Song of Songs Chapter 5, Part 1

This episode is on the first half of Chapter 5, and explores the role of suffering in the life of the Christ Follower.  May you feel the comfort of the Holy Spirit as you listen.

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Hello, everyone, and a warm welcome back to Jeff's Bible Trek. In this season, we've been trekking through Solomon's Song of Songs, and in this episode, we're going to cover the first half of chapter five. You know, as I said last time, what gets me the most about this book are the intense love exchanges between the king and his bride. You know, as I've mentioned before, there are many people who are never taught about the fact that this book is not just about married love. It's about the love between Jesus and the believer. And if you read it that way, I can guarantee you that if your heart is open, your relationship with the Lord will deepen and grow much richer and more meaningful. Now, the chapter breaks in this book sometimes are unfortunate in where they fall. Now, in case you weren't aware, the designations of chapters in the Bible were put there by Stephen Langton, who was Archbishop of Canterbury, somewhere between 1205 and 1227 AD, or CE, as we say now. The verses in each chapter were put in the New Testament by Robert STN in 1551 and the Old Testament four years later. So with that background, we really can't start chapter five until we go back and read the last verse of chapter four. After listening to the king talk about all the wonderful aromas that emanate from her life, the maiden says 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. And so she invites him to smell the fragrances and taste the fruits of what he has invested in her life. With that background going into chapter five, he responds with 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. Stop right there. Have you ever felt that your relationship with the Lord has gone somewhat stale? If so, all you need to do is go back to the Song of Songs and read about how Jesus has been partaking of the fruits and fragrances of your life all along. Nine times in this verse that I read is the word my she was now his total possession. She claimed no part of her life for herself now. She was his garden, his sister or brother, and his bride. And now he was reaping the benefits of his labors in her. It was his myrrh, his spice, his honeycomb, his honey, his wine, and his milk. So the two of them come together, and the friends who are looking on as this relationship between the king and his bride develops, close out this scene by saying, Eat, O friends and drink. Drink your fill, O lovers. Thus this section of the song ends with the Lord receiving and enjoying the fruit of the believer's life. Now that's almost a good enough truth to just linger on and quit right here, but we're we're gonna press on. In verses two through eight, a rather long section, the bride speaks again, and I quote I slept, but my heart was awake. Listen, my lover is knocking. And he says, 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. I have taken off my robe, must I put it on again? she says. I have washed my feet. Must I soil them again? My lover thrust his hand through the latch opening. My heart began to pound for him. I rose to open for my lover, and his hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh on the handles of the lock. I opened for my lover, but my lover had left. He was gone. My heart had gone out to him when he spoke. I looked for him but did not find him. I called him, but he did not answer. 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. O daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you, if you find my lover, what will you tell him? Tell him I am faint with love. Wow, let's let's take a breath after witnessing that scene. You know, I we hate to see the loving heroine of our story get beaten. And not just beaten, but beaten by the watchmen of all people who are supposed to be watching out for people. Now notice her condition as this new scene opens. She says, I slept, but my heart was awake. At this point in her walk with the Lord, she was at rest. Her sins had been dealt with at the cross, and now there was no movement, activity, scheming, wrestling, or anxiety from her flesh, which is her old nature, exerting itself. But there was some activity. While outwardly she slept, inwardly she was active. Inside there was faith, meditation and life. It was the indwelling life and presence of the Holy Spirit. Her outward expression was one of quiet rest and sweet calmness of soul, but her inner spirit was alive and active. Her inner man was sensitive, alert, never slumbering, and able to hear and recognize the Lord's voice when he spoke. And he was in fact knocking and calling to her. He says, 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. In an earlier part of the song, the Lord made himself known as king and sought to sit on the throne of her life. Then he came to her with a further call. He wanted to deliver her from her self-built enclosure and move her out into the world and into the power of resurrection life. And finally, after revealing himself as her bridegroom, he develops a love relationship between them. Here, he reveals himself in a different way. His head is drenched with dew, his hair with the dampness of night. What in the world does that mean? Well apparently he's portraying himself in his agony in the garden of Gethsemane. In that garden his head was filled with the night dew as he wrestled in prayer, and while drops of the night and the darkness fell upon him. Luke twenty two, verse forty four says, and being in anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. Thus he made known to his own that he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, as it says in Isaiah fifty three and verse three. I think this revelation means three things for the Christian. First, being acquainted with grief and sorrow, Jesus is better able to sympathize with our struggles and afflictions. Secondly, the Lord was trying to share his heart of intercession with her, to acquaint her with grief and sorrow in other people as well. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane displayed to his disciples what it is to grieve, wail, mourn, and agonize over the human condition. And here in the song the king is trying to share his heart of concern over the sufferings of man with his bride. And so it is today that Jesus wants to bring us to the place where we can understand, empathize with, intercede for, cry with, and minister to suffering people. Often our conception of maturity is to be always victorious and to have all the answers for all people. Well, in Job, there is a lesson to learn from the approach of his three friends. Job's friends are still with us today, those who think they have all the answers. Sometimes the best approach is just to mourn with those who mourn. I read somewhere the account of a guy who saw a man sitting on a park bench looking very sorrowful. The guy went and sat down next to him and said nothing. He just bowed his head and mourned with him, and that eventually opened a door of ministry to the man on the spot. God help us to stop accusing people of sinning and start agonizing with them. The third thing this revelation means for the Christian is the Lord was trying to prepare her or us personally to share in his sufferings. This could include both persecutions and all the many trials of life. Now let's face it, this is a tough subject to bring up with some Christians. The suffering life of the believer. Here are four nuggets from that article. Calm periods can hide small compromises, overlooked habits, and signs of imbalance. Storms push us beyond our comfort zones, forcing us to adjust, endure, and find new footing when the ground beneath us gives way. In confronting fear, uncertainty, or loss of control, we come to know ourselves more deeply. It is here that our character is revealed. The fourth one is the periods of calm after hardship can help us appreciate what we have. In the Bryce case, it was a test, and questions began to go through her mind. How can God be glorified in this? What's going to happen to my ministry? People used to come to me for advice. Will this shame and reproach drive them off? How will anyone come to me and learn the way of the Lord anymore? Sounds kind of like Job, doesn't it? She was, and I this I this I can't put this uh uh any more lightly, she was experiencing conflict within herself. Her response, therefore, was a delaying excuse. I have taken off my robe, must I put it on again? In other words, I've already achieved victorious Christian living and gotten rid of unbelief and suffering. Why must I take up the cross again as if putting on an old robe that I threw away? You see, she thought the cross was something you visit once, and then it's heaven on earth. She didn't realize that you visit the cross of Jesus once, then pick up your own cross and carry it with you until this life is over. That entails suffering for the name of Jesus. It entails painful trials, usually where it hurts the most, but also bowing down with those who are suffering and suffering with them. She did not want to become soiled and defiled by human suffering again, hers or anyone else's. This is clear from her next question. I have washed my feet. Must I soil them again? The crux of the matter here is that she had become comfortable with the relationship she already had with the Lord, not realizing the importance of reaching out for what Paul spoke of in Philippians 3 10. And I quote, I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Just when she'd gotten comfortable, the Lord came along and said, Come on, there's more. And so it is with us. The price of progress, hear me, hear me. The price of progress is the willingness to change. Getting comfortable dulls our conscience where we can't even detect our faults. The keen edge is taken off any further explorations in the Lord. We stop trying to seek anything new. Instead, we're afraid further searching will rob us of enjoying our present state. Well, this is dangerous. Worse yet, it puts Jesus out in the cold and the wet of the night. But she did open the door. In verses four and five, she says, My lover thrust his hand through the latch opening. My heart began to pound for him. I arose to open for my lover, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh on the handles of the lock. Notice it was his hand that was extended toward her. The same hand that had embraced her, had been under her head. It was a nail scarred hand. It was a loving and compassionate hand that gently but firmly drew her to walk where he had been. She rose to open the door. She was willing to abandon every excuse and embrace the shame of the cross. Her hands dripped with myrrh, which is bitter and represents suffering, because she now possessed not only the power of the Lord's death, but the fragrance of it as well. Now the Lord could minister to her, or she could go and minister to someone else with the life of Christ, which had passed through death and into the glory of resurrection life. Now it was not you're suffering because you're a filthy sinner, but it's I have come to mourn with you, comfort you, and console you. Listen, my prayer is that if you find yourself in a challenging trial right now, as I'm speaking, that you will literally feel the compassion and comfort of the Spirit of God. And on that note, we're going to pause here and finish chapter five in the next episode, which will be coming very soon. And until then, God bless you.