Spiritual Hunger

 “…I found the One my heart loves…I held him and would not let him go…”  SOS 3:4

Time has increased a hunger in the Bride’s heart.  She has felt the absence of her Beloved’s Presence. It has left her empty.  She is longing for Him.  She has looked for Him, searching with a passion and desire, as for her greatest treasure.  Nothing and no one else will satisfy.  She is LOVESICK to a measure she had not yet experienced.

Chapter 3 of Song of Songs, in the first four verses, the Bride uses the phrase “the one my heart loves” four times! 

She is desperate for the one she loves!  And she doesn’t care who knows.  The chapter opens with the Bride first in her bed and her Beloved does not return, so she goes in search of him.  The Bride moves through the city square and the streets looking for her Beloved. Unashamedly she asks the watchmen, “Have you seen the one my heart loves?”  This young bride is bold and persistent in her search. I can picture it in my head like a movie scene.  A frantic young wife seeking for her lover…in panic, asking those watchmen,“Where is he? Help me find him”.  The language carries with it an urgency~ like a parent whose child has disappeared from their sight.  It may be a period of 10 seconds but it feels like hours.  A passion for the child rises in the parent's heart and no one will hinder the search.  This is what is brewing in the Shulamite’s heart for Jesus.  She will find Him at all costs.  No search is too hard and no cost is too great.  She will have her LOVER’S Presence again!

Meditating on these few verses arrests my heart.  Am I desperate to know Jesus at all costs?  How lovesick am I?  Is He the ONLY ONE who will satisfy the cries of my heart?  Have I cultivated a love for Jesus that nothing or no one else can take His place? 

How about you? Are you lovesick? Does nothing or no one else satisfy?

The Bride is teaching us about spiritual hunger. This is a hunger that we cultivate in our hearts.  We will receive as much of God's Presence as we hunger for.  If we are casual nibblers, we will have a casual experience with Jesus.  Unless we are intentional about pursuing Jesus with wholehearted devotion, other “loves” will steal our hearts away or spiritual dullness and apathy will set in.  

We go after Him with a spiritual violence.  “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it by force,” Matthew 11:12. This violence is against our flesh; our desires; appetites~ denying the lesser pleasures this world offers to be fully satisfied in the higher pleasures of life in God.  We purpose to set our gaze upon the face of love, Jesus.  Like Paul, we say, “But whatever were gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him…” Philippians 3:7-9.

Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a spiritual hunger for His Presence. 
Let the Bride’s words be your confession:  “I found the One my heart loves…I held him and would not let him go…”

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