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SONG OF SOLOMON 5:2 + 6:9
THE SHULAMITE awakes and speaks (5:2)
I sleep, but my heart is awake;
It is the voice of my beloved!
He knocks, saying,
“Open for me, my sister, my love,
My dove, my perfect one;
For my head is covered with dew,
My locks with the drops of the night.”
THE BELOVED replies (6:9)
My dove, my perfect one,
Is the only one,
The only one of her mother,
The favourite of the one who bore her.
The daughters saw her
And called her blessed,
The queens and the concubines,
And they praised her.
For me, The Song of Solomon (The Song of Songs) is a book that continually speaks afresh to me. Along with John’s Gospel, these are books that I turn to again and again. Both, I believe, take as their inspiration something of the Tabernacle pattern for our walk with God as was given to Moses in the book of Exodus. (Exodus 25-31 and 35-40)
In Song of Solomon that expression My dove, My perfect one is used twice — the first time by The Shulamite as a voice she reports as having heard, meaning that The Holy Spirit spoke to her, and as she represents those of us chosen by Him, born again, and baptised in the Holy Spirit we can be reassured that it is the call to come up higher and go on with Him unto perfection.
The second time, it is The Beloved who speaks. And what this says to me, is that God calls us His dove, His perfect ones at all times, because that is how He sees His chosen. We are already perfect in His sight. He sees the end from the beginning.
In the first passage the Shulamite’s heart — her whole being, her spirit, her soul is awakening to The Beloved, even while her body sleeps. At this point, she hears His voice as in a dream. He knocks…
In Song of Solomon that expression My dove, My perfect one is used twice — the first time by The Shulamite as a voice she reports as having heard, meaning that The Holy Spirit spoke to her, and as she represents those of us chosen by Him, born again, and baptised in the Holy Spirit we can be reassured that it is the call to come up higher and go on with Him unto perfection.
The second time, it is The Beloved who speaks. And what this says to me, is that God calls us His dove, His perfect ones at all times, because that is how He sees His chosen. We are already perfect in His sight. He sees the end from the beginning.
In the first passage the Shulamite’s heart — her whole being, her spirit, her soul is awakening to The Beloved, even while her body sleeps. At this point, she hears His voice as in a dream. He knocks…
Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears My voice and opens the door,
I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
[Revelation 3:20]
But then The Beloved repeats His name for The Shulamite maiden — and that repetition, that witnessing, reinforces that this is the name that He has given to His people. This is our new name at the rebirth; this is the new nature that He puts in us by His Holy Spirit, for He can only relate to us if we are like Him. We become the favourite of the one who bore her — the mother church; the Church of Christ Jesus.
My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land,
That they may dwell with me;
He who walks in a perfect way,
He shall serve me.
He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house;
He who tells lies shall not continue in my presence.
Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land,
That I may cut off all the evildoers from the city of the LORD.
[Psalm 101:6-8]
‘Perfect’ here carries the meaning of without blemish, upright, uprightly, whole, sincerely or complete. We are made complete ‘in Him’. Our problem, of course, is that He grants us free will, so that when The Beloved knocks, He May find that we are not receiving visitors. We can go out as well as in to His presence. Pray that we go no more out.
Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.
He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more.
I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God.
And I will write on him My new name.
[Revelation 3:11-12]
MEDITATE ON THESE THINGS…
Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ,
let us go on to perfection,
not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead,
and of eternal judgment.
And this we will do if God permits.
[HEBREWS 6:1-3]
FOR ALL THAT YOU’VE DONE I WILL THANK YOU — The Lloyd Family Singers
PRAYER REQUIRES WONDER…
IN THIS MANNER, therefore, pray. How blessed it is to begin at the beginning, spiritual minors, stripped of our rich and verbal devotional language, and impoverished into receptive teachableness. Let our minds, made fertile by reason of genuine humility, receive the ideas our Lord presents in this familiar pattern prayer; receive in wonder and reverence the simple idea of God's personal relationship to us.
Our Father gathers us near Him in the secret place alone with our fears and apprehensions and foolishnesses and aspirations, and He rewards us. When we talk about the fatherhood of God, let us remember that the Lord Jesus is the exclusive way to the Father. That is not an idea to be inferred, but to be received: "No one comes to the Father, except through Me.
[from ‘Christian Discipline Volume 2 by Oswald Chambers]
LISTEN TO THIS MEDITATION HERE…
COMING NEXT… #524 THE LINES HAVE FALLEN TO ME IN PLEASANT PLACES
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JAMES 1:2-8
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
What is patience? In the King James Version we see it described as ‘longsuffering’. The Cambridge Dictionary describes patience in this way — ‘the ability to wait, or to continue doing something despite difficulties, or to suffer without complaining or becoming annoyed’. So longsuffering is a part of patience, but so is waiting. When we pray we are often in a tearing hurry, expecting an immediate answer from The Lord, but no matter how urgent we believe things to be, our God teaches us to wait and trust that He is ‘working all things together for good.’
But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
[ISAIAH 40:31]
Patience is waiting — and specifically waiting on The Lord in the full expectation of His deliverance from trouble; and that patience and faith produces the strength to be an ‘overcomer’ in the fiery trials that we all experience.
Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you,
as though some strange thing happened to you;
but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed,
you may also be glad with exceeding joy.
If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you,
for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.
[1 PETER 4:12-14]
Revelation 21:7 says He who overcomes shall inherit all things, adding and I will be his God and he shall be My son. This is the ultimate promise, our reward from the author and finisher of our faith, that our difficulties, trials and troubles are integral and essential to our life in Him, honing our natural reborn spirit to reach the perfection of the Holy Spirit.
MEDITATE ON THESE THINGS…
But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons.
You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake.
But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony.
Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer;
for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.
You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death.
And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake.
But not a hair of your head shall be lost.
By your patience possess your souls.
LUKE 12:21-18 KJV (see also Matt. 24:3–14; Mark 13:3–13, both NKJV)
You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake.
But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony.
Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer;
for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.
You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death.
And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake.
But not a hair of your head shall be lost.
By your patience possess your souls.
LUKE 12:21-18 KJV (see also Matt. 24:3–14; Mark 13:3–13, both NKJV)
PATIENTLY ENDURING — Active Christianity
PRAYER REQUIRES … SIMPLICITY
AVOID EVERY TENDENCY away from the simplicity of relationship to God in Christ Jesus, and then prayer will be as the breath of the lungs in a healthy body.
[from ‘Christian Discipline Volume 2’ by Oswald Chambers]
[from ‘Christian Discipline Volume 2’ by Oswald Chambers]
LISTEN TO THIS MEDITATION HERE…
COMING NEXT… #523 GOING ON TO PERFECTION
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1 THESSALONIANS 5:23-24
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.
He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.
Let us be clear… we do not start out blameless, and along the way we each make plenty of mistakes, but the Apostle Paul prays ‘may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ’. In these few words there is an immensity of meaning and understanding to be assessed and appreciated. So let us consider it, albeit briefly.
What is Paul saying?
He starts by praying that each of us be sanctified completely by the God of Peace. Therefore we need to know that sanctified means ‘to be set apart, consecrated, as holy’. The setting apart is not and cannot be of our own making, it is the sovereign response of Our Lord to our giving of ourselves to Him — a commitment born in us by The Holy Spirit, when our hearts respond to His calling.
…at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
This is an area which is open to much divergence of interpretation. Some attest to this speaking of the time when Jesus Christ will reappear in the flesh to redeem mankind at some point in the future. My own belief is that our Lord is very much of the present, of ‘now’! Thus, His touch to ‘preserve blameless’ is immediate and at once. All we need do is enter into that deep relationship with Him to activate His resurrection life in us, so to speak.
…your whole spirit, soul and body
The work is a complete one, touching every fibre of our being. That completeness is God-given, and is a drawing into holiness, for only in that blessed state can we be blameless. Paul says this in 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13…
And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.
What is Paul saying?
He starts by praying that each of us be sanctified completely by the God of Peace. Therefore we need to know that sanctified means ‘to be set apart, consecrated, as holy’. The setting apart is not and cannot be of our own making, it is the sovereign response of Our Lord to our giving of ourselves to Him — a commitment born in us by The Holy Spirit, when our hearts respond to His calling.
…at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
This is an area which is open to much divergence of interpretation. Some attest to this speaking of the time when Jesus Christ will reappear in the flesh to redeem mankind at some point in the future. My own belief is that our Lord is very much of the present, of ‘now’! Thus, His touch to ‘preserve blameless’ is immediate and at once. All we need do is enter into that deep relationship with Him to activate His resurrection life in us, so to speak.
…your whole spirit, soul and body
The work is a complete one, touching every fibre of our being. That completeness is God-given, and is a drawing into holiness, for only in that blessed state can we be blameless. Paul says this in 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13…
And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.
MEDITATE ON THESE THINGS…
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Do all things without complaining and disputing,
that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or laboured in vain.
PHILIPPIANS 2:12-16
for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Do all things without complaining and disputing,
that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or laboured in vain.
PHILIPPIANS 2:12-16
NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS — Buddy Greene (Gaither Gathering)
PRAYER REQUIRES … SIMPLICITY
THE TENDENCY IN prayer to leave ourselves all abroad to the influence of a meeting or of a special season is not scriptural. Prayer is an effort of will, and Jesus Christ instructs us by using the word "ask."
"Everyone who asks receives." These words are an amazing revelation of the simplicity with which God would have us pray. The other domains of prayer, the intercession of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of Christ, are nothing to do with us; the effort of our will is to do with us.
[from ‘The Moral Foundations Of Life’ by Oswald Chambers]
"Everyone who asks receives." These words are an amazing revelation of the simplicity with which God would have us pray. The other domains of prayer, the intercession of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of Christ, are nothing to do with us; the effort of our will is to do with us.
[from ‘The Moral Foundations Of Life’ by Oswald Chambers]