Sometimes we pass on by the book of Song of Solomon because of the personal way it’s written. It talks of love between a king and his betrothed. She was of poor means. Solomon was inspired to write this concerning his love of this girl and her love for him. It is scripture to illustrate the perfect love between a man and woman. It’s a great earthly analogy of the relationship the Lord wants to have with us.
God really wants to enjoy his relationship with us. He’s made it possible. He walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden before the fall. Jesus came to set us up from the fall so that we can walk with God again and enjoy it. You can enjoy being a Christian. God doesn’t want us to be burdened under the law. That’s why early churches were so much trouble for the apostles. They thought they had to stay under the law. It didn’t work before Jesus died and it doesn’t work after. It’s an insult to Jesus and his blood and to the grace of God when we accept Jesus as Savior and then separately say we’ll live under some kind of law or code and meet God’s approval. The only way to please God is not by getting it right by myself but getting right with the Savior. Being right with him puts us in a right relationship with God. That’s why we can’t do it ourselves. That’s why Jesus came. I depend as much now on Jesus for my salvation as the night I knelt. That night I got saved, somebody touched me. This scripture tells us that the God we serve is a hands-on God.
Song of Solomon 3: 4 It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: 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 that conceived me.5 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.
It’s foolish to ever think that God is out of touch, away from us, and that it does no good to pray or come to church? Does the devil ever whisper that in your ear? Of course it helps to pray. Of course it helps to come to church. Sometimes God has to bypass the mind to get to the heart. The Word will speak to our heart. The devil might try to convince us that God is hard to be in touch with. Chapter 2:6 says His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. Jesus didn’t come to destroy us but to save. He is willing to touch his people. When we called on his name, that prayer touched his heart and he in turn touched us. He still touches us. His left hand is under our head. Sometimes our head needs holding up. Sometimes our neck gets stiff and needs loosening up.
They say a chiropractor can move your neck and back around and put it back in place. God knows how to straighten us out. We see fewer come to church. Wickedness gets worse. We feel like holding our head down. God doesn’t want us to go through life with our head down. Hold your head up. Be glad you’re saved. Don’t worry if things are going how you think they should. Lift up your head. The psalmist says it a lot—lift up your head! I’m glad there is a hand that lifts me up when I feel like I can’t do it myself! God knows when we don’t have the strength. If we’ll stay true to him and wait on him, he’ll lift us up when we’re not able.
I’ve seen many of you in neck braces. I’ve worn one before. They help hold your neck when necessary. That’s what God does. And while he holds up our head his right hand embraces us. He’s a hands-on God. He’s a loving heavenly Father. He wants us to trust him to the point that we relax under his shadow and enjoy being a Christian. If a person feels the hand of God, that means he has turned it over to God and is letting him be God. When we’re willing to let God embrace us, he’ll draw nigh. Sometimes we want to do what we want to do and believe what we want. We want to obey ourselves or the world instead of God. We want God to serve us and we’re not willing to serve him. We want him to love us while we don’t love him. We don’t want to feel obligated. In order to feel the embrace of God we have to be willing to surrender ourselves to God. Romans 12:1 says I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. When we’re willing to do that he doesn’t beat us and break us in two. He’ll treat us right. He’ll embrace us. We need to embrace him back along with his house, his way, and his Word. Otherwise, how do we expect him to embrace us? The king knew he could embrace his beloved because she was willing to embrace him. If we want to feel the arm of God around us and enjoy a relationship with him, we have to do this.
Zachariah 2:8 says for thus saith the Lord of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. Anybody that touches God’s people touches the apple of God’s eye. Let the devil do what he wants. If we obey God and are close to him, the world may try to pick on us. When they do that they’ll have to mess with God. He’ll fight the battle. We’ll never win on our own. If we’ll let him hold up our head, he can still kick the devil out of the way. God wants us to be his and we should want to belong to him. We can’t have two beloveds. We either hold to God or to the world.
We need to live in God’s arms. I can’t think of a better place. It doesn’t depend on where God is. He’s where he’s always been. It depends on where we are. Get in there. The Shumanite woman chose to stay in the embrace of the king. Let’s choose to stay there. He’s a hands-on God. Let’s be a hands-on child. Let’s stay as close as we can.
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 