Come With Me!

Arise, my darling my beautiful one, come with me. Song of Solomon 2:10

The opportunities we have to care for our loved ones is remarkable at times. One relational observation I enjoy is when a parent or spouse stops their activities to listen to their little one or to their mate. I’ve even seen a parent get down on the same level as the child to look into his eyes and truly hear his heart.

How special we each feel when someone passionately turns their time and heart to attend to us.

In my house, sometimes, I hear my husband say, “Hey, whatcha doing?” That’s code for, “I have something to talk about or something to show you; will you come over here?”

It’s a habit of mine (if possible) to drop what I’m doing and come.

When I read today’s verse, my mind expanded to an even more significant relationship in which to ‘come.’ Song of Solomon is interpreted by many to be read as a poem of romance about a couple in love. Others say the poem reflects the relationship between Christ and the church (His bride). This latter interpretation is one I’ve been exploring as I read through this Bible book.

To me every good thing on earth points to the Father, even the marriage bed. In essence, we come to know the deep intimacy (far beyond sex) between God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit through our loving gestures with each other. Such a profound concept cannot be found in sexual activity outside of marriage. As a married couple, our intimate love is the best way to help us better understand the Trinity and their relationship of giving kindness to each other, submitting one to another and promoting the good of the other that some find so hard to grasp (instead of selfishly grabbing for our own needs). It is indeed possible that intimacy (oneness in marriage) found in the poem of Song of Solomon can be read as a tiny but profound glimpse into the beautiful relationship of the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit).

As I thought about today’s verse and Jesus being the one who calls me to come, I realized that I have already been in the process of learning how to drop what I’m doing and ‘come’ to my loved ones, especially my husband. How much more would I do so for THE love of my life, My Lord!

Arise, my darling my beautiful one, come with me. Song of Solomon 2:10

Like a parent to a child, Jesus got down on our level when He (with more love than we can imagine) came to earth to compassionately save us from our sins. His passionate call for us to come is His deep desire to show us the way to true life.

In Luke 18:22, Jesus addressed a wealthy ruler who asked a few questions of Jesus about eternal life. He seemed to have a lot of head-knowledge about scripture. But Jesus said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Sadly, this man walked away, not willing to give up his possessions (and drop what was holding him back from fully committing to Jesus). His wealth was a barrier to obeying the call to come.

The disciples of Jesus were willing to come to their first love, the Lord of Hosts! They dropped their fishing nets (their livelihood, their lives) and gave up everything to ‘come, follow’ Him.

I have to ask myself, what am I willing or unwilling to let go of in order to choose Jesus instead of allowing the barriers of life get in the way.

What about the obstacles of anger, fear, anxiety, pride and so on? These things will always stand in the way of coming to the Lord of Lords.

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Something intimate and good awaits me in the obedience of coming to Jesus. Initially, it may not seem beneficial. In fact, the way He calls me to follow may actually seem to take me away from my comforts, stability or normalcy. I may ask and pray for things to go back to the way they were before. But Jesus never lets me stay stuck in my ways. His love
always invites me to stretch and grow. His call to come is always good.

Lord, just as I am, I come to you, my greatest love. Even though I fail so often and, much of the time, miss the way you have chosen, thank you for still calling me to follow you. Thank you for never leaving me. Open my eyes to see your grace and know that your ways are pleasant and good. In Jesus name, Amen.