Songs 1:4 Draw me, we will run after you: the king has brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in you… I. THE EARNEST PETITION. "Draw me." 1. This is a petition which the very best of us need continually to offer. We have these three enemies ever plotting, ever drawing us — drawing us from salvation towards destruction — the world, the flesh, and the devil. We need, therefore, the magnet of God's love to overcome these adverse "drawings," and to guide us at last to a happy and holy heaven. 2. To whom is your petition addressed? The three Persons of the ever-blessed Trinity are employed in drawing you from earth to heaven. (1) God the Father draws you (John 6:44). (2) God the Son draws you (John 12:32). (3) God the Holy Ghost draws you.He takes of the things of Jesus, and shows them to you, making you willing converts in the day of Christ's power. 3. But in the passage before us, the prayer, I conceive, is rather addressed to God the Son. (1) We pray Christ to draw us from those things which will do us harm. From self, that we may not trust in our own strength. (2) We pray Christ to draw us to those things which will do us good. We pray Him to draw us "to a throne of grace " — to His Word — to His people — to His house — and to His table. And oh, the blessed end of this "drawing"! Deborah the prophetess "drew" Sisera, with his chariots and his multitude, to Mount Tabor; but she "drew" them thither, only to give them into the hands of Barak for their destruction. But, the Lord Jesus Christ is drawing you, not to Mount Tabor, but to Mount Zion, and He is drawing you thither, not for your destruction, but for your salvation; that you may stand there with all the redeemed for the endless ages of eternity. O blessed drawing! 4. But the Lord Jesus uses means. (1) He draws you by His Spirit; for without the Holy Spirit we can do nothing. (2) He draws you by dark providences, and makes you say with David, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted."(3) He draws you by the sunshine of prosperity (Jeremiah 31:3). (4) He draws you by the remonstrances of conscience, as He drew the woman of Samaria at Jacob s well. (5) He also draws you by the preaching of His Gospel, opening your hearts, as He opened the heart of Lydia, and bringing the Word home to your souls, as He did to the Thessalonians, "in power, and in demonstration of the Spirit, and in much assurance." II. THE DECIDED PROMISE. "We will run after Thee." 1. This is not the voice of nature, but of grace. Nature, unconverted nature, says, "I will run from Thee." "I will hide myself, as did Adam, in the trees of the garden." I will forsake the fountain of living waters, and I will hew me out other cisterns. I will say to the Lord, "Depart from me; for I desire not the knowledge of Thy ways." But grace, grace in your heart, says, "Lord, when wilt Thou come unto me? Lord, I will run after Thee. I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest." It is the large-hearted obedience of one who feels that all he has belongs to Christ; who confesses that he is not his own, but that he has been bought with a price. 2. You are not content to "run" alone. You wish your fellow-men to enjoy what you are looking for; and, therefore, you promise your Divine Lord, that if He will only draw you by His grace and free Spirit, you will bring others with you. "Draw me, and we will run after Thee." (C. Clayton, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee. |
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