this idea of the foxes that ruin the vineyard and we are wanting the king to catch them, for the grapes are in full bloom and the foxes are consuming all the grapes, thus no wine. But those foxes could also be the demons of hell, trying their best to destroy the vineyard of God, his church, us. There is no question that we are God's and he is ours, when we read those words, my lover is mine and I am his. The Lord does browse among the lilies, and again the Lord dwells with his people. He moves about, dwelling in his church. Until that day, the day of the Lord when the shadows break, when darkness is no more, when it is day continually, we beseech the Lord to be free in our lives, to be like that gazelle or like a young stag running free, in the rugged parts of our life. Those areas we still struggle with, that temptation we still allow to grab us, ensnare us. Lord, be free to romp in that rugged hill.

Come With Me

DEVOTION

SONG OF SONGS

COME WITH ME

Song 2:8-13

8 Listen! My lover! Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills. 9 My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look! There he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice. 10 My lover spoke and said to me, "Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me. 11 See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. 12 Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. 13 The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me."

NIV

Well, we could think this is all about some lover and a beautiful woman, but then we would have to think God only means for us to know about how men and women relate to each other, as if we did not know. But this is about the Lord and his church. It could be seen in two different contexts. First it could be a description of the coming of the Lord in the flesh to his beloved Israel. They have been in the winter of the Old Testament long enough and he comes to bring the spring, the New Testament life, and a refreshing time of renewal for them. It could also be seen as the Lord coming in the clouds for his beloved church. A church that has been in the winter of this world, and he comes bounding over the hills calling his church to arise to come and meet him in the air. But then it can also be an individual call to arise from our slumber, from the life of this sinful world and join him. What joy it is to see the Lord after we have been living in the winter of life, living in sin. He comes to us, peering into the window of our soul, and calls to us there, “arise, my darling, my beautiful one, the one I created in my image, come with me, see the winter is past”. It is the call to salvation, to a better life, a life of singing, rejoicing in the Lord. The two lives described, the winter and the spring. The life in sin and the life in salvation. He calls his people, the people of the earth, to come to him. We all are his creation, all peoples of the earth. There are none who live that have life because of any other reason than because of God. So he calls everyone to himself. He loves all the world so much he sent his only Son so that whosoever believes in him should be saved. Anyone merely has to look up and see him coming, calling to them, “come with me”. He calls to his church, to the world, “Come with me”.