The human spirit was designed for an intimate, passionate, love relationship with God.
God is so in love with man, that when Adam and Eve were in the garden, He visited them each evening. (Genesis 3:8)
When we become believers (restored and reconciled with God through Christ Jesus, we begin to enjoy a sweet fellowship with the God-head.
Apostle Paul describes the structure of this sweet fellowship when He prayed for the Corinthian church thus;
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Corinthians 13:14 NLTBeing human and living on earth where distractions abound, we sometimes lose sight of God, his love, his presence and the credibility of His faithfulness.
Through the help of the HolySpirit, We see King Solomon documenting a conversation/love story between the Shulamite and the King.
Understanding the characters
Different translations use different identification for the characters. For instance, NLT uses young woman and young man to describe the man and woman, CEV simply uses she and He, TPT uses shulamite and Shepherd-King. For this study, we would be using TPT (The Passion Translation).
Starring
You and I as The shulamiteGod as The Shepherd-King
We are looking at Songs of Solomon chapter 1 vs 7 to 11.
It reads,
You and I (We) as the shulamite says,
Won’t you tell me, lover of my soul,where do you feed your flock?Where do you lead your beloved ones to rest in the heat of the day?For I wish to be wrapped all around you as I wander among the flocks of your shepherds.It is you I long for, with no veil between us!
God as The Shepherd-King says,
Listen, my radiant one—if you ever lose sight of me, just follow in my footsteps where I lead my lovers. Come with your burdens and cares. Come to the place near the sanctuary of my shepherds.
My dearest one, let me tell you how I see you—you are so thrilling to me.To gaze upon you is like lookingat one of Pharaoh’s finest horses— a strong, regal steed pulling his royal chariot.
Your tender cheeks are aglow—your earrings and gem-laden necklaces set them ablaze. We will enhance your beauty, encircling you with our golden reins of love. You will be marked with our redeeming grace.
In the above, we say little but God responds in volume which indicates that He longs to connect with us, speak with us more than we could ever dream.
What the conversation above means
In verse 7-11
This is you and I speaking
Won’t you tell me, lover of my soul, where do you feed your flock?
Gives an expression of our souls in a weary state and longing for God to care for us. It describes our souls lacking an assurance of his love and our heart exhausted from wondering about in search of love.
Perhaps we have looked for care, love and tenderness in people, places and things to no avail, but here we are realizing that things aren't how it ought to be for us.
Helpless and at the end of ourselves we reach out to God (The Shepherd King) saying,
"show me where you feed your flock".
Meaning, bring me into your green pastures so that my soul can be restored as you do for others; so that my strength and zest can be renewed. Where do you strengthen other believers Lord, I want to be strengthened too.
Where do you lead your beloved ones to rest in the heat of the day?
This is us asking the Lord, what church can I go to? what part of the bible can I read? Please send me a message God, please give me a prophesy. I need to know where and how I can experience you in an assuring way in this hard time.
For I wish to be wrapped all around you as I wander among the flocks of your shepherds.
Here we are expressing desire, to know God better. To be closer to him, to feel him, be assured of his presence. We are tired of worshipping from afar. We want a real relationship.
We are saying God, "even though you have many children, and many pastors by which you care for your children, I don't want to be lost in the crowd. I want something customized between us."
It is you I long for, with no veil between us!
Here we are broken in desperation. We realize that things, people and places can't do it for us. We only want him. We want to see him as he sees us. And know him deeply and transparently as He knows us.
The Shepherd-King- Jesus, father, the Holyspirit. He speaks right back to us.
Listen, my radiant one,
God always sees us as shining stars because of how pure the precious blood of Jesus washed us.
He never calls us by how we feel or see ourselves. It is the enemy that does that. God always calls us beautiful names. He is so personal that here on earth, He gives pet names and in heaven, he will give personalized names that will be a secret between each believer and Him.(Revelation. 2:17)
If you ever lose sight of me
God knows life can distract us. Life can be hard and stressful and we as men have tendency to lose sight of him ( feel abandoned, feel he is too far, lose our connection) and so he gives an instruction.
Just follow in my footsteps where I lead my lovers
What is that footstep? It is the art of prayer! All through scripture, the bible records that Jesus often withdrew himself to pray.
When we lose sight of him, it is never because he moved, it is because we paid more attention to things, places and people, more than we did Him.
So He says, follow my footsteps to the place where
I lead my lovers
God gives us direction in the place of prayer. He leads you besides still waters and restores your soul (Psalm 23).
Right there in prayer where you focus on him, you are renewed.
Come with your burdens and cares.
And this loving Shepherd King doesn't just want us to feel good. He wants to deal with the things troubling us.
After worship, and exchange of admiration. We proceed to speak what troubles us and He sorts things out for us.
Come to the place near the sanctuary of my shepherds
Preachers feed from God's sanctuary and in turn feeds the church/God's flock/you and I. Here the shepherd king is saying, Come directly to me, come right into the same place where I feed the shepherds. I want to feed you directly. I want to minister to you myself. Hallelujah!!!
My dearest one, let me tell you how I see you— you are so thrilling to me. To gaze upon you is like looking at one of Pharaoh’s finest horses— a strong, regal steed pulling his royal chariot. Your tender cheeks are aglow— your earrings and gem-laden necklaces set them ablaze.
Now God knows that restoring our souls and our gaze on Him won't last if we don't get to see ourselves as He sees us. Therefore He restores our self esteem, stripping off every shame and guilt that makes us feel imperfect, incomplete, impure and unholy. He tells us how He sees us. Letting us know that we give him tummy butterflies. We thrill him. He is in love. He sees strength and beauty when He looks at us.
But after all he has shown and told us about ourselves, we still don't feel up to it. We drown in comparison, measuring ourselves with unbelievers. Yet, God doesn't get mad at us. Instead He says,
We will enhance your beauty, encircling you with our golden reins of love. You will be marked with our redeeming grace
The word "We" here refers to God the father, God the son, God the Holyghost. God says all three of us, in the fullness of our divinity will surround you with our golden reins (protective, guiding) love that will make everyone else know that you belong to us and are led by us. You will be marked with our redeeming Grace, means everyone will know that you have been saved and belong to us.
Read: Myrrh between my breasts
Oh Gosh! The Love of God is remarkable! Do you see it????????
It is okay to break out in worship before the Lord now. Go ahead, enjoy him. Be restored! Be renewed!
Committed to your fulfilment
Anne Emeka-Obiajunwa
Meanwhile, this post is an excerpt of our study at The Birthplace Foundation.
We are set to raise people who are aligned with God and we are doing that through discipleship. Below is 4 of 12 monthly guides by which we are fulfilling this mandate. If you are looking for a community to grow and wax strong in your spiritual life, I guarantee you, this is the place. Join here
Meanwhile, this post is an excerpt of our study at The Birthplace Foundation.
We are set to raise people who are aligned with God and we are doing that through discipleship. Below is 4 of 12 monthly guides by which we are fulfilling this mandate. If you are looking for a community to grow and wax strong in your spiritual life, I guarantee you, this is the place. Join here
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