Watchmen at the Door: Guarding Against Spiritual Roller Coasters

Do you ever feel like God is close one moment and distant the next? In this episode of the Confidence in God podcast, host Julie McGhghy explores the spiritual roller coaster many believers experience — and offers a powerful lesson from an unexpected place: the Song of Solomon.

Through two contrasting encounters of the Shulamite woman with the king, we discover what makes the difference between finding God right where we need Him and being caught off guard by the enemy instead. It all comes down to relationship — staying close to God routinely, rather than treating Him as an inconvenience.

Julie also addresses the shame, guilt, and condemnation that can keep us stuck, reminding us that repentance is always available and that God's faithfulness never runs out.

If you've been riding the spiritual roller coaster, this episode will help you find steady, confident footing in your walk with God.

Resources: 

Tired of the Spiritual Roller Coaster? 

The Roller Coaster Revisited 

Letting Go of Guilt and Shame 

Episode Timeline: Total Time 14:09.2 

• 0:03 – Intro & welcome
• 0:12 – The spiritual roller coaster: feeling close to God vs. distant
• 0:30 – Today's lesson: a book of the Bible often overlooked
• 0:47 – Recap of prior episodes on hearkening
• 1:11 – Introducing the Shulamite woman & Song of Solomon as an allegory
• 1:39 – The two times she sought the king
• 1:58 – First encounter (chapter 3:1-4): she finds the king right away
• 3:47 – Second encounter (chapter 5:2-7): she's hurt by the watchmen
• 4:35 – What made the difference between the two experiences
• 6:04 – How this helps you get off the spiritual roller coaster
• 8:37 – Dealing with shame, guilt, and condemnation
• 9:33 – Still on the roller coaster? Steps to break free
• 11:24 – Closing prayer

Transcript

Speaker 0:01

Hello, and welcome to the Confidence in God podcast. I am your host, Julie McGhghy, and our goal today is to help you walk with confidence in God.

Speaker 0:12

In your prayer life, do you sometimes feel God is very close and yet other times it seems He's very distant? This can be part of that spiritual roller coaster, the ups and downs we've considered in the last two podcast episodes. Today, I want to share just one more lesson we can learn from God's Word to help us even out the ups and downs, highs and lows, and inconsistencies in our walk with God, and we'll find it in a book of the Bible that few people pay much attention to.

Speaker 0:46

In case you missed the prior episodes, "Tired of the Roller Coaster? The Answer is Hearkening" and "The Roller Coaster Revisited: Blessings, Consequences, and the Power of Hearkening," in which I delved deeply into what it means to hearken and the blessings when we do and consequences when we don't, I'll drop a link to each of them in the show notes below.

Speaker 1:11

Today we're going to consider two experiences of the Shulamite woman in the Song of Solomon. Although there are various interpretations of this book, I'm going to view it as a drama about the love of God for His church. All of us who have experienced salvation are part of His church, so what we learn from reading the Song of Solomon applies to the church corporately and to each of us individually.

Speaker 1:39

Twice in the Song of Solomon, the Shulamite woman sought the king. Both times she searched for him and encountered the watchmen. When viewing this as a drama demonstrating God's love for His people, the watchmen represent the enemy and his minions.

Speaker 1:58

In chapter 3:1-4, the Shulamite sought the king by inquiring of the watchmen. Before they could respond, she saw the king just a little past them. She held him and would not let him go. He accepted her and allowed her to take him to a place of privacy.

Speaker 2:16

Consider this as applicable to us and Jesus. We often seek the Lord in prayer and worship, but there are times when we don't feel like He is there, so we go searching for Him, or at least we go searching to fill the void we feel.

Speaker 2:32

Jesus is the only one who can fill the void we feel. Where is the proper place to search for Him? In His Word. If we still don't feel Him, who should we consult? Our spiritual leaders, pastors, Christian parents, or our friends who have a more mature walk with God than we do.

Speaker 2:52

But in this drama, who did the woman ask to help her? The watchmen, Satan and his demons. Certainly she did not know who the watchmen were. She thought the watchmen were there to protect her and help her. We would have expected the same from security guards or watchmen. That's what we would expect from our friends. But the watchmen weren't there to protect her, and they weren't her true friends.

Speaker 3:22

Fortunately, the king was nearby. The watchmen did not have an opportunity to even respond. The king made himself visible and approachable. She ran to him just like I hope we run to our Lord when we persistently search for Him and feel Him once again. The Bible promises that we will find Him when we seek Him with all our hearts.

Speaker 3:47

Now, let's look at another time when the woman went looking for the king. We read about it in chapter 5:2-7. The Shulamite was asleep, and the king woke her up. He asked to be let into her room. She didn't want to be inconvenienced. In those days, getting up and letting him in would have required that she dress again and later wash her feet again. She didn't want to be bothered. However, when the king reached through the hole in the door, she reconsidered. But when she reached the door, the king had already departed. This time when she searched, the watchmen were waiting. They found her, attacked her, and injured her.

Speaker 4:35

What is the difference between the first time the Shulamite went searching for the king and found him just beyond the watchmen and the second time when she was harmed because he wasn't nearby? It's all about relationship.

Speaker 4:52

Just before the first incident, the king and the Shulamite had been expressing love to each other routinely. They were so close that the king invited her into a deeper, higher relationship with him, and she responded by joining him and continuing to express her love. We can read about it in chapter 2:10-16. In that relationship, the king was never far off.

Speaker 5:23

In contrast, just before the second incident, the Shulamite had rejected the king. She treated him like an inconvenience. It required too much effort to dress and wash her feet again. She rejected him, so when she reconsidered and sought him, the king was not nearby. Instead, the watchmen were there, and they hurt her.

Speaker 5:48

But God never leaves us in our pain, and there is no sin you can commit that makes you unforgivable. Repentance is always available to you right up until the moment you die or Jesus returns.

Speaker 6:03

So how does this help you get off the spiritual Roller Coaster? You want to be like the Shulamite woman in the first incident. You want to be in God's presence routinely, praying continuously, being in God's word for yourself, not just when you are at church, so that you hear God speaking to you through His word.

Speaker 6:27

When you go through tough times, hard times when you don't feel God near, it is okay to seek counsel from spiritual leaders. Go to your pastor or others who God has clearly established as your spiritual leaders. But don't just go to friends, especially just friends at school or work who don't serve the Lord or aren't further along in their walk with God than you are. Seek godly counsel, and if you make a mistake, if you step outside and look the wrong direction for him, he will be right there. You will find him quickly.

Speaker 7:05

Don't be like the Shulamite woman in the second incident. Do not reject the Lord. Do not treat Him like He is an inconvenience because He wants you to act, dress, and talk differently than the world. Remember what God said to Cain in Genesis 4:7 after he had killed Abel. "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, and you must rule over it."

Speaker 7:39

If we reject God and start looking to others or in places other than the Bible and the church, you will find Satan and his demons ready to tempt you. And if you haven't made a deep personal commitment to God and His Word, and you're treating Him and His teachings as inconveniences, then you will be susceptible to Satan's attacks. You will continue the spiritual Roller Coaster ride, possibly even shirking some of God's teachings and falling into sin.

Speaker 8:10

God will be there to forgive you, but Hebrews 6:4-6 indicates that it will be very difficult for you. You will likely go through much sorrow and pain before you reach that place of repentance again, not because God doesn't want you to come to Him in repentance, but because Satan will bind you with chains of shame, guilt, and condemnation. If you ever experience that, or if you are currently bound by such shame, guilt, and condemnation, remember that there is no condemnation in God according to Romans 8:1.

Speaker 8:50

If you feel shame, guilt, and condemnation, you are not walking with and listening to God. If you feel those things, you are letting Satan and ungodly people influence your feelings. Instead, return to God in godly sorrow that leads to repentance unto salvation according to 2 Corinthians 7:10. Trade your shame, guilt, and condemnation for godly sorrow. Return to Him in repentance. He will forgive you. Don't flounder around in condemnation, the sorrow of this world. Reach out to God.

Speaker 9:33

Are you still on a roller coaster? Then commit to staying close to God by consistently spending time with Him in prayer and Bible reading. If you are in a time of shame, guilt, and condemnation, don't let Satan keep you bound by those chains. Ask God to break that chain. Repent in godly sorrow.

Speaker 9:56

In the last few episodes of the Confidence in God podcast, we have learned a lot about how to get off and stay off the spiritual roller coaster. When we hearken unto God, not only hearing His Word, but also obeying it, or as James instructs us in James 1:22, "But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only," we will find that we are not pulled from God by the distractions of this life.

Speaker 10:24

And today, we learned from the Shulamite in the Song of Solomon that when we stay in a close relationship with God, He is always right there when we sometimes don't feel like He is, and we go searching for Him. However, when we aren't hearkening to God and are treating Him like He's an inconvenience in our lives, rejecting Him or His teachings, our enemy is right there waiting to tempt us and pull us away from our relationship with God. When we give our enemy the slightest access to our minds, hearts, and actions, he will strive to chain you down with guilt and shame. He will strive to make it very hard for you to turn back to God in repentance. But God is always there. He will always accept your repentant heart. No matter what you've done or said, nothing is too bad for God to forgive you. He will help you get off the spiritual roller coaster as you hearken to Him.

Speaker 11:24

Precious Jesus, we thank you so much for the power of your Word. We thank you, Lord Jesus, for this example in the Song of Solomon that shows us the difference, what happens when we stay close to you consistently, and those times when we are looking toward the world and its pleasures instead of staying really close to you. In both situations, we may go searching for you. In the first, you're right there, and we thank you for that. Oh, boy, do we thank you for that. In the second, we are at risk of being influenced by the enemy of our souls. Precious Jesus, we ask you, please help us stay close to you. Please give us the energy and the desire, Lord Jesus, to spend time with you on a regular basis, to seek you in your Word, precious Jesus, to love you and not reject you when you call us into deeper relationship with you. Precious Jesus, we thank you so much that you love us. We thank you for your salvation. We thank you for forgiveness, Lord Jesus. We thank you for your faithfulness. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Speaker 12:41

As I mentioned earlier, in case you missed them, I'll drop the links in the show notes to the episodes that preceded this one: "Tired of the Roller Coaster? The Answer is Hearkening" and "The Roller Coaster Revisited: Blessings, Consequences, and the Power of Hearkening." Also, I'll include a link to the episode "Understanding God's Expectations: Letting Go of Guilt and Shame" in case you are currently battling guilt and shame in your life.

Speaker 13:11

That's it for today. I hope you found this episode helpful. If you did, please take a second to subscribe to our show so you'll be notified when future episodes come out. Feel free to share it with your friends and loved ones, as well as rating or reviewing it so more people can find out about it.

Speaker 13:29

I would love to hear from you. Let me know how you have successfully gotten off that spiritual roller coaster.

Speaker 13:37

I so appreciate those of you who have contacted me with your prayer requests. Please know that I pray for you daily. If you need prayer, please reach out to me and let me support you in prayer. Also as you experience the answers to those prayers you've shared with me, please share your praise report with me. I want to rejoice with you also.

Speaker 13:59

Until next time, let's be confident in this, that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.