Have You Seen the One You Love?

The Shulamite says in Song of Songs 3:1-4:  "By night on my bed I sought the one I love; I sought him, but I did not find him. ² "I will rise now," I said, "and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek the one I love." I sought him, but I did not find him. ³ The watchmen who go about the city found me; I said, "Have you seen the one I love?" ⁴ Scarcely had I passed by them, when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let him go, until I had brought him to the house of my mother, and into the chamber of her who conceived me."

Have you ever felt far from God?  Even people who have trusted in God sometimes feel far from Him.  We know that if God feels far it is not He that has abandoned us, but we have lost sight of Him.  Sometimes it is our doing through wandering, a season of trial may overtake us, or an attack of the enemy of our souls may lay us low.  We know Whom we have loved, but He does not always feel as close to us as He ought.  God's face shines upon us continually with grace and love, yet we can become calloused to His presence.  We are forgetful and easily distracted.  After a dark season we may as the Shulamite come to our senses, and in our waking moments discover we cannot find the presence of the One we love.  How troubling this is!

What happens next is critical and an indicator of our heart.  What should we do?  Do we drown in despair and sorrow?  Do we call frantically upon God to reveal Himself?  Do we become angry or disillusioned?  Or do we care to such a degree that we will relentlessly pursue our Saviour in devotion and worship?  The Shulamite did not confine her love for her beloved to the bedroom or palace, but took to the street in the dead of night to seek the one she loved.  It was not long before she was met by the watchmen.  After consulting with them, it was not long until she met face to face with her love.  In her words, "I held him and would not let him go!"

Though there is great depth of meaning in this passage beyond what can be delved in volumes, allow me to point to the important role of the watchmen.  The watchmen found the frantic woman who ran through the darkened streets looking for the lover she had lost sight of.  The Shulamite asked a question of them:  "Have you seen the one I love?"  The response or words spoken are not recorded.  But it was not long after their interaction that she found her betrothed.  When we read this verse last week in homegroup, it occurred to me that the watchmen act as the Holy Spirit does, prompting our hearts to enter into the LORD's presence.  It is God who has come to us; He has sought us out and found us.  When we lose direction or heart, He is the One who draws us to Himself.

Christians are told many times in scripture to be sober and watchful.  All of us are called to be watchmen, and the pastor doubly so.  Quoting Charles Jefferson, "Men are called to pray and to watch.  Now, if every man is surrounded by perils, if the universe is alive with forces hostile to the soul, then watchfulness becomes one of the most critical of all the pastor's responsibilities.  To him precious lives are committed, lives for which he is to render an account.  Watching, surveying, scanning the horizon, peering in to the darkness of days not yet born, spying out the interior nature of forces which are working like insidious and poisonous leavens, calculating the advent of storms asleep as yet in the caves of coming days - all this is pastoral work." (The Minister as Shepherd, pg. 37)  It is easier at times to watch for dangers coming outside a fellowship than the condition of the people within.  We are all called to make disciples, that is, to encourage and lead people in following Jesus.  Disciples are not made in a day.  The command of Jesus should not be limited to the evangelism of the unsaved, but the continual discipling of those who genuinely love Christ and seek Him.  The watchmen found the woman, but it was important that she found her lover.  Each of us must seek and find God for ourselves, and we need the Holy Spirit to guide us.

After the Shulamite found the one she loved, she did not rest until she had shared him with her closest family members.  She immediately took him to her mother.  We are to share Christ with those we know.  We ought not to neglect the introduction of our Saviour and Lover of our souls from those closest to us.  We should be active in sharing Christ with those who already know Him as well so they might be encouraged and exhorted to glorify Him always.  Let us as believers always seek to hold fast to Christ, seeking Him alone.  Do you notice when His presence is strangely absent?  How many hours or days must pass before we realise it?  Even a moment without our Saviour is one too many.  Let us seek guidance from the Holy Spirit so we might abide in Christ.  May we also keep watch over those who are in the faith that they too might cling to the One they love.