You know, I’m afraid that I am often guilty of not reading documents in their entirety. In fact, as I am often pressed for time, when I read through my professional journals, I often skip right through to the final, concluding paragraph and sentence, and it never fails that this is where I find a summary of the most important ideas in the article. Any well-written essay is the same. The concluding statement always sums up what the entire essay is trying to say. And this final verse in the Song of Solomon is the concluding summary of the entire book. In it is summed up one of the most important truths about having a relationship with God. Let’s look:
“Run to me . . . Come like a gazelle. Leap like a wild stag on the spice mountains.” (Song 8:14b from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
Remember. God wants to be your “dear lover”, your most intimate companion and dearest friend. Your part in the equation is simply to desire God as much as He desires you, to desire Him enough to call out to Him: “Run to me!”
But when the verse goes on, it repeats itself! How many of you know that when God repeats Himself, He’s REALLY trying to get your attention? “Come like a gazelle. Leap like a wild stag on the spice mountains.” Now gazelles are VERY fast and stags are known for their ability to leap over obstacles in their path. Friend, you should so desire God’s presence that you cry out for Him to bound over any obstacle that stands between you (like a wild stag), as quickly as possible (like a gazelle) to come to you!
Ponder this, my friend. Ponder the truth that the place to start to have a relationship with God is to desire to be in His presence enough to cry out to Him to come-quickly, leaping over every obstacle-to be with you! That’s the first steps! Why not try it today?
Please join us next Saturday for Lessons on Relationships From Solomon, Lesson 18 where we will examine the importance of telling others about God!
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, moderator, The Nugget, Scriptural Nuggets ( www.scripturalnuggets.org), Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org .
(To access the entire “Lessons on Relationship From Solomon” mini-series, please click here.)