Have you Heard the Lord call you?
Song of Solomon 5:2 ” I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.”
This is a story of a believer, who has gone to sleep. But she hears the voice of her Lord, in her heart, and she awakes.
So far, so good.
Then with her understanding, she hears Him call to her to open to Him.
This opening up of her life, is different than the Salvation she has already experienced. For He calls her, His sister; being joint-heirs with Christ.
Romans 8:16-17 “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”
This calling is to His love, for she has had fellowship with the Lord; and has gone on in that fellowship to be called His dove.
Now a dove can see only one thing at a time, and this has been her experience in Christ; keeping her eyes on Him.
Song of Solomon 1:15 “Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves eyes.”
Matthew 6:22 “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”
This calling is a deeper calling, for He calls her His undefiled. This shows that in that love relationship, she has gone on with Him; so she is being saved from the defilements of the world, and self.
1 John 2:15 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”
And so Jesus calls her, as the One who sweat great drops of blood in the garden (Luke 22:44); putting aside everything, that He might fulfill His work, and save us.
But there seems to be a hinderance.
Song of Solomon 5:3 “I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?”
It would seem that having experienced so much of Her Lord, she has become a little proud. (Remember, one of the things the Lord deals with His own about is the “pride of life”)
I have put off my coat; simply means she had begun to put off the old man with it’s deeds.
Colossians 3:9 “Lie not one to another, seeing ye have put off the old man with his deeds;”
Was she now to be defiled by working in the world?
I have washed my feet. All her sins were confessed, up to date. And she had been cleansed from them. If she ventures out into the world to work for Jesus, won’t she again be contaminated by it?
These might have been very good questions, if Jesus were not the One calling her to go out with Him, to the work of bringing souls to Christ.
Song of Solomon 5:4-5 “My beloved put his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him.
I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.”
The ancient doors used to have holes in them by the handle, so that when someone dear would come, they would put perfume (myrrh) on the inside of the door handle, to show they had been there.
Though she had hesitated to go further with the Lord, for what she thought were good reasons; still she loves Him and is moved to go and open her hearts door again to His Call. When she does, her hands drip with the perfume of myrrh.
Myrrh was used to anoint the bodies of the dead, before burial.
So Jesus Christ is calling this loved one to go with Him into the experience of intercession, and travail for those He wants saved; and for those who are babes in Christ, to grow up in Him.
Often, this is a hard work, for it recognizes our imperfections, as well as those of others. Also, it is a long work; it is not done in a day, or even a week; but till Christ be formed in them.
Galatians 4:19 “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,”
But she had opened, but she found Him gone.
Christ never retracts a calling; but He often withdraws the feeling of His presence, to prove us.
Will we become angry?
Or will be seek Him?
Song of Solomon 5:6 “I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer:”
She seeks Him. She sought Christ Jesus in the usual means, hoping to find Him there.
She calls to Him to speak to her again, but it seemed as if He was refusing to call again.
She had come so far with Him, and now she had failed Him, the dearest Friend she had ever had. She wanted to go back to the way things were….but the call had come, and she was either going to seek till she did find, or yield to the pride she had shown earlier.
What follows is a conversation between her, and those who would seek Him also.
“What is thy beloved more that another beloved?” They ask.
Then she describes His Greatness, His strength in times of her weakness, and that He is the altogether lovely One to her.
Song of Solomon 5:16 “His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.”
When she describes Him, she realizes that He has never left her, but proved her love to Him.
Did she love Him? Or His gifts?
She loved Him, and found Him. They were united in the work as well as in life.
Theirs was a love relationship; And true love follows to the end for the Loved One.
Have you heard the Lord call you? Perhaps you have hesitated, too. Listen to the love in your heart for Jesus, and answer His call.
Jeremiah 29:13 “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”
His, is an everlasting love, for us.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 