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.