HOLDING ON TO JESUS WITH ALL OF OUR HEARTS

When I found the one I love…I held him and would not let him go. (Song of Songs 3:4)

In this verse we see that, after the Bride’s struggle of search- ing without finding, going into the city even in the face of her fear, again seeking for Jesus to no avail, receiving help even from the watchmen, Jesus renews His presence to her. She finds the One she loves. He answers her persistent striving to find Him. She presses through the dark night until finally she finds the blessing of His presence. Suddenly, she is in His embrace. Upon finding Him, she holds Him and refuses to let Him go. Her painful season of struggle causes a godly tenacity to arise within her and she clings to Him with all of her might. A tremendous resolve arises from her spirit and she sees that, on the scale of worth, finding Jesus far outweighs the cost of obedience. What- ever it takes, she desires to remain close to Him, unhindered by her compromise.

This new holy embrace is fierce, deep and intimate, and it is part of what God desired to bring about all along. Jesus knew her struggle would ignite this deep fire in her. One of His main purposes in withholding His presence was to bring her into the fervency of this fiery clinging. With newly-found zeal and con- viction she embraces Him, vowing to never again let Him go. As an expression of her gratitude and her desperation for Him, she deeply resolves to never again consciously compromise by do- ing anything that hinders the development of her love for God.

Mature love is birthed in “holy violence” that continues to hold on to Jesus. This speaks of a resolute clinging to Jesus in a life of prayer until the deeper things of His heart are attained. For the responsive heart, these God-ordained seasons create spiritual violence, an unquenchable resolution empowered by the Spirit of God to do the will of God. This holy violence in turn creates abandonment, a resolve to give up anything that gets in the way of intimacy with God. A holy commitment arises within to live constantly in the state of being in love with God.

The Song of Solomon, the King’s song to His Bride, needs to be taught and sung with revelation and power. It will wash and restore the Church as it prophetically calls her forth to holy passion. It can be interpreted on different levels; either as the historical story of King Solomon wooing and wedding a young shepherdess, or allegorically, where it presents Israel as God’s espoused Bride in the same way the Church is also pictured as the Bride of Christ in the New Testament. Some say it describes the love of an actual man for his wife. Others see it as a true story written in symbolic language with spiritual meaning for believers today. Personally, I believe the Holy Spirit interprets the book to the Church in all these different ways and we can learn from each of them; but I want to share the way the book has most edified me.

In this love song from Heaven, I picture the maiden as the young maturing Church, the Bride of Christ. I see a clear spiritual progression in the eight chapters of the Song of Solomon. It is a divine pattern that reveals the progression of holy passion in the heart of the Bride as she is wooed by the beauty and splendor of her glorious King. There are at least two wonderful benefits from meditating upon this great prophetic song. First, the Holy Spirit unveils to us the passions and pleasures in the personality of the Son of God. This insight into the heart of Jesus captures our hearts in a fresh way, energizes us and opens us to new depths of passion for Him. Second, as we meditate upon the Song of Solo- mon we identify our present position in the divine progression of Christian maturity.

While I had always felt a deep longing to be consumed with desire for God, I remember a specific morning in my office when the Lord called me to proclaim the Song of Solomon and the message of the Bride of Christ. I had prayed often, studied the Scriptures and surrounded myself with great teachers and preachers by reading many books. But on that day as I knelt to pray in my office, little did I expect to receive a new direction that would result in experiencing an entirely new dimension of spiritual desire.

I began to pray because an unusual, quiet yearning had filled my heart. It grew as my heart was stirred and it became an intense longing, a thirst that felt impossible to quench. I used Song of Solomon 8:6 as a prayer. “Lord, seal me. Put fiery love in me. Seal me, Jesus.” As words of desire began to pour from my lips, the desire for God felt stronger and stronger until it almost hurt. I began weeping, not from pain but from desire. The longing for Christ only became more intense. It was as if I was experiencing a divine vacuum that was actually drawing from God Himself. That drawing brought my heart into His presence in a new way.

As I felt the nearness of God, my desire for Him intensified. I could do little more than continue to weep, at first from pas- sionate desire, and later from joy and gratitude for His nearness. I felt deeply grateful for who He is, for His love, His mercy, His truth and perfection, and I felt more grateful still to know with greater certainty than I’d ever imagined that He loved me so much and I really could love Him with all my heart and strength. Not wanting to lose the preciousness of the moment, I quietly buzzed my secretary and asked her not to let anyone or anything interrupt me for the next thirty minutes. I became totally immersed in the presence of God.

I had been worshiping at His feet for about fifteen minutes more when my secretary suddenly rang into my office. With irritation I asked her, “What are you doing? I don’t want to be disturbed yet.” “I’m sorry,” she responded, “but you have a call, and he says it is very important that he speak to you right away.” Annoyed at being distracted from these intimate moments with

God, I picked up the phone. An acquaintance of mine was on the other end of the line. “Mike,” he began excitedly, “I had a dream about you last night. The Lord has very clearly impressed upon me that I am to give you a particular verse as His mes- sage to you.” My annoyance left as I listened to his words. “God wants you to set Him as a seal upon your heart.”

God had answered me even as I entered into that secret time with Him. The vehement flames of His love are unquenchable and cannot be drowned. With this divine seal upon us, other things lose their dominance over our hearts.

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