"My beloved, spake, and said unto 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 the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land; the fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away" (SOS 2:10-13).
I took the time to sit on the screened in porch and on the front porch for a time tonight. After getting my husband off to work I had a little time to just sit and take in the sights and smells of the nearing spring time. I watched the birds, heard them singing, pulled back some pinestraw to let the budding bush pop through. I especially enjoyed the gathering of two doves as they played together and flew into the nearby trees where I believe they had their nests. I am very attuned to the sound of the dove! I am always drawn back to this passage in my mind out of the Song of Solomon. So I got out my Watchman Nee SOS commentary and reviewed the material. It is one of my favorite books.
Someone had recently talked about the winter season in their marriage and I wanted to share this writing with you all. We have had a hard winter and it makes springtime all the more precious.
I will quote from the book: "Since the Lord now calls her to come away with Him, He sets before her all of past experience and the facts which are before her eyes."The winter is past." Winter is gloomy and cold and not conducive to growth. It represents a time of testing in which there is little to cheer about. In other words, the Lord has already conducted her safely through the experieinces of various trials of coldness, darkness, and seeming death. It was He who manifestly brought her through these trials and used His living presence to make her forget them all. Therefore "the winter is past."
"the rain is over and gone." The rain here is not the refreshing rain of springtime but that rain which, because of a cold atmosphere, turns into hail or snow. The winter rain can shut you in and make it impossible for you to accomplish any kind of work. In addressing her at this stage the Lord is saying in effect: "those many testings and trials are now all behind you because of your living sense of My abiding presence."
The reference to flowers, birds, turtle-doves, and so on are an appeal by the Lord to His loved one to stand on resurrection ground. Springtime means more than death, it means resurrection life. Flowers are adornments of beauty. Birds represent the voice of happy song.
"The vines with the tender grape give a good smell." We must notice that the vines here are in blossom, and thus they indicate that the life of the believer at this stage gives forth fragrance and shows promise of very much fruitfulness. Fruitage is assured because the vine blossom comes after the young fruit appears".
Wow! That is a lot to take in. Once you have been through the winter of trials and struggle you move up to a new level spiritually and then is seen the fruit coming from your life. God has a purpose in ALL our winters. Yes, we enjoy the springtime but it is in our winters that we learn to abide in His presence and come forth with His fragrance into His RESURECTION! Praise Him today. Praise Him even while you are in the middle of your winter. Now that is faith! When we wait to praise Him after the storm, it saddens Him. I pray you will learn what He has for you in your winter so that you will be fruitful and multiply.
God bless,
Sandra
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