Scripture

My lover said to me,

“Rise up my darling!

Come away with me, my fair one!”

Observation

The young woman’s lover is coming over the mountains. He calls out to her, “Come away with me! It is spring and the flowers are springing up. Come away with me!”

Application

We have so many hang-ups with the Song of Songs today. Partly it is because the church generally does not do poetry well, tending to be literalistic when it comes to the Bible. Also our culture is entirely obsessed with sex and cannot make a distinction between romantic love and sex.

So here we have an entire book of the Bible that is one long poem about romantic love, and our brains freeze!

If we see the man in the poem as representing Jesus and the woman as His church, and use our imagination, then we can see something beautiful in this passage.

The man- the lover- comes from a long way to pursue his love and invites her to come away with him.

Jesus has done just that. He came “across the mountains” into the place of our captivity to sin. He showered us with His blessings and invited us to come away with Him.

God’s love always comes first, and we respond. He loved you before you were born, before the world began. He set about wooing you, inviting you to respond to His love,

The call, whether you knew it or not, was to a journey. The flowers are blooming and the birds are singing, and His invitation to you is “Come away with me!”

He promises to never abandon you. Just walk with Him on this journey and He will be with you always.

Prayer

Thank you Lord Jesus for your never-failing love, for the grace that empowers us for the journey of faith. Please help me to trust you and to receive your love. Amen.