“I slept, but my heart was awake, I heard my lover knocking and calling: ‘Open to me, my treasure, my darling, my dove, my perfect one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.’ But I responded, ‘I have taken off my robe. Should I get dressed again? I have washed my feet. Should I get them soiled?’” (Song of Solomon 5:1-3)
Reading this, I couldn’t help but think of how often I respond to Jesus as Solomon’s bride did to him. How many times have I sensed the wooing of God’s Spirit, “Come, seek My face. Come and be with Me.” and failed to yield to his loving call. We can be so easily distracted by things, even good things, that we fail to remember that the most important thing of all is, “My beloved is mine, and I am his.”
How much we forfeit by busying ourselves with the lesser things, forgetting to choose the better part that is only found at the feet of Him whose “love is better than wine.” Who can compare to the Lord? Who else can but speak our na
mes and the very love of God floods our hearts as His Spirit brings grace and mercy, restoring our strength with a mere whisper? “The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes…” I will wait for the Lord, for He will gladly sustain me with His word, words sweeter than honey, piercing my very soul. “Let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”
Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips will praise You and I will bless you, lifting up my hands in Your name! I will sing to you O God for you are everything to me. “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.” How can it be that You my Lord would love such a one as me? “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm…”
“I will seek him whom my soul loves. Draw me after you and let us run together! The king has brought me into his chambers.”
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