Intimacy with GOD, Esher Shoshannah [red queen free ebook .txt] 📗

to explain to the daughters (those palace ladies who served her v.8) just why they have found her in this frightful and appalling condition. Can you not feel the utter pathos in her voice as she personally recounts to them what was done to her by the "watchmen" and the disgrace of not going with her Beloved?

This sobbing lady, bruised all over her body ("wounded" Heb. "to bruise") tries to explain to the women why she does not have her veil (shawl) and appears as a common prostitute! She blurts out a word or two, then more sobs, broken sentences punctuated with convulsive crying. All they could really make out was her mournful, repentant heart saying, "I'm so sorry my Beloved! I'm so sorry! Please forgive me! I am so utterly alone without You!" Cradling the bride in their arms the daughters lift her up, give her water, brush her hair back, bind up her wounds and lovingly embrace her. Her sobbing then begins to ease.

Dear loved one of Jesus, what would you do under these circumstances? Would you give up and say, "It's not worth the effort anymore, why stay where I am not wanted? He won't love me in this condition anyway for I have violated His heart's purpose for me and now I have been spiritually violated by those I thought really cared for me. How could He love me looking so spiritually repulsive?" Many believers in this condition will simply stay home away from fellowship. But this will not be the case with this truly surrendered bride. If she had been a quitter, she would have missed the glorious blessing of chapters six, seven and eight! This is exactly what your enemy wants you to do, have nothing to do with fellow believers. God has given you spiritual love to pass on to others in the body of Christ (Eph. 4:16). If you give up you will have fallen into Satan’s trap!

Praise God, this lady in the Song teaches us what it truly means to love Jesus with all of our heart! She doesn't quit! She was persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed (II Cor. 4:7-9)! You see, she has a treasure inside of her! Many would have given up Christian fellowship under less difficult circumstances to never return.

And now, the bride asks one of the most important questions of her life in the next verse. Keep in mind that although she has been totally devastated, physically and emotionally, the eyes of her spirit are immediately focused on her Beloved and not her circumstances! In a pitiful, deeply distressed tone she pleads with the daughters...

 

V.8 "I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem if ye find my beloved that ye tell him, that I am sick of love."

(paraphrase: "my heart is breaking!")

The word "sick" is also translated "to grieve" or "faint". The prospect of losing Him is so intense and her love is so great for Him that she is on the verge of fainting with grief. In such a terrible physical and emotional condition her spirit still longs for Him! Notice that there is not a word of bitterness toward those who heaped such indignities upon her. In her heart she is living out the forgiveness of Eph. 4:31,32 and Mt. 6:14. She forgives those who have hurt her, so that her Beloved will forgive her.

How often have surrendered believers been wounded deeply in their spirit by a spouse, a son or daughter, a parent, a friend, a church minister or fellow worker? It is almost unbearable as Prov. 18:14 proclaims, "...but a wounded spirit who can bear?" Praise our God, she remembers her Beloved has carried all of her sorrows and griefs (Isa.53:4,5). She can forgive as He did on the cross. The Lord Jesus allowed the Father to forgive through Him when He cried out, "...Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)! When you find it almost impossible to forgive a terrible wrong done to you, allow the Lord to forgive through you. Just say in your heart, "Lord, I allow You to forgive (name of person) through me as You did to Your persecutors while hanging on the cross. Your forgiveness is my forgiveness since I am one with You dear Lord (John 17:22)!"

Upon what do you dwell when passing through a deep valley of testing? Is it the hurt itself (self pity)? Is it the people from whom the affliction came (bitterness, revenge)? Or is it upon your Beloved alone (for forgiveness, healing and strength)?

The Holy Spirit will direct her thoughts back to the Beloved by having her answer a question asked by the daughters of Jerusalem. What is about to take place will change her life and enhance her relationship with Him forever. She will be so changed that He will not have to ask her to go with Him again. Instead, she will ask Him to go (chapter 7)! This is the spiritually defining moment in her life!

 

 

THE DRAWING OF HER HEART BACK TO HIM: 5:9 - 6:3

(The Daughters of Jerusalem speak)

 

V.9 "What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest (most beautiful) among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?"

To their credit they did not judge and condemn her. The Daughters of Jerusalem knew who the Beloved was and that He had a special place in His heart for His beautiful bride (2:7; 3:5,10,11). They knew about Him from what they had heard from the virgins who also served the bride.

They are asking a very serious and important question concerning the Beloved. The bride is in terrible condition. She is almost unrecognizable. So to make sure that she is the one they had served in the palace, they ask a very probing question. These daughters well know what He looks like. If she is the bride it will be no trouble to give an accurate description. What the bride and these daughters don't realize is, this description will be more than they bargained for. It will be a soul changing revelation to all! The answer will restore her to the Beloved once and for all. As the bride describes the greatness of His person and the wonders of His heart, their souls will be drawn to Him as never before.

Dear bride of the King, what would be your response to their question? Would you only say that Jesus is your Savior and leave it at that? O He is so much more, yet very few Christians are able to give more than just a simple answer to this question, "Who is your Beloved?" The Holy Spirit will bring to her memory awesome thoughts of her Beloved's greatness and glory. Now, in her direst need, these memories will miraculously bring restoration to His presence and lead the daughters to pure joy!

In the moment of crisis what has been planted in your heart will surface as Prov. 23:7 declares, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..."! What is it you meditate upon (Psa. 1:3)? The Holy Spirit is going to use the Daughters to plumb the length, breadth, depth and height of the glories which reside in the Bride’s wounded spirit concerning the only Love of her heart!

Keep in mind that this bride is not backslidden. What is the difference? A backslidden sheep’s heart finds something else more important than the Lord. This is not the case with the bride. The intensity of her love for Him still fills her heart! There is no coldness or lukewarmness here. This is just a moment in growing into a greater intimacy with her Beloved, a very difficult one but a spiritually necessary one to enter again into the surging, cascading waters of His glorious presence.

Think about this, who is really going to minister to whom here in these passages before us? Amazingly, it is the bride who will minister to the Daughters’ hearts rather than visa versa. In our worst condition, if we are filled up with Jesus, the dear Holy Spirit will use us to draw others hearts to the Beloved. The answer to their question is found in 6:1 when the Daughters beg the bride to tell them where her Beloved is, so they may seek Him too! They will see Him first hand for themselves. They will understand that even her description was extremely inadequate in comparison to His real presence.

For the moment let's consider the Daughters of Jerusalem. They truly want to help her. The Daughters can minister to her wounded body but not to her wounded spirit. They have no answers. Lying there before them a hurting lady cries out to them, "I desperately need your help, tell my Beloved I need Him! Only He has the power to restore me fully." The wonderful thing is that the bride, without realizing it, will minister to their hearts and lead them to her Beloved (6:1-2).

When a person is truly in love they can talk and talk and talk about the object of their love. The Lord allowed His bride to be injured so that many would be led to His heart! What was meant for evil by the enemy, the destruction of the bride, resulted in an enormous blessing for many! Read II Cor. 1:3,4. No trial is ever wasted by our caring, loving, leading Lord.

What you are about to witness is the answer to how the Holy Spirit draws a believer's heart back to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit of truth clearly states the principle in John 12:32, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." In that passage Jesus spoke of His death. But the principle of drawing a believer back to Himself is there. Lift Him up and your heart will be drawn back to Him. Praise is the prime way to lift Him up.

The Holy Spirit did just that in order to draw back the Ephesian believers to the heart of the Lord. The first three chapters lift up the Lord in so many marvelous ways. Then He begins to deal with real difficult problems in that church (chapters 4-6)! The heart of the Ephesians was tenderized toward the Lord (chapters 1-3) so they could be drawn to Him (chapters 4-6)!

As she lifts Him up to the Daughters, this bride will be drawn immediately to her beloved and find Him in 6:2,3. She will never be the same! There will be no more departure from His presence and fellowship! Come now and hear what has been locked up in the deep recesses of her heart for Him alone. The secrets He had revealed to her in private, now will gush forth as rivers of living, healing water. In pain, the bride slowly lifted up her head and said...

 

V.10 "My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand."

With thoughts of her Beloved rushing through her memory, her countenance is transformed with joy! Praise God she can still say, "My beloved..."! He is "white" (Heb. - dazzling, glowing, clear), in other words, there is not one bit of impurity in Him. He is righteousness and purity personified. The precious Holy Spirit described the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, in Heb. 1:3 as, "...being the brightness (radiance) of His glory..."! "Ruddy" (Heb. - "to make red") seen in one's face connotes perfect health. Just the beginning thoughts of Jesus, the Living Word, is health itself! Prov. 4:20-22 declares, "My son, attend to my WORDS; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and HEALTH to all their flesh."

Relying on the promises in His Word and obeying its precepts, then stress, which causes much of our sickness, is almost eliminated.