Song of Songs is my favorite book
in the Bible. I have read this book many, many times and have never quite
understood what it truly represents. For several years, all I could come up
with was the typical explanation that it represents how Christ feels for His
Bride (the Church). Well back in Ghana, God gave me revelation about what this
book really means, and like God, there is so much depth and hidden meaning to
it. I think one reason why I am so in love with this book, is because it
mirrors my walk with Christ.
Let’s begin with chapter 1. I hope
you have a Bible so you can follow along…it really is so amazing! In verse 2
the Beloved says “for your love is more delightful than wine.” This is where she, the Beloved, gets to make a choice about Christ. Is she going to choose
His unfailing love over her own pleasure and destruction? I can really relate
to this part, because around this time last year, before I joined the race, I
too was choosing my own pleasure and destruction. I was drinking every weekend,
sometimes during the week, and this had been taking place since 1999. I have
been a Christian all of my life, but I was choosing to live for myself, rather
than surrender my life completely to Jesus.
In
verse 3, “Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume
poured out.” What do you do when you smell something sweet or a wonderful
smelling perfume? For me, it entices all of my senses and I can’t help but take
in a deep breath, and try to smell as much of it as I can. This is what it is
like to be awakened to the love of God. Verse 4, “Take me away with you-Let us
hurry! Let the King bring me into His chambers. This is where the Beloved has
made her choice she wants to go with the King (Jesus).
verse 5, “Dark am I, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, dark like the tents
of Kedar (These tents were made with black goats’ hair).” Here the Beloved
is aware of her sin, but she knows that in the eyes of her King, He looks
beyond it and still finds her lovely. Verse 6, “My own vineyard I have
neglected.” She is talking about how she has neglected her spirit, and she has
not been able to bear fruit. Verse 7, “Tell me, you whom I love, where you
graze your flock and where you rest your sheep at midday. Why should I be like
a veiled woman beside the flocks of your friends?” She wants to know where she can find The
Shepherd (Jesus). She doesn’t want to be like an unbeliever, someone who does
not know Him, among people that do. Then the Friends, the ones that know Him, tell her “follow the tracks of the
sheep.” They are telling her to follow
in the footsteps of those that know the voice of their Shepherd. Like I said before I have always loved Christ
and had a heart for Him, but I did not truly know Him. I didn’t KNOW Him, until
I went on this race and found Him among His sheep (the believers).
