Songs 3:2-4 I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loves: I sought him… The romantic incident here poetically related has usually been regarded as a picture of the experiences through which many a soul is permitted to pass during this state of probation and Divine discipline. I. THE SOUL'S SEARCH. 1. The appreciation of Christ involved in this quest. Men seek for gold because they value it; they dive for pearls and dig for precious stones. Multitudes are indifferent to the Saviour because they know him not; because their spiritual susceptibilities are not awakened. But those to whom he is chief among ten thousand cannot be satisfied until they possess him and enjoy his fellowship. 2. The quest may be both earnest and prolonged. The desire for highest good is amongst the noblest and purest of all human characteristics. And seeking is good, even though finding be better. A search which is sincere and patient is in a sense its own reward. And there are those whose spiritual experience can only thus be justly described. It is a low view of human nature which looks upon such high quest with contempt; which takes for its motto, Nil admirari - "Not to desire or admire." The young and ardent will do well to make the search after God's truth, after God himself, the occupation of their life. II. THE SOUL'S DISTRESS. 1. Seeking does not always issue in speedy finding. The soul may seek with a mistaken purpose, or in the wrong way, or with a misguided aim, or at the wrong time, i.e. too late. 2. The absence of the sought Saviour is the cause of distress and complaint. "This is the way I long had sought, And mourned because I found it not." There is no repose for the heart until Christ be found. "Cor nostrum inquietum est, donec requiescat in te," says St. Augustine - "Our heart is restless till it rests in thee." There is something of mystery in the providential arrangement that the lot of man should so often be one of seemingly fruitless search and disappointed endeavour. Yet this is discipline for which many have had reason to give thanks; it has called forth courage, it has braced to patience, it has stimulated aspiration, it has sweetened success. III. THE SOUL'S DISCOVERY. 1. A delayed discovery. The soul has followed hard after him. The moment of revelation has been again and again deferred. The call has been loud, but has met with no answer but the echo. 2. A promised discovery. The word has gone forth from heaven, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found." The promise has been proclaimed by Christ himself, "Seek, and ye shall find." He does not say, "Seek ye my face in vain." 3. A gracious discovery. "I found him whom my soul loveth." How condescending the revelation! How joyful the sight, the apprehension, the hope's fulfilment! 4. A discovery which the soul uses for its own lasting satisfaction. As the bride in the poem "held" her spouse, grasped him by the arm in the fulness of her joy, and "brought him into the house," there to enjoy his society, so when the soul finds Christ it finds in him One who satisfies every deep craving of its nature. And to find him is to retain him, not as a wayfaring man who tarrieth for a night, but as an inmate never to be displaced from the heart, a friend to go no more out forever. - T. Parallel Verses KJV: I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. |
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