A Lovers Appointment

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Welcome to the Be and Become Podcast, featuring Francois Carr, a public and collective life ministry. Francois's international ministry equips and encourages pastors, ministry leaders, and fellow Christians as they discover what it means to truly be and become the followers they were meant to be. Thank you for joining Francois today as he offers a few words of encouragement from God's Word.

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Recently I was reading through the Book of Songs of Solomon and reflected on some insights and thoughts the Lord laid upon my heart. I have seen the importance of seeing the face of Jesus and hearing his voice in the quietness of the morning, but especially the importance of the morning watch to spend some time with him in the beginning of the day and towards the end of his night watch. But as I was reading through chapter 5 from verses 2 till the end of verse 7, I saw some wonderful lessons and pictures that I want to share with you, and even the remainder of the chapter as well. The importance of a lover's appointment. A picture of the Lord Jesus Himself and lessons that we can learn as a married couple or when we find ourselves in a relationship. But today I want to talk to you about this lover's appointment. And for the next few weeks, just to look at some difficulties and principles and keys that is important for you and for I as we spend some time in meeting with the Lord. Now back in the day the Scots in the Anglo Saxon time were as a word that they use for appointment. It's the word tryst, a word commonly used by lovers and friends as I speak about their appointments. They speak of making a tryst at a trysting place and a trysting time. And this word expresses the real significance of a meeting with the Lord in the morning. And so a trysting time, a trysting place, and a trysting meeting, it's all about a lover's appointment. And as we read in chapter 5, verses 2 and onwards, we see five steps that is very, very clearly that I want to share with you this morning. And the first step is the one the desire from the husband to spend some time with his loved one. After spending the whole night with his head covered with dew, his locks with the drops of night as he was guarding her over his love in the rude country, he just wanted to spend some time with her, and she did not want to rise early in the morning. She made some excuses for lying a little bit longer in the bed. She said, I've taken off my rope, how can I put it on again? I've washed my feet, how can I defile them? But how he presses the matter in verses four, but putting his hand through the latch of the door, because he wanted to spend some time with her, and then because of the reluctance to rise, the desired interview of the lover's appointment was lost, and she suffered defeat in her contact with the world in that day, verses five till the end of verse seven. So we see five steps. Number one, Solomon desired to have intimacy with his wife. And so the Lord Jesus himself also desires an intimate relationship with his bride. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 9, we find a similar scene in the book of Revelation, chapter 3, where Jesus is standing at the door of an unsaved sinner's heart desiring to enter. Although we use this sometimes when we speak about the evangelism, wanting people to accept the Lord Jesus, this he actually is referring to the church of Laodicea, who has become lukewarm in their service to him because of their hearts that has become lukewarm towards him. And so they have forgotten what they truly were and what their spiritual condition was without the Lord Jesus. And just like the woman that enjoyed a life of wealth only because she was the wealth of the king, and without him she would still be working in a sunscored vineyard in the day that it talked that she finds herself where the king met with her in the beginning. And so it's the same for us. Without Jesus, we can do absolutely nothing. So we see first of all that Jesus wanted to spend some time with us just like the king wanted to spend some time with his wife. And secondly, just as the Shulamite woman made some excuses too, often we make the same excuses for not spending some time with Jesus or simply abiding in him. Her excuses were feeble ones. She had taken off her rope and washed her feet, and sadly many of our excuses for not getting up in the morning or spending some time with Jesus or rejecting this fellowship with him are no better. We are either too busy or too tired to make some time for him. Number three, and then Solomon walked away when he was rejected by his wife, and so the Lord will quietly leave us to our own desires verses four through six. He will not beg for our attention, he will not demand or force entrance into our lives, he will silently thrust his mirror, anointed hand through the whole of our hearts, and then simply walked away as he leave behind a fragrant reminder that he loves us, that he has suffered and bled and died for us and wanted to have some fellowship with us. Number four, and just as the woman placed herself in danger when she left the king's palace, so we place ourselves also in danger when we are out of fellowship with Jesus. Now the safest place I have found is to be in the center of God's will for our lives. And when we spend some time with the Lord on a daily basis, the Lord prepares us and the Lord help us to be connected to his heart and to his will and to his desires throughout this day, and we find that all things that is happening throughout this day is perfectly in the hollow of his hand, and we are at peace with whatever takes place throughout this day because we are connected to him. And so when she selfishly rejected Solomon, she placed herself in harm's way. And so the same happens with us as we find ourselves not in fellowship with him, and then sometimes the Lord will allow things to happen to correct us or to bring us back that we can experience the step number five, which is to repent. And just as the woman repented, so we should repent when we reject the fellowship from the Lord. And just Jesus told the church of Laodicea in Revelation chapter three, verses eighteen and nineteen to repent and return to their first love. And so when she opened her eyes, Solomon's wife, she saw that she what was really important in her life. And so she repented and sought to be reconciled again with him. And so when the Holy Spirit prick our hearts and convicts us of this broken fellowship, we should repent, ask forgiveness, and see that we are reconnecting with him throughout this day. And so the lesson today is very clear. If we really want to be blessed and protected, we must meet with the Lord at the trysting place. It made me think about all those times and moments that I've missed out on opportunities to grow and to enjoy intimacy with him. Just imagine where could I have been in my walk with him if it wasn't for backsliding or missing out on those special moments of meeting with the Lord at the trysting place. He wants to spend some time with us. He reached out to us, and we have the option to say yes or no, and if we say no, he would simply walk away quietly, but then we would find ourselves out of contact with him throughout the day until he will bring us back that we can be connected with him once again. May God bless you in this day as you seek to meet with Jesus at the Lover's appointment, at the Lover's time, and also at the Lover's place. The Lord bless you.

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Thank you for listening to this Be and Become episode with Francois Carr. For more information about the ministry, visit the website at ConnectedLifeministries.com. We hope you'll join Francois next time as he continues the conversation on what it means to be and become the follower you are meant to be.