One Year Bible, September 7

SONG OF SOLOMON 5:1 - 8:14                                                                                     
THE CALL TO SHARE HIS SUFFERING:  (His shame, His rejection, His loneliness) Our excuse for not following Him there is that we have already put off the Old Man (coat) and cleansed our lives (feet).  BUT - the King breaks into His own bedchamber!  His hands are dripping with myrrh (the anointing that helps us thru the night season), and when she sees His hands reaching for the door handle, her heart breaks.  The smell of myrrh is everywhere!  He hid Himself once more, to bring her out of her bed. The "watchmen" "smote" her (She upset their religious system by wanting more of Jesus.), and the "keepers of the wall" took her veil (her badge of authority - her license). "I am sick of love" - HER heart (my heart) is ravished with the pain of separation, which shows no shame or pride. The "daughters" ask, "Why is Jesus so special? What do you see that we don't see?"

THE PERFECT JESUS: (5:10-16)  He is dazzling, shimmering, and "the chiefest among ten thousand."  As she flings her arms open, she says that "He is altogether lovely."  She knows so much about Him because she is face-to-face.

"MY BELOVED IS MINE" - (6:3)  She has accepted His Life as her own.  He whispers to her that she has beauty and power.  She has power with God that "overpowers Him".  She has developed an increased spiritual understanding.   She is dead to herself, and her affections are set on Him.   Her life is cut and laid open to Him.  She has been chosen to bear His HOLY SEED - the IMAGE OF JESUS. She was chosen on the basis that she satisfies HIS heart.   After being with the King, she is "as terrible as an army with banners."  She is mature, radiant, full of grace and beauty.  Little by little, God has fashioned His Bride to bring forth fruit.  She is ready to produce His likeness.

HIS IMAGE & LIKENESS PRODUCED:  The King is completely satisfied that she reflects Him.   7:7-9 describe maturity.  She is able to feed and nourish others. Her life is now hid in Him and He cannot deny her.   In the beginning He drew her, now she draws Him! Our purpose is to bring forth the "One New Man" in His Image.  8:4 Nothing can disturb His Bride; she has gone from "goatherder" to "glory". 

(8:5) The one coming out of the wilderness, walking between the Love and the Beloved is the Corporate Son, created in Christ's image.   His first speech is, "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it:" as we bring forgiveness and reconciliation to all the world.   We have been SEALED: betrothed to King Jesus.   His desire is for us.   "All the substance of my house" is not worthy to be compared with having Him.  It is our love for Him that overcomes all obstacles.  An undivided heart burns like flames. "Thou that dwellest in the gardens" is me, living in His Presence - I am His dwellingplace.  He wants to hear my voice! It excites Him!

RESPONSE:   (1) First I go through the wilderness years of learning obedience and faithfulness.  (2) Then on to the banqueting table, the "new wine" of the Holy Spirit, and I fell asleep, thinking I had all there was!   (3) When I "woke up" to the fact that there was more, I had to search for Him from church to church, where I got good and wounded! They "used me" and then stripped me.  (4) Afterwards, I was married to Him in "my mother's house" - the church where God brought me and I saw the Lord clearly. (5) There was a midnight parade through the city, and then NIGHTMARE again - the dark night of the soul and then (6) I found Him in His Garden!   I will never let Him go again!   I have an intense longing to see Him every time I open my eyes in the morning.  (7) I have been richly blessed in the "vineyard" (church) He picked out for me.  I hear my Shepherd's voice there.   And He hears mine.

2 CORINTHIANS 9:1-15                                                                                                       
"HIS UNSPEAKABLE GIFT":  God's grace is "indescribable".  Grace is everything He is and everything He has, and His willingness to use it on my behalf.   Grace includes God's power, God's strength, and God's sufficiency.   Money is an index of the soul - our attitude toward giving tells God all He needs to know about us. NOT GIVING documents our unbelief and our ingratitude.   This is why giving is done CHEERFULLY.  IF we are generous, God will always re-supply us out of His bounty. Our righteousness is represented by our generosity!!!!  It not only looses God's bounty on us, but there are spiritual results also. It releases Thanksgiving to God and then the grateful spirit looses all kinds of other blessings.  In this case, it documented God's work among the Corinthian Gentiles, since all goodness comes from God.  The way God's grace works - both the giver and the receiver give thanks, both are "graced" by God.  Verse 8 is a good definition of God's grace on the Believer: "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:"

RESPONSE:   I just look at the words used in this chapter: "able, abound, all sufficiency, multiply, increase, enriched, bountifulness, abundant, bountiful, liberality, exceeding" and I want to give.  These describe El Shaddai - the All-Sufficient One.   Giving DOCUMENTS our gratitude and our trust in God.   Sometimes I talk to people who think their money is still theirs, and I just want to throw up my hands!   If I were married to someone who insisted on separate checking accounts, I'd think something was up!   I LIKE have a joint checking account with God!


PSALM 51:1-19                                                                                                                   
SIN, GUILT, & FORGIVENESS: Sin pollutes, and when conviction becomes intense, there is a feeling of total unworthiness.   Besides forgiveness, we know we need cleansing and then to be renewed or restored. If there is unrepented sin, then we lose our joy - and so we long to be back in God's Presence.  Sin leads to self-deception. "Thou desirest truth in the inward parts...." Then we don't need to lie to ourselves any more about our condition.

"Purge me"
"Wash me"
"Hide Your face from my sin"
"Blot out all mine iniquities"
"Create in me a clean heart"
"Renew a steadfast spirit within me"
"Cast me not away from Thy Presence"
"Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me"
"Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation"
"Sustain me with a spirit of willing and unforced obedience."

THE FLESH CANNOT BE RESTORED. WE MUST BE CHANGED (God's objective).

RESPONSE: "Truth in the inward parts" isn't always easy to come by.   I am full of lies and falseness.  When I am under conviction, I become aware of how polluted I am, of how incapable of even telling myself the truth!  I feel so corrupt, so unworthy, so in need of cleansing, that it is only His Word that makes me know that He will hear me and forgive me when I repent.  Only God can reach the depths of my soul, cleanse it, and make me "know wisdom" - know how to live right.

PROVERBS 22:24-25                                                                                                       
Anger is contagious.   It is a characteristic of fools.  Anger is self-righteous and arrogant. It is a control issue - and that puts it outside of Christian character too. When we submit to Jesus' Lordship and become convinced that "all things work for good" - and that "nothing can separate us from His love" - then we can quit being mad all the time.