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.

A Lost Cause?

I overheard a song yesterday in a restaurant and commented to my friend, "Do you know what band that is?  Who is the artist?  It sounds like Beck."  Much to my surprise, my friend pulled out his mobile phone and fired up "Shazam," an app which in seconds was able to discern the song amid the chatter and noises of a crowded restaurant!  Will the modern conveniences of technology ever cease?  The song we heard above the background was "Lost Cause" by Beck.  Listening to the song made me feel good, but when I read the lyrics later it made me sad.  It is a tragic message that resonates in a fallen world.

The refrain goes, "Baby you're lost; baby you're lost; baby you're a lost cause.  I'm tired of fighting; I'm tired of fighting - fighting for a lost cause."  From a human perspective, we have all known people who needed help beyond themselves but have refused it.  It can be disheartening and even devastating when people are ensnared in addictions or behaviours that are killing them and it can feel like there is nothing we can do about it.  As Beck sings "Lost Cause," I can feel the despair in his voice from the depths of his soul.  It's like a person who invests everything in a relationship just to experience pain and betrayal and finally walks away, wounded and broken.

It is easy for people to look at other people like a "lost cause" not worth fighting for, but that is not how God views people.  Jesus Christ came and laid down His life to save lost sinners.  Nothing is too hard for Him!  Therefore there is no one on this planet who is a lost cause.  They may be fallen, deceitful, filled with hate and bitterness, and have committed great wickedness.  But Jesus is able to save to the utmost all who repent and trust in Him!  For the God who created the universe and all that exists, nothing is too hard - not even wayward, foolish, lost men.  People only seem lost causes when we have lost sight of God, His power, and love.  Even a little faith in God is enough to move mountains.

There are many causes in the world.  No person is a lost cause because Jesus not only has the power to find, but to save!

The Resurrected Life

What do you suppose is the best evidence of Jesus Christ's resurrection?  The empty tomb?  The historical evidence?  The biblical accounts?  While all of these are credible, there might be evidence that holds more sway than all these:  the new life of a born-again believer.  A transformed life through the power of the Holy Spirit is a divine revelation of God's love, power, and grace as our living Saviour Jesus Christ lives His life through us.  People might discount the authority of scripture in ignorance.  They may wrongly believe that the resurrection account was a fabrication.  But they cannot long deny the transformation of a person by a real relationship with the living God.

Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 3:16, "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory."  Jesus is Immanuel, God with us clothed in human flesh.  After His crucifixion, three days later Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to many before His ascension.  He chose to leave His disciples behind, but He did not leave them alone.  He prayed the Father who sent the Holy Spirit to empower Christ's followers to be witnesses to glorify His name throughout the world.  An empty tomb carved out of a rock still speaks, but living witnesses have a more powerful testimony still.  Jesus affirmed in John 14:12:  "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father."

How great is the work and calling of every Christian disciple!  We are not worthy through our efforts, but we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.  Great is the scope of the need, hard are the hearts, blind are the eyes, and deaf are the ears.  But our God shall supply all our needs.  His strength is sufficient for us.  He came to open the eyes of the blind, set the captives free, and raise the dead - and desires His work to continue through us!  It is written in 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, "Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. ² Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful."  While on earth we are not yet perfected, but we are called to be faithful.  We must be faithful to Jesus, His Word, be obedient to His commands, and love one another as He has loved us.  We are called to abide in Christ and boldly hold forth the mystery of the Gospel revealed in these last days.  We are unable, but God is able.

Let us pursue this high calling, that our Christ-led Spirit-empowered lives might provide the best evidence of Christ's life and love for the glory of God.  Let us work with our hands what is good "...for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).  Praise His name for the gift of forgiveness, salvation, and the gifts He has given to men!

God Hears When We Cry

"Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. ²⁴ For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard." 

Psalm 22:23-24

Those who place their faith in Jesus Christ have an everlasting, sure hope.  The world loves to glorify the strong and mighty, those who have great fame and wealth.  Nothing makes the people in the world as disillusioned as when they see their idols tumble down to earth from the pedestals men have created.  People shake their heads in disgust when those rich with worldly things choose death over life to escape their pain.  Give me the wealth of the sports hero, give me the fame of the most popular singer, grant me the power of the most influential political figure, says a dreaming man, and I shall better use it.  What he does not understand is how money, fame, and power will rot him from within, and that he too would remain dissatisfied and empty with everything.  Everything without God is nothing.  It is man's darkest hour when he finally obtains the desire of his heart only to find it impotent to meet his real need.  It was all a lie.  What a man thinks will save him apart from Christ ends up dragging his soul to hell.

Unless a man has faith in the God who created all things, he has nothing.  Can money save a man's soul?  Can fame grant a man righteousness on the Day of Judgment?  Is there any power greater than God's?  One does not need to have live long on the earth before he faces troubles greater than himself.  It is in Jesus Christ we find a God who is greater than any trouble we might face.  Instead of despising our weakness, Jesus became flesh as we are.  It is written of Him in 1 Timothy 3:16:  "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."  He was greatly afflicted, and the Father hearkened unto His cries.  Those who are born again by faith in Christ also have this consolation:  when we are afflicted, God does not hide His face from us.  When we cry out in our affliction to God, He hears us and will answer.

Do you know this comfort and peace that passes understanding?  Most people of this world know much of suffering, but little of comfort.  Money, fame, and power will all pass away, but those who trust in the name of the LORD will never be ashamed.  The comfort provided by God is not temporal, but eternal.  It does not numb and cloud the senses like alcohol, but sharpens them.  Our blind eyes are made seeing through Christ's touch, and our hardened, stony hearts are made soft.  We have in Christ a friend that sticks closer than a brother, and the Holy Spirit has been sent by God to indwell and empower all who believe the Gospel.  Let us not be as Aragon in the Lord of the Rings, who gave hope to men but kept none for himself.  Let us walk in this hope by faith in God, as truly as we have received it from Him.  Let us fear the LORD and praise Him, for He has not hidden His face from us.  "Turn your eyes upon Jesus.  Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."