I’ve mentioned that peace is very important. The Song of Solomon mentions about embrace, and right at the beginning of the book, it talks about kisses. These are all real experiences! His love appearing is like Him kissing me, when I’m attracted to Him, and having love interflow with Him, I’m embracing Him. We will then be in quietness to enjoy Him. The Song of Solomon 2:5 reads, “Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am sick with love.” If you were to be sick this year, I hope it would be “love sick.” It means that you treasure so much to have love fellowship with Him, and that you desire to enjoy His love. You desire Him so much that you are love sick, and you cannot be without Him.
It says in verse 6, “His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me!” It’s so precious that the infinite One uses His love to embrace us into His bosom of love. Before this verse, it talked about other things, but after many experiences, the believer enters deeper into His embrace of love.
Verse 7 says, “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.” In the Song of Solomon, this saying is mentioned three times, so it must be very important. Here you can see that the believer is enjoying the embrace of the Lord. And the Lord says, “I adjure you by the gazelles or the does of the field”: these are animals that can be easily startled. “Do not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.” This believer is enjoying in spirit, the Lord’s embrace, having fellowship and deep worship with Him. The Lord doesn’t want us to have any disturbance, so He adjures them to let the believer continue to enjoy quietly in the embrace of love without any interruption. He said, “Don’t stir up or awaken love.”, as if the believer was enthralled in the Lord’s love. This is a very important state: to enjoy the Lord quietly. Your whole person is drawn by Him. This is an important moment that you should not let anything disturb you. You should not disturb yourself either. Don’t think that you must say something; it could disturb you. Yet, your mind is not blank. Instead, you are deeply enjoying the Lord and His love. And the verse also says, “Until it pleases,” which means until whenever the believer pleases. You have your freedom. Take time to enjoy more. These moments are by no means wasted away, nor are these empty moments. In fact, these are the most precious moments. Such precious time influences and nourishes you greatly, so don’t let yourself be disturbed during these moments.
When you draw near to God, don’t let yourself be disturbed by the environment or your inner condition. When you deeply experience Him, stay longer before Him. For instance, you come across a particular line that attracts you to Him, or the Lord appears to you and makes you feel His deep love for you; don’t rush yourself to finish singing the whole hymn. Same for reading the Bible. When He speaks to your heart and His words shine on you, it’s very important that you pause there and enjoy before you move on to the next verse. That’s why the Song of Solomon mentions three times “Do not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.”
In chapter 3, the Shulamite was seeking for her beloved but she could not find him. Verse 4 reads, “Scarcely had I passed them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her who conceived me.” In chapter 1, the king brought her into his chambers but here the believer brought the Lord into the chamber, where she could have alone time with the Lord without any disturbance. She treasures the Lord very much. Verse 5 reads, “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,”(which means everybody!) “By the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.” In other words, the Lord says, “She’s my darling. She’s enjoying My love at the moment. Do not disturb her until she pleases.”
In Song 8:3, it mentions again the embrace of love: “His left hand is under my head.” The believer is full of faith. “And his right hand embraces me!” She has become mature and she can experience more of the Lord’s love. She enjoys His embrace. Then the Lord says the same thing again. “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.” The Lord treasures so much these moments when you are drawn away by Him; your heart is fully captured by Him, and having deep love interflow with Him. He doesn’t want any disturbances at all. These moments are so precious, and they affect us so much, because after enjoying His love in these moments, we will love Him in return. I’ve experienced these sweet moments since I was a young believer. Till today, I give thanks for all of His love appearings.
Therefore, it’s so important for us to have peace in our hearts, and not be disturbed. Your heart shouldn’t be occupied by anything else, not even other good things. I believe the things the daughters of Jerusalem had to say are not bad. But don’t even let these good things distract yourself, because there’s something more precious—which is to enjoy Him and gain Him. The more you enjoy Him, the more you will gain Him. Paul also mentioned about “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.” (Phil. 3:8). Such knowledge is gained from having heart to heart fellowship with Him. This true knowledge of Christ affected Paul greatly.
When you sing hymns, you are using your spirit more, with your heart completely open towards Him, and realizing that you are living before Him, who is in glory and also in your heart. Sing from the bottom of your heart, and say from your heart your response to Him. Therefore, you need to take it slowly. I can tell you my demonstration is not slow enough. I am already slower than the regular person when singing, but it’s hard to describe how slow you need to be; it could mean slow to the point that there may be pauses during singing. Most importantly, is for your heart to enjoy the truth; they talk about His glory. The Lord and His glory are inseparable. You are enjoying the Lord Himself.
Another important point is that when you are singing the hymn, you enjoy pictures of the truth about His love in the depths of your heart. You are face to face with the Lord. Moreover, with the precious foundation of the truth, and being alone with Him, you and Him are facing each other. At the same time, you are enjoying Him by using every precious truth from the hymn. With your main focus on the Lord, you use the truths about Him that are mentioned in the hymns that you are singing to have fellowship with Him. You should keep your heart close to Him while you sing, and realize that He’s loving you as it is described in the hymn. However, your heart’s main focus should not be taken away by the truths about Him. Rather, you realize that the Lord whom you are having fellowship with is loving you this way! He is greater than all things, and you are having fellowship with Him. The truths are very precious, but they only serve as the background in your fellowship with the Lord. This is quite hard to describe. You can first practice to have fellowship with Him right from the bottom of your heart. Gradually, you will understand more. When you’re enjoying Him, you’re heart to heart with Him. Don’t let any good contents of the hymn pull your heart away from Him. Take note that you are singing to the Lord. It’s not a problem if you cannot finish singing the whole song. Most important is that you can experience the Lord.
We should do the same in praying the precious prayers: do it slowly. You can also apply the same concept to other prayers of yours. You will find it more enjoyable. For example, you can do it in your short prayers when you step out of the house. I will pray, “O’ Lord…” You can’t see what I’m looking at when I pray. I’m actually looking at the whole Lord, whom I’m heart to heart with. “I love You!” I don’t say it out of routine. I take it slowly. Sometimes slow is fast. Don’t think that being fast will save you time. Yes you do save some time but you can’t gain much. Less is more. The most important is that you experience Him. Many things in this world are actually not that useful. There’s so much information out there now, but what matters is how much your heart can have enjoyment. So there’s no need to crave for more information, or attend seminars. What’s important is being heart to heart with the Lord, and to enjoy Him. I don’t consider myself to have obtained it. I continue on and let the Lord attract me. Then you will experience a lasting revival. With more fervent prayers, we can be ready for the Lord’s great work in the days ahead.