I Looked for my Lover

All night long on my bed I looked for the one my heart loves; I looked for him but did not find him. I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares; I will search for the one my heart loves. So I looked for him but did not find him. Songs of Solomon 3:1-2

Believe it or not, there is a deeper story here but before we delve into the details let us course through the story as it appears at first sight.

On the face of it, this sounds like Solomon's latest catch pining for her lover-boy king. Now some would protest at the thought of King Solomon being labelled a Casanova but consider this; the man had 300 wives and 700 other women in his harem. It is possible that there were others not officially accounted for. By any standards his conquests trump many of our contemporaries. Not that this is anything to be specially admired.
However he beat our extremely prolific Kenyan super-dad Akuku Danger who is reputed to have fathered over 100 children with different women. He also beats Botswana's King Mswati hands down. He has the dubious privilege of getting to pick a virgin or two from a parade of nubile lasses each year.  Some men consider him quite lucky. But now I digress. Lets go  to the more serious issues.

The real thrust of these verses is that:

1. There are two people, a man and a woman. The woman is madly in love with the bloke.
2. The woman wakes up from the comfort of her bed to find that her lover has gone AWOL in the dead of night.
3. She is anxious to find her lover. She makes every effort, including going to the streets and public squares to look for him. She is driven by a desperate yearning to be with her man again.

Now, join me in pretending that we are proper theologians so that we can explore some below-the-surface meanings of this blazing romance. To do this we ask ourselves the simple question;
 Is there any possibility that this romantic episode mirrors our relationship with Christ? Let us examine the three points above in light of what we know about Christ.

1.Two people in love

• Christ loves his church in a very deep and intimate way. The Bible  refers to the church as the body of Christ and at other times as the bride of Christ. The connotation is always of a very intimate relationship.
• " I care about you...." is a common phrase among lovers . Christ cares for us, his church. He put His life in danger for her, He strives to keep her clean, and He loves her(Eph.5:25-28)
• As to whether the church, the so-called bride is madly in love with her divine lover? Well, that depends on your perspective of the current affairs in churches today.

2.The woman wakes to find her lover is gone

• The woman wakes up and is disturbed to find her lover absent. What do you suppose this mirrors? The presence of God I would say. In any Christian gathering there should be an awareness of the Holy Spirit's active presence or lack thereof. Lazy meetings where people leave unchanged are not God's favourite. Indeed he does not grace such meetings.
• As individuals we should also cultivate the capacity to discern whether we are still walking in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit or not. Only this way can we experience  unique interventions of God in our lives. 

Can you imagine the absurdity of a lover waking up with absolutely no recollection of whether she had been with her partner or not? And yet this is what is happening in many churches and fellowships.
Because many have never had a life-changing encounter with the Spirit's manifest power, they settle for routines of non-experiences in both their private and public times of devotion.

“If you don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.”
― John Piper, A Hunger For God

Have you ever been in love and had one of those lads or lasses who you can never tell whether they are happy or sad even in the most extraordinary circumstances? If you have not then give it a try. I can assure you that you will discover that there is nothing as frustrating as a passive partner.
God is charmed by your active presence as much as man is changed by His. Avail yourself to Him and He will reveal Himself to you. See how He pines for you:

O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray day and night, continually. Take no rest, all you who pray to the LORD. Give the LORD no rest until he completes his work, until he makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth.  Isaiah 62:7

This exhortation was given to Israelites but it does tell us something about the character of God.

3.A woman desperately looks for her lover

I recall one time when I stayed with an older friend as I tried to figure out my next move after college. It always amazed me that the man could wake up daily at 4.30 am and shout down the house with loud, earnest prayers till 6 a.m. I knew the prayers were sincere from the fact that he often broke off into vernacular-Kikuyu. It seems to me that the string of successful life-events that this man enjoys today is linked to his fervent desire for God expressed in his steely determination to set aside those early hours for prayer.

When I listen to a good number of Christians, I come away feeling that we need to rediscover the art of seeking God until we find him. Like the madly in love woman, we need to reach the point where we are anxious to 'attain' the manifest presence of God in our daily life.

God does not lend his presence easily. He must be sought. Moses' message to the Israelites rings true to our day.

But from there you will search again for the LORD your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him. Deut. 4.29

The promise above is that any of us can start our asking, seeking and knocking (Matt 7:7) in the current state we are in. No need for  prior self-improvement. All we need is to be as earnest in our efforts as Solomon's love-struck woman.

The fact that God does not lend his presence easily should spur us even more. is repeated in Hebrews 11:6

And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

Do not live your entire life without ever knowing what it means to experience the Spirit of Christ in His manifest presence. Indeed to live otherwise is not to live at all. During this season we take stock and we also commemorate how God poured his love into our hearts and gave us hope (Rom5:5).

God loves you more than you can ever fathom. Don't you think its time you returned the favour? Only then will you be able to sing with Solomon's woman;

"I found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go..."3:4