Tell Him I am Lovesick
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008One of the challenges to living a life of continuous prayer is staying vigilant and alert. The rhythm of the world system is geared to subtly lull us into complacency and lethargy. I believe that right now there is a fight to stay awake and not be lulled into a state of spiritual slumber. Everywhere we turn something tries to grab our attention and steal our affections from the one that we love most, Jesus . The realization that God is what we are hungry for is what will make every ache in our hearts make sense to our mind. The Body of Christ at large is in desperate need of an enlightening to the things of the Spirit.
The journey of the young Shulamite woman in Song of Solomon chapter 5 explains the emotions of a newly-wed Bride whose Bridegroom is not with her. We can understand what she is feeling because, like the Shulamite, our Beloved Bridegroom is not with us in the natural realm. Even though He dwells inside of us, we still feel like there is something missing; and when we do encounter God, often times we are satisfied for a moment but left yearning for more. In Song of Solomon chapter 5, the Shulamite’s displays her own fight to stay awake and in love with her bridegroom.
Song of Solomon 5:2 I sleep but my heart is awake; it is the voice of my beloved! He knocks, saying, “Open for me, my sister my love, my dove, and my perfect one”.
Ohhh-that we would here the voice of our Beloved calling us out of our delusions and wanderings. Often, being filled with all the pleasures of this life, we cannot hear the voice of our Bridegroom and therefore we continually feel empty in our satiations with the spirit of this age. These things, though not always bad, in abundance can put us to sleep and keep us further from what our souls are actually longing for.
In my own journey I am continually feeling the pull and the draw that the world has even on a heart that is in love with the man Christ Jesus. The pain of not being with JESUS has been overwhelming at some points and my fainting heart wants to wander to some other pleasure that will make the pain cease to exist. But it never fails, every momentary pleasure leaves me unsatisfied and longing for the His love. The One touch from God that left me yearning for more is far better than anything this life has to offer (SOS 1:2). I have realized that it is not God who does not want to be near, but it is I that cannot hear him calling for me. By doing this very thing, we exhaust ourselves in the fight to stay awake and most likely we will lose the battle. The Shulamite experiences this same thing in verse six, “ I opened for my Beloved, but my beloved, had turned away and gone.” We must recognize our own propensity to go for other things and how easily distracted and fickle the human heart is. It is through lovesickness with Jesus that we will truly be able to stay awake in this most urgent hour of history and give ourselves with abandon in serving our God on a daily basis.
Song of Solomon 5: 8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if You see Him, if you find my Beloved, tell Him I am lovesick.
The lovesickness of the young maiden in chapter 5 is actually what calls her into an awakened state. The missing and the yearning that she feels causes her to arise and pursue him. Prior to chapter 5, the Shulamite had repeatedly settled for sin and compromise, but soon after , she decides to follow her bridegroom even to the mountain of myrrh. (Myrrh was one of the spices used for death and burial). We can learn a lot from this young shepherd girl in the Song of Solomon, for our own journeys and our own battles to stay alert in what we are facing in the coming days. If we are longing for our Beloved Jesus, we will be able to face anything and even the most soothing lullaby to our aching souls will not be able to capture our hearts. The Sound of the trumpet will come from our hearts screaming louder than the spirit of this age, saying,” Tell Him I am Love sick.” There is no crisis, trial, or tribulation that will hinder the Bride from seeking the one that she loves. Lovesickness and encounter with God will be our anecdote to the deadly lullaby that is putting us to sleep in this most crucial time period.