A Love That Does Not Change

1By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him. 2I will get up now, and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him. 3The watchmen who go about the city found me; “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?” 4I had scarcely passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, into the room of her who conceived me. 5I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires.

The thanks we offer God is like a stream running down a mountain valley: after heavy rain it thunders down as a waterfall, yet under a fierce sun it runs dry.

When people meet a situation in life they cannot resolve in their own strength, they cling to God and plead for help. They promise to live diligently if only he will solve this one problem, and they show a faith that looks ready to spend a whole life in faithful service. God knows that once the fervor cools they will turn away, yet he answers, because the one praying to him now is dear to him. For us, a long season of ease is more dangerous than a time of suffering, because once the trial passes and the problem disappears, or we recover our health and can stride freely about the world, our gratitude dwindles, and in the end we settle comfortably into that ease. When life’s ups and downs are steep, we pray constantly and stay alert, never knowing when something will happen; but when comfort lasts, we no longer feel any need to pray.

Yet trouble always comes just when we feel at ease. If peace came as the answer to the prayers we offered in suffering, then this time, having stopped praying while all was peaceful, we lack the fullness of faith and cannot overcome the trial. If you always have the wisdom to grasp the word that tells you to pray without ceasing, you will live a life of peace in body and soul.

Once Solomon caught the little foxes for her, the Shulammite’s worries vanished. Those who had despised her as a mere keeper of vineyards and had stood in the way of her love for Solomon were gone by his decision, and her tense heart relaxed. With the world’s stumbling blocks removed, she did not give that time to adorning herself further for Solomon and growing inwardly; instead she found leisure to look out at the world. She met her worldly friends and boasted of how comfortable her life now was, and she threw herself into all the things she had set aside while trying to win Solomon’s heart. Enjoying herself in the world to her heart’s content, she assumed that when she went home Solomon would be waiting for her on the bed. Confident that Solomon was the one who loved more, she grew careless. As I always say, there is no such thing as one-sided love. After playing in the world all day, she went back to her bed at night, but Solomon, who should have been waiting for her, was not there. She had taken for granted that whatever she did he would always wait, and when she found the bed empty, she was thrown into confusion.

Like God, who answers our prayers, Solomon granted whatever the Shulammite asked. Catching the little foxes was no easy task, but because the request came from the woman he loved, he did his utmost and drove them off. He came back picturing her delight when he told her that he had caught the little foxes plundering the vineyard, just as she had asked; but she was so absorbed in her own pleasures that she had no interest in the foxes at all. Catching them had become Solomon’s task, it is true, yet until the foxes that troubled her were caught, she ought to have stayed concerned and helped him. It is the same when we entrust the world’s problems to God. He will resolve them, but until they are resolved, we must keep praying. Bitterly disappointed, and with no reason to keep watch alone over a bed without her, Solomon went back to the flock that was waiting for him.

Jesus took pity on souls floundering in the swamp of death, and he defeated death for them. And he thought that at least those who knew this would be so grateful for eternal life that they would be faithful even to death. Yet those who rejoice only that they are saved and going to heaven, far from giving themselves to Jesus Christ, are lost in the pleasures of the world. Weary of waiting for people who had forgotten to give thanks, Jesus went to his other sheep, who are faithful even to death.

Revelation 2:4

4But I have this against you, that you left your first love.

The Lord rebuked the church in Ephesus for leaving its first love for him. He tells them to consider where they have fallen from, where that pure first love went that once rejoiced and gave thanks for salvation, and to repent. To leave one’s first love is an evil of the heart that calls for repentance.

We often see people treat lightly, rather than honor and cherish, the one who stays beside them and loves them without change. Yet what we must cherish in life are the brothers and sisters in faith who pray and walk beside us, and God, who gave us life. Because God always walks with us, protects us, and cares for us, we assume he will always be at our side, and we do not give thanks. Too busy with our own worldly affairs to serve him, we still believe he will wait on our bed with eyes for us alone. But God is not a sunflower that keeps its face turned toward us whatever we do. Just as Solomon went back because many sheep were waiting for him, God does not wait for those who will not share their love with him. Since he has no need to wait for one who has abandoned faith, he has gone to help those who are serving him faithfully.

Song of Solomon 3:2

2I will get up now, and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him.

The Shulammite goes through the streets and the squares, crying out as she searches for Solomon. She now looks for him in the streets, the man she had always met on her own bed, but night has already fallen. Had she kept to her bed, she could have met him easily at any time; now she has been reduced to wandering in search of him. So too, those who keep their place in faith can meet God easily, but once they turn their eyes to the world, they end up having to wander in search of him.

People regret losing something precious only after it is gone, because they never consider that their own complacency, poor judgment, and wicked conduct could cost them what they hold dear. But you must understand that once you have lost the God who loved and protected you, the world will never shelter you, just as it would not shelter the Shulammite once she had lost Solomon. Solomon is not someone you can find by roaming the broad streets at night and shouting for him. Because God dwells in our spirit, he is not one whose grace we can put on by standing in the streets of the world and shouting, ‘I have faith.’

Matthew 6:5

5“When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward.

Jesus said that when we pray, we are not to be like the hypocrites. They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others, but because their prayers were never offered to God in the first place, he said, they have already received their reward.

The Shulammite calling for Solomon in the streets and squares may look as though she loves him deeply, but it was her sin that wounded him and drove him away. People who have taken God’s love lightly and turned their hearts to the world come back to him late, weeping and wailing, and they look as though they are praying very earnestly. Yet the deeper wound is God’s, for he gave his own life and was still forsaken.

We too often pray in ways that hope for people’s recognition. There is prayer offered in meditation and silence, and there is prayer cried aloud. They differ only in manner, and both are needed. But the way we pray should suit the place. If you shout on the bed, where you should whisper with the one you love, you cannot share a deep love; and if, when you are badly wounded or in danger, you whisper instead of crying aloud for help, you cannot pray with urgency. Prayer is a conversation between God and me alone. That is why it matters so much to bring a sincere heart to prayer. A conversation without sincerity is as empty as one without a soul.

God is spirit. Our prayer must be communion with God in the spirit; if we are conscious of people and compose our words for them to hear, that is not prayer, because God, who is spirit, looks on the heart. Only when we call on the Lord with our whole heart will God, hearing that prayer, work through his angels and stretch out his hand to tell us not to be afraid. When we pray not to be seen by anyone but to offer him our heart, he will lead us by the working of the Holy Spirit to a safer refuge.

Song of Solomon 3:3

3The watchmen who go about the city found me; “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”

The Shulammite asked those who go about the city on patrol, the watchmen who keep the night, whether they had seen the one she loved, but even they answered that they did not know. All the watchmen could tell her was that wandering about at night might be dangerous and that she should look for him by day. A pastor, likewise, cannot know where the members of the flock lost their first love for God. What pastors can teach is this: do not set your heart on the darkness of the world, but look only to the Lord, who is as bright as day.

A moment of indifference toward Solomon had grown into something far too large. She had labored so long to win his love, and yet her great error was the pride of assuming that his love would never change. Solomon was ready to do anything for her. Against everyone’s opposition he had loved the poor and lowly Shulammite, and he resented that she took that love for granted.

God, too, bore every hardship and pain in order to love a single soul, and he made us his children. We must never cast aside the love he gave when he sent his only Son into the world and endured the agony of that Son dying on the cross. If our love changes, God will leave, because he no longer has any reason to dwell in that heart. And since it takes great effort to win back the heart of a God who has left, I hope you will love him all the more now, while you are enjoying his grace.

Psalms 42:1

1As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God.

As the deer pants for the water brooks, the Shulammite searched for Solomon with a thirsting heart. Just as she was growing weary of searching for the one she loved, she found him among the flocks. So glad was she that she took hold of him, confessed her wrong, and begged him to come with her, and Solomon’s heart melted. When you too meet God in his anger, you must repent with all your heart and ask for forgiveness, as the Shulammite did. Then you will receive the blessing of his forgiveness: though your sins are as scarlet, they will be made white as snow, white as wool.

Song of Solomon 3:4

4I had scarcely passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, into the room of her who conceived me.

Forgiven, the Shulammite brought Solomon into her mother’s house. She brought the one she loved there because it was a place dear to her, where she had been given life and born of her mother. The place you must go to recover your first love is the cross, where Jesus died to atone for your sins and give you life. Only when we return to the place where we conceived faith through the blood of Christ and received new and eternal life can we share a deep spiritual love with him.

Only after losing Solomon did the Shulammite realize how lowly a woman she had been, and from now on she would do her utmost never to lose him again. May you, too, put away the thought that God will wait for you forever. If you cling to the world and seek God only when you need him, he will pay you no regard until you repent and come back. God does not love you because you are faithful and devoted, or because you excel in the world. Though you fall short, he sees the faith that gives him thanks and longs to walk with him always, and for that he protects you; so you should be all the more humble.

Just as the Shulammite brought Solomon into her mother’s room, where no one could disturb them, I hope you too will lean on the Holy Spirit within God’s grace and receive the Lord’s love to the full. If you are with Christ, no one will be able to come between you. Solomon and the Shulammite became one in body and heart and fell into a deep sleep of their own that the world could not disturb. As the word in Proverbs says, he gives sleep to his loved ones; the two of them have now forgotten the world and fallen fast asleep. Because Jesus is in you and you are in the Lord, and you have become one, Satan will no longer be able to get in the way. No one will be able to lure you back into the world while you stand in grace.

Not just anyone receives Solomon’s love. Likewise, though there are countless people on this earth, God’s special love is given only to you who are chosen. Let us not lose this love now. Remember that you were born again through the agonizing death of the cross, and may you be faithful.

May you always live in the fullness of faith as the most beautiful children of God in all the world. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.