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

They will flourish and bring forth fruit even in their old age if they are planted in the house of the Lord (Psa. 92:12-14). In other words, her life has been planted in the center and presence of God's will ("house of the Lord"). That is exactly what took place in 6:3! Surrender places you in that fruitful, productive position.

A palm tree has great flexibility and when the winds of adversity (violent storms) blow hard against it, the tree simply bends against the pressure to almost the breaking point. But when the storm passes, the palm tree is found standing tall having weathered the trial of the enemy once again (its branches are a symbol of victory John 12:13; Rev. 7:9)! Praise God, He makes me into a beautiful palm tree through praise, His Word, by His Spirit, in my obedience! Glory to His wonderful name!

The temple building was ornamented with palm trees (I Kin. 6:29-35). It was the place of His presence, sacrifice, service and true worship to the living God. He sees all of this in her because of the total yielding of her heart to Him. Dear bride of Jesus, you are the temple of the living God. Does the spiritual significance of the palm tree ornament grace your temple?

During the Feast of Booths or ingathering, palm branches were used as part of the Jew’s celebration before the Lord at the time of harvest (Lev. 23:40-44). By seeing her as a palm tree the Bridegroom makes an indirect reference to His spiritual harvest of joy and rejoicing emanating from her heart. Is the filling of spiritual joy and rejoicing characteristic of your life (John 15:11; 16:23,24)? If not, pray Psa. 139:23,24 and see if there might be a little fox lurking in the shadows of your soul which has not been dealt with. If there is a sin there, then confess it, repent of it, surrender all to Him and go on with the Lord.

 

PRAY WITH ME: "Dear Abba Father, cause the roots of my tree to take in the precious living water (Psa. 1:3), then I will flourish and bring forth heavenly fruit to bless You and Your people. I will take in the water of Your word (Eph. 5:25,26) and have the dear Holy Spirit quench my spiritual thirst. It's always for Your pleasure and glory Lord Jesus, in Your name, Amen!"

 

"...and thy breasts to clusters of grapes."

Keep in mind that breasts represent faith and love (I Thess. 5:8). Breasts are mentioned eight times in the Song of Solomon. Here, for the first time, they are likened to "clusters" of fruit. O to be so absorbed with Jesus that faith and love flow out freely from your temple. As you abide in Him, stand upon His promises without wavering, life from the vine will flow through your branch and produce much fruit. The Lord will send needy people by your branch so they can pick the appropriate life-giving fruit which will meet their need by the power of the Holy Spirit. For the first time, He sees in her not just "fruit" or "more fruit" (John 15:2); but "much fruit" (John 15:5) as a result of abiding with Him ("clusters")! This description will be borne out in her testimony as we observe the bride's actions in 7:11-13 and 8:8. Let us end this meditation with the stated purpose of the palm tree by the Holy Spirit in Psa. 92:15, "To show that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him." He continues...

 

V.8 "I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples."

Dear surrendered bride, is there anything the Lord can take hold of in your life (faith, love, praise, obedience) and from it derive pleasure for Himself? Read carefully Phil. 2:13 and Psa. 149:4. Are you so yielded to Jesus that He has free access to your heart? In v.7 her breasts are like clusters. In v.8 they shall be as clusters. He is not only looking at present fruit but also for future fruit bearing (growing in and consistency in fruit bearing). Remember, it is His business to take hold, enjoy and then distribute the blessings in her life (5:1)! May it not be once in a while, but everyday.

 

"...I will take hold of the boughs thereof...."

The boughs are the top of the palm tree. Someone suggested that this represents the thoughts of her mind. What a beautiful point. He has taken hold of her thoughts. O to be so steady that He can take hold of me and have total freedom to do whatever His perfect, caring and loving heart desires. O what inexpressible joy it is to be possessed by Him! Praise God, He has control of her thoughts. She has the mind of Christ (1Cor.2;16) . Think of it, He can take thoughts out of her mind and enjoy them for Himself. Not only that, she will be guided with His thoughts through the darkness of this world. She will continue to be victorious. "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he..." Prov. 23:7.

Our Beloved Bridegroom, the God of our hearts, has the right to enjoy the fruit of our lives! Spiritual fruit is to be offered to Him first. Give this some thought! The fruit in this chapter is the fruit from the Tree of Calvary (Acts 5:30). The Tree of Calvary was the ultimate Palm tree. Spiritually it was bent in all directions against the tornadoes of sin, the hurricanes of unrighteousness, the hail storms of demonic attacks, the vicious dust storms of iniquity which clouds our minds. Yes, the Tree of Calvary withstood the eternal weight of sin. However, when it was all over, the Tree of Calvary became the Tree of Life. We are the branches (John 15:1-5) and His life produces the fruit on it. When He takes hold of it pure joy flows through His whole being. Let Him go up and take hold of the boughs of your palm tree dear lovely saint and let Him enjoy the fruit of your fellowship! This old hymn is my prayer: Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee! Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love, at the impulse of thy love! Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee! Take my voice and let me sing always, only, for my King, always, only, for my King! Take my love, my God I pour at Thy feet its treasure Store! Take myself and I will be ever only, All for Thee, ever, only, all for Thee!

 

"...And the smell (fragrance) of thy nose like apples."

There is no detail so small about the love of His life that ever goes unnoticed! Everything about her is special! He observes with joy that even the very air of life, which comes from breathing, is likened to that of apples. Who do apples represent in this love letter to the Lord's bride? None other than the Beloved Himself! In 2:3 it states, "As the APPLE TREE among the trees of the wood, SO IS MY BELOVED among the sons..." Her whole being is permeated with the life of her Beloved.

Jesus is the very breath of God. Jesus is "the life" (John 14:6)! What is deep within her, the breath of God, automatically comes out and blesses her Beloved! She is saying, "My Beloved is my very breath, my life." (Col. 3:4). Can this be said of you by the Lord, my friend? O how He enjoys the fragrance of His pure, holy, righteous life flowing from her nose, the very organ used for discernment. She is filled with the Holy Spirit (He whose name means "wind, breath" in the Greek). Glory to God that we are able to bring joy to His heart! (Heb.12:2).

 

V.9 "And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak."

And just what is this "best wine"? It is the new wine of a spirit-filled believer (Mt. 9:17). Her tongue is under the control of the Holy Spirit. What is it that thrills His heart? The words, which come out of her mouth, are in total agreement with the Word of God! This is the best wine! Do you, dear chosen one, watch the words of your mouth? The words of your mouth have the capacity to produce life or death in you and in your hearers (Prov. 18:21).

So powerful are your words that the Lord is going to judge every word that has come out of your mouth (Mt. 12:36,37). Words are seeds according to (Mt. 13:1-23). When you speak you are planting seeds. Seeds produce a harvest of good or bad depending on the seeds planted. You will reap what you sow (Gal. 6:7). Thus you need to sow good words out of your mouth and the only good word is that which is in agreement with the Word of God.

Get your mouth in line with the Word of God and "all heaven will break loose"! Read II Cor. 1:20 and I John 5:14,15. In each circumstance of life speak it out of your mouth as you are instructed to do by the Lord in Mark 11:23,24 and then Eph. 1:3 will literally come alive in your life. Remember, the very Bible which you have before you is the mouth of God! It has awesome power when a truly surrendered believer begins to rely upon it in holy faith (Rev. 19:15; Heb. 4:12; Eph. 6:17).

She feels free to speak to the Love of her heart and to others about what fills and thrills her! O how sad that the lips of believers fall silent so often. A Sunday school teacher asks the class to pray a brief praise to the Lord. The teacher asks for someone to begin. After others have praised the Lord, he will close the time of praise. So often there will only be a few audible praises from those who belong to the Lord. In those moments you can hear the Beloved sadly speaking to the Father about the silence, "So many of them can speak to others freely about many, many things, but when it comes to Me, their Savior and Lord and You, their Abba Father, their lips fall silent when asked to give Us a brief praise from their lips."

Jesus declared the Words He spoke were actually living spirit food in John 6:41-63. Give your Beloved Jesus the best wine – the daily conversation of your words agreeing with the Word of God.

 

"...that goeth down sweetly (Hebrew word for "uprightly")..."

When she reads God's Word she does it in faith, fully trusting what she is reading is feeding her spirit (Rom. 14:23). Her reading and listening to God's Word is done with the purest of motives, in sincerity and uprightness of heart! It goes "down", suggests it will become part of her whole being. The “new wine” will affect every circumstance. O to walk uprightly before the Lord and the world! So many read the Word but it never goes "down" deep inside to bringing necessary sustenance and guidance so desperately needed in this dark world of emptiness and purposelessness!

 

"...causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak."

Other believers, who are spiritually asleep, will be renewed and refreshed as they watch her faith in action and hear her love filled words. They will walk once again in the land of the living (Psa. 116:9) with a revived spirit. Don't miss this! This totally consuming relationship with her Beloved will have an awesome effect on others. Praise God, for the power of His presence in her life.

It is very