In last week’s Lessons on Relationships from Solomon we learned that when we don’t feel like God is there, that’s when we become so focused on circumstance that we can’t sense His presence. However, when things are the darkest and coldest in our lives, that’s when Jesus is right there, “nightly strolling in our garden”, calling out to us, “Winter is over. Come to me!” Let’s stop focusing on circumstances. Instead, let’s listen for His voice and accept His offer to give it all to Him. Then we, too, will feel the security, the love and the support. We, too, will no longer notice the wintery blasts, because with Jesus, our Spring has truly arrived! But how do we move beyond those circumstances? How can we feel close to God again? Let’s look at Song of Solomon 1:7:
“Tell me where you’re working – I love you so much – Tell me where you’re tending your flocks, where you let them rest at noontime. Why should I be the one left out, outside the orbit of your tender care?” (Song of Solomon 1:7) (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
Does this sound familiar to anyone? You attempt to interact with God, but you’re not quite sure just where He is. You desire to find Him, but you don’t feel His presence close to you. You see other Christians enjoying a relationship with Him, but you feel yours is lacking something. Just like the woman in the Song of Solomon, your heart cries out: “Why should I be the one left out, outside the orbit of your tender care?”
Friend, you can’t seek Jesus if you don’t realize that there is no closeness with Him. An important step in pursuing a personal relationship with Him is to recognize when you don’t feel close to Him. Only then can your cry be: “Tell me where you’re working – I love you so much – Tell me where you’re tending your flocks, where you let them rest at noontime.”
Enough to ponder for today. Please DO ponder this though, my friends. Ponder the truth that when God seems like He’s answering everyone except you, there is something you can do. The first step is to identify that He seems far away, and the second step is the cry out to Him: “Tell me where you are working . . . Tell me where you are tending your flocks!”
Please join us next Saturday for Lessons on Relationships From Solomon, Lesson 21 to find out how God responds to this cry!
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.)