Oh the joy to rest in the arms of Christ!

"Listen! My beloved! Behold, he is coming, climbing on the mountains. leaping on the hills! My beloved is like a gazelle or young stag. Behold he is standing behind our wall, He is looking through the windows, He is peering through the lattice. My beloved responded and said to me, Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, And come along. For Behold the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers have already appeared in the land; the time has arrived for pruning the vines, And the turtledove has been heard in our land. Thefig tree has ripened its figs, And the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one and come along!"
-Song of Solomon 2:8-13
The sweet words of the bridegroom calling his beloved. Telling her it is time to go along and join him. "...I adjure you...that you do not arouse or awaken my love until she pleases." (vs.7) Previously the bride is "sleeping" the state of laying all her desires for her husband down and waiting for the moment when "she" (love) pleases to awake. Then it seems in this grand excitment she's ready. The bridegroom has come. "Listen! My beloved!" It seems to be shouted with this fantastic excitment! "Behold, he is coming, he is climbing over the mountains and leaping over the hills!" The bridegroom is estatic! The time has come to retrieve his bride. Verse 9 explains this idea that the bridegroom is watching and waiting. Admiring his beloved with patience until it is time to awaken his love. These next words run through my mind with joy and excitment... "My beloved responded and said to me, Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along." Come along! I get so excited over the idea that the bridegroom will one day after his journey is complete, after he has crossed the mountains" will come alongside of me and ask me to "Arise, ... and come along." But how amazing is the fact that my bridegroom has already come. He has called me into a deep, intimate, love realtionship with Him. He has called me to leave my old life behind breaking the emotional bonds i have made to my idols. We have become one flesh and he has asked me to arise, ...and come along. "He has brought me into his banquet hall, and his banner over me is love." (vs 4) "I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys." (2:1) My bridegroom says to me, "Like a lily among the thorns, so is my darling among the maidens." (2:2) "My beloved is mine, and I am his..." (2:26) Yet even though we're given this beautiful picture of the call of the bride to her bridegroom, we always seem to doubt, for thousands of years we have doubted. This was and forever continues to be the "Brides Troubled Dream". Song of Solomon 3:1-5 "On my bed night after night I sought him whom my soul loves; i sought him but did not find him. I must arise now and go about the city; In the streets and in the squares i must seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him but did not find him. The watchmen who make the rounds in the city found me, And I said, Have you seen him whom my soul loves? Scarcely had i left them when i found him whom my soul loves; i held on to him and would not let him go until i had brought him to my mothers house, And into the room of her who concieved me... I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, By the gazelles or by the hinds of the field, That you will not arouse or awaken my love until she pleases." (adjure= to charge solemnly) The bride has nightmares of being impatient and disobedient. Seeking after the "one whom her soul loves". "On her bed night after night, she sought him but could not find him". Why do we allow this battle of our flesh over come us through the genertions? We are solemnly charged not to arouse or awaken love until she pleases. So what happens next? We lay our doubts and dreams aside. We lie down and sleep, knowing that God will give us what glorifies Him the most in our lives. Whether it be marriage or singleness. We sleep in such a way that when the time has come, when "the winter has passed, the rain is over and gone. The flowers have already appeared in the land, The time has arrived for pruning the vines, And the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. The fig tree has ripened its figs, And the vines in blosom have given forth their fragrance." Our bridegroom will say, "Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along!"