I just returned home from a long trip, and although finding the time to “study” the Song of Songs has been difficult, I take comfort that the Lord knows where I am right now, however, and can find me. Have you noticed He always seems to be pursuing us?
Last weekend I felt one of His loving pulls – in a low budget movie about King Solomon’s life that happened to be on T.V. There was a particular scene that was quite remarkable that I’d like to share it with you!
Now for the visual…
As many of you know King Solomon was very wealthy and had many wives and concubines from all over the world. But there was one woman that stood out above the rest, and Solomon was hopelessly in love with her. He couldn’t wait for their moments together when He could delight and rest in her very being, and she in him. In this blog, we refer to this woman as the “Shulamite.”
Now in this movie scene that I want to tell you about, Solomon was changing his robes to go out and see the Shulamite. He ran into his chief advisor who tried to distract him with kingdom issues. Solomon was not going to have it. The advisor asked him what was so special about this woman that he would put her as a priority. I wish I had a video of this part of the movie! Solomon gazed at his advisor as if in a trance. “Oh this woman,” he replied back, “this woman is an angel from heaven, that’s what she is! She is my past, my present, and my future. More than that, she is light! No, she is love! This woman…Oh this woman, she is the very breath of God!”
The chief advisor looked at him with shock. You could tell he didn’t understand the kind of love Solomon was talking about, and even thought the king was speaking heresy! “My King,” he replied, slowly and incredulously shaking his head, “She’s just a woman!”
Now this is the part I really love. Solomon smiled big and replied, “Exactly!”
Did you get this? Solomon didn’t answer his advisor, “She’s not just a woman, she is more than that.” Rather, he expressed that a woman is exactly who she is!
Let me say it this way.
A woman needs no apologies or explanation. A woman doesn’t need to be anyone or anything other than who or what she is. Being “just” a woman is all that is needed in the eyes of her lover to be absolutely perfect!
Being “just you”
I instantly felt the Lord speak to me. The way Solomon saw the woman in this movie doesn’t even compare to the way the Lord sees His bride. Think about it. Do you really comprehend that you are passionately loved exactly as you are, even at your very worst? You don’t have to be anything ‘more’ than who you are to be the object of God’s affection. He’s never had any illusions about you. In fact, you are the reason the Trinity created the universe, and ultimately Jesus came to earth in human form. It was your love, trust, and eternal marriage to Him that He was, and is constantly seeking.
How God “feels” without you
Another book that Solomon is known for is Ecclesiastes, one of the most depressing books in the bible. I love how this movie showed how he came to write it! At a certain point in the story “the woman” had to leave the kingdom to return to her faraway land, and Solomon was devastated. When he ran into his chief advisor again, the now loveless king couldn’t help but cry out, “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity!” Solomon was ruined. Without living in, and for love, his life felt meaningless and boring.
As close as His own breath
My favorite promise in the bible is that the Lord never leaves or forsakes us. The greek word behind “never” implies that He is not just able to sustain an everlasting commitment to us, but also His very feelings!
I’d like to invite you, with myself, to respond positively to this most amazing love. Yes, “just” you. :-)
The Lord knows you inside and out, and He has never stopped adoring you.
Without you… well, there is no such possibility for Him to want to go on. Not when you are His very breath!
11 comments
Skip to comment form
Dear Marsela, WOW!! This song so beautifully expresses the Lord’s heart for His “Lady.” I cried too – tears of such wonder and thankfulness. I will come back to this song often, I’m sure. Thank you for sharing it with me, and the readers here. Love you!
Exactly ! ! ! :-O <3
We are His very breath…wow!
So very beautiful this article, again! <3 Although I did not watch the movie you described, dear Pam, it seems to me I was there with you because the pictures you painted made the essence of what had to be said come alive in my heart and mind. Thank you so much for sharing these precious truths!
If you find the time and are interested in how (extremely ;-) ) honest I dare to be with God of whom I have come to know that He loves me just the way as I am, I wrote about a particular situation where I even dared to reject His wonderful love (cf. link below).
https://enteringthepromisedland.wordpress.com/2014/12/08/be-who-you-are-since-there-is-no-other-you/
Actually, God’s holistic love (agape as including body, soul, and spirit) is sooo much better than everything any human being could ever offer us UNLESS both lovers have been truly joined together in Christ’s ecstatic love and have been made ONE as Jesus has been ONE with His Father (…so that they may all be one” John 17:21 ESV). Mankind has been searching to experience love beyond that which is known to them and whenever we fall in love, we hope it might last. Yet normally, alas, it does not. However, IN Christ (Solomon as one of Christ’s types in the OT) there is a big difference. If God has opened the spiritual eyes of our heart, we can see one another with His eyes and experience a love that reaches beyond that which we have known before…..
May God richly bless your marriage with your new husband!
Much love to you both,
Susanne
I checked out your post. What a beautiful expression, Susanne! Thank you for sharing it with us. It is a life-changing moment when we feel the Lord treating us with patience, kindness, etc., when we express ourselves in a very real, raw, and sometimes repulsive manner. He isn’t disgusted, however. Sometimes I think he is more amused. :-). And that He is very confident in His love for us, and in our love for Him. :-) What an amazing lover. And yes, I loved your last paragrath, too. There was a lot there to unpack. ;-)
Lovely. Thank you.
Than you, Darcey. Miss you!
Pam, this was really great. I can tell that you were truly inspired. It was good to speak with you and Vinny on the phone while you were in Texas. Keep up the good heart felt writing on here, dear sister.
Susanne, I went to your link above and commented on it again. You are so boldly honest with God! :-)
A brother to you all,
Michael <3 <3 <3
Thank you for your encouragement, Michael. It was great to finally hear your voice, too! It was like we always knew each other. :-)
Yes, Pamela, it was. And maybe the fact that we are both IN Christ and He is eternal makes our knowledge of each other eternal as well. Jesus said to Philip, “If you have seen me you have seen my Father.” As we become ONE with the Father and the Son we should also be able to say, “If you have seen me you have seen Christ.”
“Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides for ever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his people, from this time forth and for evermore.”(Psalms 125:1-2 RSVA)
Thank you Pam!
” He is not just able to sustain an everlasting commitment to us, but also His very feelings!” Yes, yes!
And that is what He longs for us to know and experience, deep down in our being, He desires not that we know about Him, but that we know His very heart, His very feelings and emotions towards us.
A few years back, I got in touch through facebook with a friend from childhood.
One day shortly after, she posted a song on my fb page called “Lady” and wrote; here, this is for you Lady. As I started listening, I became awfully aware that it was The Lord singing to His Bride, and started weeping and weeping and couldn’t stop. I was invited to listen to His heartbeat, His passion, His emotions for Her, His Lady. Yes, ” We are His very breath” . I’m sure you’ve heard this song, but here is again.
http://youtu.be/ZYRfUoR9Q4Y