Come Away With Me

“My beloved spoke, and said to me: “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; The time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell. Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away! “O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; For your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”” (Song of Songs 2:10-14)

For many years I could not read the Song of Songs (Song of Solomon) without feeling totally awkward and uncomfortable. The intimate language and scenery was just too much for me to handle and I for sure could not accept its symbolism of the love between Jesus (the Beloved – the Bridegroom) and His Church (the Shulamite – the Bride).

But oh, what can happen in a year’s time! For me, 2017 will be marked in my mind and in my heart until the day I pass from this earth. Why? Because this was the year I finally accepted and reciprocated INTIMACY WITH THE LORD. And it was in this SURRENDER, this place of YIELDING to Him, that I could finally read and visualize the intimate relationship laid out so beautifully in Song of Songs.

For once, I could see myself as the BRIDE OF CHRIST.

***And before I get a bunch of smack from the religious crowd, I am perfectly aware that the Bride of Christ is not one person, but consists of Believers in Christ Jesus who make up His Church (the Body).

That said, for once, I have finally begun to see myself as Jesus sees me.

He calls me His. He knows me and calls me by my name. He calls me beautiful, lovely, and pure. Washed in His blood, I am spotless and blameless in His sight. Born again and filled with His Spirit, I am strong, wise, holy, and righteous. He loves me. He cares for me. He sees me and hears me. And He longs to speak to me!

You must know, this applies to His Bride! You, who are also the Bride of Christ Jesus, this is yours:

He calls you His. He knows you and calls you by your name. He calls you beautiful, lovely, and pure. Washed in His blood, you are spotless and blameless in His sight. Born again and filled with His Spirit, you are strong, wise, holy, and righteous. He loves you. He cares for you. He sees you and hears you. And He longs to speak to you!

I love the verses above where the Bridegroom calls to His Bride, saying “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.” I cannot count the times the LORD has called to me to wake up out of deep sleep in the early morning hours with these words, “Come away with Me.” And I admit, sometimes I have let sleep pull me back in, but more often than not I get up and draw near to Him in prayer and worship only to be AWED by Him in a totally new way!

These times I would not trade for anything. It is during these times when the house is so quiet, that I feel like there is only me and Him in the whole world. There is no rushing to go do this or work on that. There is no pulling and tugging from the world. It is only me and the LORD.

You see, when you love someone totally and completely, you are willing to push everything else aside just to be with them. Your love compels you to draw closer to the object of your affection. The closer you get to someone, the more you get to know them and see them in new ways. This is no different with God. The closer we draw near to Him, He draws closer to us. In that place of nearness, intimacy is born.

The English word intimacy gets its roots from the latin word “intimus” which means inmost and secret. In order to know the secret things, the innermost thoughts, beliefs, desires, and feelings of someone, you must be close to them. Intimacy comes only through relationship. And relationship is cultivated. It is something you are intentional with.

God does well on His end of relationship towards us. He is intentional and willing to be near to us. But are we that way towards Him?

Throughout the Bible, there is one theme I see repeated over and over: GOD CALLS TO US.

He invites us to come closer to Him, but we cannot come in our own way. So often, we try to approach God in the way we think is best, but our way does not work. God has made a way for us to come close to Him and that way is through His Son Jesus. Here in the Song of Songs, we are given a glimpse of the LORD’s heart for us. He loves us deeply. Here we are also given a glimpse of the heart of His Bride. She loves Him deeply.

Does this describe you? Do you love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength? Do you love Him so deeply that you cannot go one day without hearing His voice or speaking to Him or praising Him?

You see, Jesus is calling out to us just as the Bridegroom called out to His Bride in the scriptures. Jesus is calling us to COME AWAY WITH HIM!

How are you responding this this call?

Some of you may be thinking, “I’ve never heard God call to me like that.”

And my reply is this: God is always calling us deeper and closer to Him. We need ONLY LISTEN for the call. We need only to be ACTIVELY AWARE of Him, filled with EXPECTATION to hear Him speak.

However, this is something we must purpose within ourselves to do. It requires our AVAILABILITY, meaning we are continuously available, in active expectation for God to show Himself to us. And let’s face it, God is available! He is ever willing to show Himself to us. But are we just as willing to see and hear Him?

You may be thinking, “What does that even mean?”

Let me lay it out to you this way:

Imagine what it would be like to have a person right next to you 24/7 (and mom’s I am not talking about your children, lol). I’m serious though. What would you do if there was an actual person with you all day from the moment you wake up to when you went back to bed, and that person was there with you while you slept? Imagine them being with you while you cook and eat, take a shower, brush your teeth, drive to work, clean your house, talk on the phone with friends, look at Facebook, talk (or yell) to your kids or spouse, work in the yard. Imagine this person with you while you cry, you laugh, you scream, you dance, you fall.

And now imagine ignoring that person the whole time they are with you.

I don’t know about you, but to me that would be weird (awkward!). Yet, so many believers have done or are doing this to the LORD. If you are a new creation in Christ Jesus, then God's spirit dwells inside of you. Therefore He is with you always. Wherever you go, whatever you do, whatever you think....He's there. But many people walk on through life only acknowledging the LORD in times of trouble or crisis. God wants more of you than your need for Him. He wants you to want Him!

God so desires to speak to us and to hear us speak with Him. He desires closeness, intimacy with us. But are we listening for Him? Right here many people will say “I talk to God all the time.” And that’s wonderful. But are you listening for Him to talk to you? You see, the Bride is ever ready to hear the voice of Her beloved. She waits expectantly to hear Him coming. Are you?

Now don't get me wrong. The LORD is not wasting His words. He is not sitting around talking to you all day with you just going about your merry business. But He does invite you to come in closer. He does call out to you. The question is this: Are you listening for Him?

The LORD says to us:

“Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away! O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; For your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”

God is calling you to come away with Him to the secret place, where there is only you and Him, no distractions. There He wants to see you as you are and hear your heart. There you can see Him as He is and hear His heart. It’s reciprocal. If He’s close to you, you are close to Him.

So I encourage you, come away with the LORD to the secret place. The time you spend there with Him is more precious than the time spent in the daily grind of life. In the secret place, you are refreshed, renewed, revived. In this place you are face to face with the One Who truly knows you. In this place you connect with purpose and destiny as you hear from the One Who created your purpose and destiny.

Expect to hear His invitation to come closer, to come away with Him. God will not disappoint you. He wants to talk to you more than you want to talk to Him and I am sure there is much He wants to say to you because He loves you deeply.

It’s not too late to start this year off as your year of a deepening intimacy with God. Let this year be the shift you never forget. Let this year be marked as the year you responded to His call “Come away with Me.” You will not be disappointed!

God bless you and keep you my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus! 💗