S97P4 – The faithful bride: committed to the pursuit
Song of Songs 3:3-4
The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. “Have you seen the one my heart loves?” Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go till I had brought him to my mother’s house, to the room of the one who conceived me.
Until she met him, life was pretty bland. She was raised in the mountains, in God country, and that place always felt like home. Boring as it might seem to some, she was content having the fields and the hills and her family close by. She had expected that life for her would turn out like so many other people she knew. The future seemed to be set already, assumed by all that she would stay in those mountains. What she could not have predicted was meeting the one her heart would love and having him be a world away. Some thought she was crazy, but she had to chase this great love, a love that would lead her to a foreign place that would become her new home. She did not leave with fear or anxiety but with hope and peace, because her heart was secure.
There is a mutual pursuit between Christ and the Church. He woos her and draws her in, and He becomes the desire of her heart. Then, her desire grows and she becomes intentional in following him. There are times when she will feel like she cannot find him. There will be dark times of the soul for her, but that does not change his faithfulness. In those times she will be tempted to be distracted and chase other loves. However, there is a grand purpose in those times. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and it is for her to seek him all the more when she feels He is not there. Like a manic person searching for a great treasure that has been lost, she should search for him. Her faithfulness is shown not only by her longing but by the fervent pursuit it should produce.
God wants us to notice when we have strayed a bit from this relationship. We can take him for granted and expect to feel his presence at all times, but that is something we must foster with intention. If we stop fellowshipping with him and taking in the word and praising him and worshiping him with our lives, then we will feel a difference. We can interpret that as him being distant from us, but it is the other way around. He wants us to notice and to make the correction, to pursue him because we love him and miss him. We need to chase him like the great lover of ours that He is. Father, give your Church discernment and clarity to know when she has strayed and to pursue You above all when she thinks her love cannot be found.