In the Song of Solomon, the Shulamite is just one of “The Daughters of Jerusalem” until something about her catches the eye of The King and causes Him to seek after her more than the other Daughters of Jerusalem.
You could be like the Shulamite… King Jesus could “seek after you” more than others too. Let’s find out more about this “mystery” for He says in Proverbs 8:17
“I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
Let’s look at the Shulamite and see if you can identify with her…
Song of Solomon 2:14-17 (KJV)
“O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. 15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. 16 My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies. 17 Until the daybreak, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.”
Now let’s go to Song of Solomon 6:3 (KJV)
“I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.”
I can tell you one thing, there is a great deal of Spiritual Growth taking place between these two verses! Let me show you what is happening!
In Song of Solomon 2:16 we see the Shulamite saying: “My beloved is mine, and I am his”.
She is saying of her Beloved; “He is mine”… This shows the 30-fold aspect I spoke of in THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER.
Now, several chapters later after she has gone through some “trials and tests”, we see her saying something that looks similar but it is actually very different; “I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine”.
Did you catch it?
She has progressed into the 2nd stage of Spiritual Maturity… the 60-fold area of Spiritual Growth! She still says; “He is mine” but the first thing she says is “I am His”! She has reversed the order of what she is saying! It might not seem like a lot, but it really is.
So, how did she get there? What caused her to put Him first? Let’s see…
An essential as you walk on The Path of Spiritual Maturity is to recognize that you have allowed other things to take first place in your heart. Jesus is still there but now there are other things in front of your relationship with The Lord.
Many times, they are not big things. In fact, most of the time it’s “the little foxes that spoil the vines”! {Song of Solomon 2:15}
Many times it’s the little things that matter most! We all avoid the “big sins” but we rationalize about the “Little Foxes” when they are the ones that do so much damage to our Spiritual Life. Without us realizing it, they are the ones that “spoil the vines”.
The King is telling her to remove the things of the world from her heart. These “little foxes” are the things that become stumbling blocks as we ascend the spiritual pathway to the “Secret Place of the Stairs”. The place where you find a refuge from the world and become dearer to the heart of God.
It’s in “The Secret Place” that He says He wants to see her face and hear her voice. This is talking about the building of a deeper, more meaningful one-on-one relationship with The Lord! This is talking about spending time with Him. Just going to Church and Church meetings will not do! What we need to do is set aside special times of “being with Him”. This is when we talk to Him and open up your heart to Him. The Bible says that this place is “in the cleft of the Rock” which means it’s a “hidden place” where others cannot see you, only He can.
Matthew 6:6 says:
“But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
Once we ascend up into The Secret Place and hide ourselves in the Cleft of The Rock we will be hidden away and our fellowship with Him will bring us to the next step. the need to remove some things from our lives. I’m not talking about “big sins”.
Remember, Jesus said; “I am the vine” and it’s “the little foxes that spoil the vines”. Most of the time it is the little things that spoil our relationship with Jesus and we don’t want anything to spoil our spiritual connection to Him!
We need to ask The Lord to show us that “Secret Stairway” to closeness with Him… He spoke of it as “The Pathway to Life” that “few find”! {Matthew 7:14}
Then we need to ask Him to work with us even when we don’t want to. That way, together we can catch “the littles foxes” that are spoiling our relationship with Him.
I spoke about different “Mansions” or “Rooms” that Jesus mentioned in the article “THE KINGS CHAMBERS”. Here is another one of the Chambers. I call it
“The Chamber of Self-Discovery”
Song of Solomon 1:5-8 (KJV)
“I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, black as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. [6] Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept. [7] Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? [8] If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.”
The Chamber of Self Discovery is where we discover our true Spiritual Condition.
The Shulamite tells us about her spiritual condition here. It is couched in hidden terms. She says how she has labored intensely and now her skin is dark from being burned by the sun. {This is a clue about her “poor self-image”} But even more importantly, she tells us that she has not taken care of her own vineyard because she was forced to take care of the vineyards of “my mother’s children” (read about this in the article MY MOTHER’S CHILDREN). But now, since she has been introduced to The King and has made her prayer: “Draw me” and has told Him of her commitment to Him by saying: “We will run after Thee”, the King has taken her into this Chamber of Self Discovery…
It is here that she realizes that she has been a “Martha”… always taking care of things that others need. She has worked for “the Pastor” and the “Women’s Group” and she has taught Sunday School or maybe sung in the Choir…
LISTEN CAREFULLY TO THIS:
She has heard “The Message of Doing” and she has been busy doing. She is always busy taking care of things because the “The Message of Doing” is usually accompanied by “The Message of Guilt”!
She asks herself, how can she be “spiritual” if she does not serve everyone? The problem is that “The Message of Doing” is out of balance! So she neglects her own “Vineyard” to take care of the ones that “my mother’s children” compel her to.
Like Martha in the Bible, she is concerned about many things…
But she has missed the most important part… her personal relationship with Jesus!
She is so busy working “for The Lord” but she failed to spend time “with The Lord”. While she could have spent time reading the Word and Meditating in it along with personal, intimate times opening up her heart to him in Conversational Prayer she spent her time doing for others instead of herself. The result is always the stagnation of your own personal spiritual growth.
In The Chamber of Self Discovery, she has seen the barrenness of her soul. As she continues to cry out; “Draw Me” a Gift of Spiritual Hunger is given to her.
As she realizes how starved she is for His affection she cries out “Draw Me because I’m Spiritually Hungry” and The Lord hears her cry! He loves her and brings her into a very special Chamber… “The Chamber of Being Guiltfree"!
When The King brings you into this Chamber you see your spiritual condition as He does… BUT without guilt! This is so important. “My mother’s children” (vs 6) “made me the keeper of the vineyards”. Guilt and Manipulation are two of the most powerful motivators there are BUT neither one of them is used by The King! Preachers, parents, loved ones and friends in The Church (my mother’s children) are quick to make you feel guilty and quick to manipulate you to take care of their vineyards.
But The King never uses “guilt” to manipulate us!
Look at what The Word tells us in Ezekiel 36:27
“And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”
The Bible tells us that He will “Cause us to walk in His statutes” because He does things that “Enable us”. He is never “a manipulator”!
It’s having a strong, personal relationship with The King by His Spirit that we are “enabled” to “walk in his statutes” (His ways}”.
The Shulamite’s understanding has opened up to a “new Level” and she sees so clearly that a critical part of her commitment to “run after” The King is to spend time in His Word and to meditate on it and pray over it. She also realizes that she must talk to Him as a friend. To ask questions without feeling guilty about them. To share with Him the depths of her heart… He already knows what is there and He wants to give her the assurance that she can come and talk to Him in “The Chamber of Being Guiltfree” anytime she wants to.
It was in the Chamber of Being Guiltfree the Shulamite heard the “Message of Being”. She had already heard the “Message of Doing” from everyone and it caused her to become a “Martha”. She had missed the most important part… Learning to become a “Mary” by listening to “The Message of Being”.
The Message of Being is found in the Gospel of Mark 3:14
“And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him and that he might send them forth to preach…”
It seems that The Church continually gets this wrong…
People are always trying to get Jesus to “ordain them to do things”! They fail to realize that puts the proverbial “cart before the horse”.
The Apostles were Ordained to simply “be with Him”!
Only after “being with Jesus” would they ever be able to do the things He wanted them to do!
This is such a tremendously important concept and it has to become a reality in our lives. We are never “Ordained to Do”… We are only “Ordained to Be with Jesus”.
Look at another powerful reminder of this truth… Acts 4:13
“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took note concerning them that they had been with Jesus.”
What stands out in that verse the most? It’s that people “took note” that they Apostles had “been with Jesus”!
To do things that really matter, to be “led by The Spirit” and make a difference in this world all stems from simply “Being with Jesus”!
If we are going to grow spiritually, we have to learn the balance of the two messages…
Once we make “The Message of Being with Him” a real part of our everyday lives we will be “led by The Holy Spirit” and He will “Cause us to Walk in His Ways”…
Walking in His Ways never comes from trying to do things for God… Rather, it flows out of “being with Jesus”.
A part of our “Spiritual Progression” is found next in Song of Songs 1:7 (KJV)
“Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?”
As the Shulamite realizes her spiritual condition she is determined to change. She will no longer get her satisfaction from “doing things” for The Lord… She wants to be led by Him and to spend time in fellowship with Him! So, naturally, she asks Him “Where do you eat and where do you feed Your Flock?”
She doesn’t want anyone or anything else now. She is “Spiritually Hungry for the meat of God’s Word” because she has grown out of her desire and need for the just the milk.
She wants Him First in her life. She doesn’t want to settle for second best… being with His companions. She doesn’t want to wander around. She wants to be focused on Him. In those days, a woman that would “turn aside” was considered to be a “Harlot”. She is not looking to “turn aside” to anything or anyone. She is saying; “I don’t want anyone to mistake my intentions. I want to be with You!”
She recognizes that she has settled for “second best” all her life and now she says, “Why should I continue to eat at other places when I can be fed by your Hand?”
He sees how she wants Him first in her life now and when He sees this “Spiritual Awakening” within her He responds to her in Song of Solomon 1:8 (KJV)
“If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.”
The Kings sees the change and her determination. He senses her desire for Him and Him alone and He tells her that now she is the “fairest among women” and it is all because She wants Him first in her life now!
In essence what He says to her is; ‘Follow those that follow me”…
This admonition is exactly what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:1 (KJV)
“Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”
As she now desires to be fed by The Lord she wants to know where to go. She gets the best advice possible… Find someone or some others who have a close personal relationship with The King and follow them where they feed.
The Song of Solomon is a treasure trove of Spiritual Growth and I hope you are enjoying the revelations I’m sharing with you!
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THE MESSAGE OF BEING