120229 - Song of Solomon - Arise, my love, my fair one... and come away!

Wednesday SOAP: Just a reflection on the awesome appreciation of Christ's desire for His Church the Song of Solomon always reawakens in me. I can't spend all my time pining for heaven, but I should probably spend more of my time dwelling on it, reminding myself of His great promises and seeing the things that await fulfillment from that perspective.

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S: I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me. (Song of Solomon 7:10).

O: A simple thought today as I read Solomon's Song for a new appreciation of God's love for me, that just as this book paints a glorious picture of freshly awakened love, in all its unwearied passion, Jesus' love and desire for me to be with Him where He is (John 14:3, 17:24) never fades. My entire life, from birth to death, with all the thoughts and actions and experiences that pleased Him as well as those that displeased Him, were in His view when He caused me to awaken and hear His call to salvation.

A: From the first moment of that awakening and the earliest eagerness of my heart to be gathered to Him and see the glory He spoke of, through the many passing thoughts of His imminent return, to today's longing that disappointment in the conditions of this world brings, never has my desire for Him rivaled His desire for me. But the Spirit and the Love He sheds abroad in my heart (Rom. 5:5) are just a taste, a down payment, of what is to come. The knowledge of all of this is what makes the world, with its distractions, temptations, and worries, fade into a dull ache for that next call to a new awakening that may sound like, "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away" (So. 2:13) or "Come up here." (Rev. 4:1)

P: Lord, I read these things in your book and they make me almost draw back in awed disbelief. They're too high for me, but wonderful anyway. That you rejoice and joy over me with singing. That your own postponed desire makes you wait to celebrate Passover, even as you watch us do it in remembrance of you, you wait for the fruit of the vine until we eat and drink it together with you in your Kingdom. That it was that joy over our repentance that was the reason you endured the Cross. And that that you see your Church, in all her current struggle, in her future state: spotless, blameless, unwrinkled and unblemished, gloriously and finally presented to you.
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