Intimacy – Song of Solomon 4:8-16

Song of Solomon is about two persons, one royal, the other of common Shulammite descent. These two are obsessed with each other. There is room for nothing else in their hearts than each other. Theirs is an all-consuming love affair. In this passage it is royalty confessing his passion and desire. The spirit of his words is not a command; it is an invitation ….

                                                              Come away with me.

The King knows being alone with his beloved is where his desire will be satisfied. It is her choice to reciprocate.

The Song of Solomon may be instructive to courting and married partners but I believe the Spirit chose this imagery primarily because it paints the clearest picture of God’s passion toward us. It is scandalous that this is the kind of relationship God desires with man! A scandal you might ask? Think about how Jesus (God’s explanation and invitation) was received? His chosen responded to the invitation with unbelief, scorn and ultimately murder. She literally spit in his face, saying, “Leave me alone permanently!” The scandal is in God’s response, in Christ…..

                        Father forgive them for they don’t understand what they are doing.

Truly, what manner of love is this?!! I wonder what the scribes and Pharisees were teaching about Solomon’s Song when Jesus was on the earth? How did they instruct Israel to fulfill the primary command to love their God with all their heart and soul and mind and strength? As I understand it, they taught that fidelity was kept through obedience. Where fidelity failed there was sacrifice. They taught that God demanded compliance to the rules He had previously given plus a few hundred more thrown in as a hedge. I wonder if Jesus ever heard a single scribe say, “I love you Lord.”?

It was not long ago that an “I love you Lord” would have stuck in my throat too. How could I make such an audacious, emotionally dishonest claim with a heart as desperately sick as mine, inclined as it was, to stray always? No, with my selfish motives and secret sins all I could muster was, “God, I pray that someday I will love You in a way that is worthy of You.” During this season, when I sinned, I would recommit to holiness, doubling-down on obedience with brokenness and contrition as my backup plan. Unless I was working with a pretty good run of goodness I would not have the hutzpah to say, “I love you Lord”.

I have often thought, if Jeff Foxworthy had a Christian act, he would say, “You might be a Pharisee – if you struggle saying, ‘I love You Father’.” Or, “You might be a Pharisee if – you are more concerned with other’s performance than your own.” I see these two conditions operating in-tandem in the religious spirit. Religious persons make a mockery of God’s grace. They scorn his invitation “to come” when they think their performance has qualified them for his approval. I speak from personal experience.

I did all my bad religious-math at a deeper level than conscious thought. I didn’t awaken each day to go out and earn God’s approval; it was instinctive. Religion is systemic to our flesh. It is just as deadly but far more subtle than debauchery because it usually looks great, making its case for righteousness, one good work upon another. However, the heart steeped in religion produces only the temporal fruit of works, never the eternal fruit of rest. This is called deception.

Today, I am so grateful that the sentence, “I love You” rolls more easily from my lips! There is not enough space here to describe how I got into a religious performance-based relationship to God or how I was freed from it, but it is enough to say that being freed from religion has been like a drowned man being revived, taking in deep gulps of refreshingly clean, life giving air. Note: If this awakens something in you, the story of how the Lord un-entangled (and is untangling) my heart from religion is an ongoing theme at midlewithmystery.com (MwM).

MwM is inspired by the daily scripture passages presented in the Blue Book (BB). FYI: The BB is not copyrighted. No one profits from it. It is as unpretentious as the One to whom it points. It is a gift to the body of Christ by JLB. In simplicity it introduces us to a community of God -intoxicated Shulamites who will not live without their Beloved. Their condensed wisdom is shared in bite-sized portions, each echoing God’s invitation to “Come away.” It’s gift is its instruction, both direct and indirect, of how to respond to this invitation.

Father, expose and breakdown the religious stronghold lurking in our hearts. We know you desire intimacy not just our obedience. Where we have grown hardened to your invitation to come-away with You, please heal us. Persist until there is not room in our hearts for anything but you. Become our all-consuming passion. Persevere until our hearts declare “Oh God, how I love you!”

 

 

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