VOICE OF MY BELOVED

VOICE OF MY BELOVED

“I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my Beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night” narrates the bride about her encounter with the shepherd who had earlier withdrawn his presence, in verse 2 of Chapter 5 in the Song of Songs. The Shulamite now takes a day’s rest from the labour in the garden of King Solomon and, while sleeping, she dreams of her beloved shepherd speaking to her heart. Christ our divine Shepherd manifests His glory in the vineyard where we are actively engaged in God’s work. At times, you may withdraw from His vineyard due to discouragement, frustration or fierce resistance from the Devil and become spiritually dormant, having lost His presence. Even when you reach that stage, your inner man would be awake and you would hear the voice of your Beloved knocking at the door of your heart just to commune with you. Christ will never forsake you under any circumstances, irrespective of whether you minister to Him or not. You may not seek or commune with Him. But still He reveals Himself to you. And you can recognize His voice and say, “It is the voice of my Beloved”. The period of separation has not blunted the sensitivity of your ears so as not to recognize His voice. For you, the time of separation from Him may be very short. But for Him, the short period looks like a long period of separation. Oh, what a love He has for you! When we separate ourselves from our children during short holidays, we feel we are away from them for a very long time.

He calls you “My sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled”. As your elder brother, He has true brotherly love greatly caring for you. You are “My love” – the center of His love. You are drowned in His unfathomable love. The love of this world cannot gravitate you to it. “Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our lord” (Rom.8: 38-39). You are “My dove” – the dove of Christ symbolizing the peace of God. Wherever you go, you carry the peace of God as a sweet fragrance. Your very presence in the midst of a brawl or a war will bring about peace. You are “My undefiled” – His spotless or flawless one. Though in the eyes of others or in your own eyes, you appear defiled by the past sin, yet in the eyes of Christ, you are undefiled, as your sin has been washed away by His Blood. Because of tarrying, the head of your beloved Christ is filled with dew, and His locks with the drops of the night. The dew is moisture deposited from the air on cooling especially at night. It is formed after a long process of cooling of the atmospheric water. The dew has fallen on His Head and covered it. The Author of the Song of Songs chose the example of dew rather than use the word “tarry”. Let us admire the poetic beauty of this divine song, which tops all the songs of this world. You think that Christ is tarrying for a short time but to Christ, this period of tarrying is so prolonged as to cause formation of dew on His head.

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