New Life Worship Ministries

Meditations on Solomon's Song of Songs by Char Scott

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The Fellowship of Suffering

by Char Scott

The maiden has come to a place of true maturity as we have followed her through the Song of Songs. In the first four chapters of the Song, she was primarily concerned about what the Lord could give to her. He has faithfully met every need and has revealed to her that she can completely trust Him. She has now come to understand that she also is His reward. She is His inheritance and uniquely able to bring Him great pleasure and blessing. Her heart is gripped with this reality. Her greatest pleasure is now in doing all of the will of the Lord, just as it was for Jesus. The Lord now refers to her as His Bride, and she sees her life no longer as her own, but she belongs fully to Him. She is committed to go to the mountain of myrrh and to receive the north winds.

Now the Lord takes her through another test of faith. First, He tests her faith by again withdrawing His manifest presence from her. Then He allows the spiritual authorities in the church to wound her unjustly, resulting in her being removed for a time from her place of ministry and fellowship in the church. The Lord has invited her to join Him in His suffering. The Lord is revealed in this section as the Suffering Servant, the One who faced His suffering alone. She responds in love and humility to these tests. She is lovesick even in hardship and adversity.

Let’s read together Song of Songs 5:2-8. “I sleep, but my heart is awake; it is the voice of my beloved! He knocks, saying, ‘Open for me, My sister, My love, My dove, My perfect one! For my head is covered with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.’ I have taken off my dress, how can I put it on again? I have washed my feet, how can I dirty them again? My beloved put His hand by the latch of the door, and my heart yearned for Him. I arose to open for my Beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the lock. I opened for my Beloved, but my Beloved had turned away and was gone. My heart leaped up when He spoke. I sought Him, but I could not find Him; I called Him, but He gave me no answer. The watchmen who went about the city found me. They struck me; they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took my veil away from me. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my Beloved, that you tell Him I am lovesick!”

Let’s look at this section verse by verse. “I sleep, but my heart is awake.” She rests in His divine embrace while fully alert to the movements of His heart. She is at peace because she believes He is a safe God. She is at a place of rest and confidence in the Lord, but her heart is fully awake to spiritual things. She is totally satisfied in His love, yet longing for more.

“It is the voice of my Beloved!” His voice is calling her to new depths in the Holy Spirit. When He speaks, He is revealing Himself in a fresh way to His people. She is sensitive to the voice of Jesus, to the inward promptings of the Spirit. The voice of Jesus is calling her to come to a new season, a new place in the grace of God. Jesus said that His sheep would know His voice and respond to His call in John 10:4.

We hear His voice through both the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit and through the written Word of God. We grow in our ability to hear His voice by filling our understanding with the bridal paradigm, by turning the Word into prayer, and by making a long term commitment to pursue Him.

“He knocks, saying…” He knocks on the door of her heart in answer to her prayer for the north winds. This knock refers to the initiative God takes to bring us forward in new dimensions of the Spirit. First, He speaks. We hear His voice through His Word. Then He knocks, which means His hand moves in our lives. His knock sometimes brings us into hardship, but ultimately it brings us into deeper communion in the Spirit. In Rev. 3:20, Jesus says He stands at the door of our heart. If we will hear His voice and open the door of our hearts, He will come in and eat with us. He is referring to sharing the communion table with us. Will we receive all He has done for us and offer ourselves whole-heartedly to Him?

“Open for Me, My sister, My love, My dove, My perfect one.” He is asking her to open to Him and affirming her with confidence in His love for her to give her the power to respond. The greatest motivation He uses to sway us is to make known to us that all we go through is for Him. In the Song, the Lord has revealed Himself to her as the Tender-hearted Shepherd, the Affectionate Father, the Sovereign King, the Safe Savior, and the Ravished Bridegroom. He has equipped her with the revelation of who He is so she will be able to embrace the north winds of difficulty. This is also necessary to bring her to full maturity as His equally-yoked Bride. The revelation of the ravished heart of the Bridegroom, experiencing true intimacy with the Lord, is essential before entering into the sufferings.

Four times here the Lord uses the word “My” to affirm her identity. He calls her “My sister” to signify His identification with her humanity. He is understanding and sympathetic.

“My love” reminds her of His extravagant love for her. He is lovesick for her, and this is why He calls her forth into these experiences, out of His love and desire to share intimacy in suffering. She is motivated by His love, not by fear of judgment.

“My dove” speaks of her innocence, loyalty, gentleness. Her eyes are focused on Him alone. She needs to know that He sees her this way.

“My perfect one” is a statement of her desire to obey Him perfectly in her maturity. She refuses to compromise. It also declares that we are the perfect choice of the Father for His Son, Jesus, to be His eternal companion. She is the only choice. She feels so special to Him. She feels that He truly knows and understands her.

Jesus cries out to her, “Open your heart wide for me. I am a safe God. I am ravished in love for you. Open wide to me for I am the one who faced Gethsemane alone for you. Will you say yes to this garden of suffering?” He wants her heart to receive even more. He is calling her into deeper levels of faith.

When God’s servants plunder Satan’s kingdom, the Lord allows a measure of counter attack in this age. Adam gave the rule of this world over to Satan by an act of his free will so Satan has a certain legal right here--he is called the god of this world. The apostles suffered this counter attack, and in so doing, they filled up the suffering of Jesus. Paul prayed for this in Phil. 3:10 saying, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to His death.”

She responds in full obedience. At this point in the song, some translations sound like she refuses to obey, but the context is clear that she is in a place of maturity. Jesus’ first words to her following this test will make it abundantly clear that she is being obedient.

“For My head is drenched with dew, My locks with the drops of the night.” This refers to Jesus praying all night in the garden of Gethsemane. He stayed outside all night. He is reminding her of His suffering, all done in the name of His great love for her.

“I have taken off my dress, how can I put it on again?” This is a reference to her deeds in contrast to His deeds. Her dress speaks of her deeds or acts. She is saying, “My garments are off and Your garments are on me. I am not standing before You on my own merits. How can I go back to the sin and compromise of wearing my own garments and doing my own thing.” She has clothed herself in His acts and deeds. We are covered with His robe of righteousness as described in Is. 61: 10 which says, “I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness.” She is not saying it is too inconvenient.

“I have washed my feet, how can I dirty them again?” The washing of the feet means a fresh cleansing from spiritual defilement. Our feet get dirty through our contact with the fallen world or from our poor attitudes. We need Jesus’ daily cleansing. Jesus washed the feet of the disciples and told them that all of them was clean, even though all would deny Him that very night. This was not a statement of her refusal to obey Him but a commitment to avoid defilement. She desires to walk clean before the Lord.

“My Beloved put His hand” refers to the grace of God being imparted to her. Scripture talks about the hand of God in our lives as He moves on our behalf. Her Beloved is resting His hand upon her and releasing His grace. It takes the grace of God to open our hearts to the sufferings of Christ without being wounded. She opened her heart even to the God of Gethsemane by God’s grace through the revelation of who He is and of His love for her.

“By the latch of the door” speaks of the door of her heart. The heart is the door we must open to the Lord. The hand of God is upon the lock of her heart.

“And my heart yearned for Him” is her response to His touch. God’s hand of grace caused a yearning of desire and love. She is not refusing Jesus, but rather, she is longing for him. When God’s powerful love is released in our hearts it produces a desire to obey Him.

“I arose to open for my Beloved.” She immediately responds out of voluntary love for Him. Her motivation is not fear or legalism. She does not open her heart to a cause, but to the Person of Jesus. She is in love with Him! She trusts He will be with her in all she faces. She is involved in a love affair with Him. It is not an act of heroism, but of a deep desire to share all with Him. She wants Him to enjoy the sweet fruit of her life as she lets Him blow even with the winds of difficulty on the garden of her life.

“And my hands dripped with myrrh” refers to her death to herself. Her hands speak of her works and ministry, her choices and actions. Everything she touches, all she achieves is now touched with dripping myrrh. She is committed to a lifestyle of death to selfishness as she embraces the Cross in her own life.

“My fingers with liquid myrrh” speaks of the activities of working faith that embrace the cross out of love.

“On the handles of the lock” refer to the means by which you unlock or gain access. The picture is of a locked door, her heart, being fully opened to Him.

“I opened for my Beloved.” This is second time she is responding to His request to open the door. She has fully opened her heart to embrace Him and the north winds.

“But my Beloved had turned away and was gone.” This is a sovereign act of God. He is withdrawing His manifest presence to test her. She is surprised because His presence is her only desire. He has not truly left her, but she does not feel Him. The first time this happened to her in the Song, it was a result of her failure to obey. This time it is in response to her obedience. This experience has often been referred to as the “dark night of the soul.” It is not a result of sin in our lives, but rather, it is designed by God to produce even greater passion and desire for Him. He is drawing something even deeper out of our hearts.

The Lord is looking for people who stand in obedience regardless of what is happening in their lives. He is saying, “Will you only obey Me if you feel My presence?” It is a test of whether we can truly walk in faith, apart from feelings.

“I sought Him, but I could not find Him; I called Him, but He gave me no answer.” She reverently sought the Lord without a spiritual breakthrough. She fasted and prayed, but this test can not be cut short by more urgent seeking. Her pain becomes evident.

“But I could not find Him; I called Him, but He gave me no answer.” The silence of God is part of His training to cause our hearts to mature. We must refuse the devil’s accusations against God’s love in such seasons. Our confession of faith must remain constant. “His banner over me is love.” In other words, all of God’s dealings with me are to eventually reveal His love for me and to impart His love to me in a deeper way.

“The watchmen who went about the city found me.” The first part of her test is an inward one. The second part of the test will now affect her outwardly. The “watchmen” refers to the spiritual authority in the church. There are two types of leaders in the Body of Christ. There are the helpful leaders, like King David, who help us find deeper intimacy with the Lord. There are also the carnal, jealous leaders, like King Saul, who seek to wound us as a result of their own weaknesses.

“Who went about the city” refers to the idea that these men were seeking any opportunity to discredit her throughout the whole church.

“They struck me, they wounded me.” She is rejected and unjustly persecuted by church authorities. They can wound her because there was a genuine relationship before the attack. A stranger can strike by speaking false accusations, but only a friend can wound. The keepers and the watchmen who should have protected her instead struck and abused her. Those the Lord invited into her garden included the immature and those who could wound her.

She met watchmen in Chapter 3 who were helpful to her. In this chapter, she meets those who wound her. However, these Saul-type leaders have a purpose in God. We actually need these people in our lives to drive us to maturity and abandonment in love. All of God’s servants have been wounded in the house of friends. Much in our hearts is uncovered in this experience. God uses this to release the spices in our lives.

“The keepers of the walls” refers to the fact that leaders have been given a divine mandate to keep the walls of the city, to protect its people. They have a prominent position so everyone can see them.

“Took my veil away from me” means her ability to be in right relationship with spiritual authorities has been affected. She feels exposed and alienated from those she should look to for support.

“I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my Beloved.” Her humility is evident here as she asks even the immature ones to help her find Him. She has no feelings of His presence, no anointing, no ministry at this time. The leaders have forsaken her so she asks the daughters, the church, for help instead of retreating in bitter isolation. We must learn to be patient and to extend grace to those in the church because the Lord loves them even as He loves us, rather than to withdraw when we are wounded. Her humility is seen in her commitment to be faithful to both Jesus and His Body. She will do anything to find Him.

“That you tell Him that I am lovesick” means she is not offended at the Lord for withdrawing His presence and allowing her to be so mistreated. She is not offended; she is lovesick.

In all of this, she must trust that the Lord has her best in mind. She cannot feel His love or presence, but she knows His Word is true, and He has been so faithful to her in the past. Next time we will look further at her response to this test.

Let’s pray together for this same ability to stand firm in love. “Lord, make us willing to be willing. You are a safe God. You are our Bridegroom King. You are a beautiful God. Your love has no equal in our lives. There is no greater pleasure than to experience your touch on our hearts. Open our hearts even to share in your suffering. Let your hand be on our hearts dripping with myrrh. Let us yearn for you with even greater longing.”

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