Song 2:14 | KingComments | STEP | The groom uses different pictures each time to reach the bride and induce her to come to him. He now calls her “my dove” ( ). The dove is an animal known for its loyalty and attachment to its partner. The groom appeals to the bride in her loyalty and attachment to him. The remembrance of this may prompt her to leave her isolation and come to him. He also mentions the place where she is differently than in . It is “in the clefts of the rock, in the secret place of the steep pathway”. The place where she has withdrawn is a place where she wants to hide from the enemy. The groom tells her that she can emerge, because the enemy has disappeared just as winter has passed. She has hidden herself from the enemy, but at the same time from him. In the same way, we too may have withdrawn into isolation for fear or other reasons. As a result we have also withdrawn from His presence. We are then not perfect in love, that is to say that the awareness of His love for us does not live for us. Perfect love drives out fear ( ). He wants us to turn our eye back to His love, so that we seek our protection from Him and not from anyone or anything else. He wants to see the bride and hear her voice. Thus the Lord also wants us to come out of our hiding place and let Him hear our voice in praise and prayer. This is a wonderful invitation to go to Him boldly with all that is in our heart. He wants to see us as we are for Him and He wants us to know that and say that to Him. This can be a very short prayer or a very short thanksgiving as long as it is the sincere expression of the love of our heart. We can make another application. The Lord wants to see the “form” of each of us personally, “your form”, and not that of someone else. He wants to hear the “voice” of each of us personally, “your voice”, and not the voice of someone else. When we speak to Him in prayer, we should not suddenly start talking in a completely different tone, as I have heard someone do. The words we use must also be our own. Not parroting others or trying to be completely differently, because we want to be ‘original’. The Lord then sees another form. Every believer who lives with the Lord has learned a lot from others, but he is not a copy of those other believers. It is not about trying to say it in a way that no one – we ourselves or anyone else – has ever said it before. It is about saying it in a way that the Lord has never heard of us before. We use the same words as before or words that someone else has used, but it comes from our heart in a more profound way. The Lord does not only say that He wants to see our form and hear our voice. He says also why this is so: “Your voice is sweet, and your form is lovely.” This shows His desire for fellowship with us. We hear this desire in His voice. When we hear Him speak like this, can our heart then remain cold? When He speaks in this way to us to persuade us to come to Him, can we keep Him at a distance? He speaks so graciously to us to let us know how precious we are to Him and that He is so eager to hear from us how precious He is to us. Shall we let Him talk and ignore His loving attempts to conquer our heart? Shall we forget Him and continue our own life? What a disappointment and sorrow that would be for Him!

‏ Song of Solomon 2:14

Seeing the Form and Hearing the Voice

The groom uses different pictures each time to reach the bride and induce her to come to him. He now calls her “my dove” (Song 2:14). The dove is an animal known for its loyalty and attachment to its partner. The groom appeals to the bride in her loyalty and attachment to him. The remembrance of this may prompt her to leave her isolation and come to him.

He also mentions the place where she is differently than in Song 2:9. It is “in the clefts of the rock, in the secret place of the steep pathway”. The place where she has withdrawn is a place where she wants to hide from the enemy. The groom tells her that she can emerge, because the enemy has disappeared just as winter has passed. She has hidden herself from the enemy, but at the same time from him.

In the same way, we too may have withdrawn into isolation for fear or other reasons. As a result we have also withdrawn from His presence. We are then not perfect in love, that is to say that the awareness of His love for us does not live for us. Perfect love drives out fear (1Jn 4:18). He wants us to turn our eye back to His love, so that we seek our protection from Him and not from anyone or anything else.

He wants to see the bride and hear her voice. Thus the Lord also wants us to come out of our hiding place and let Him hear our voice in praise and prayer. This is a wonderful invitation to go to Him boldly with all that is in our heart. He wants to see us as we are for Him and He wants us to know that and say that to Him. This can be a very short prayer or a very short thanksgiving as long as it is the sincere expression of the love of our heart.

We can make another application. The Lord wants to see the “form” of each of us personally, “your form”, and not that of someone else. He wants to hear the “voice” of each of us personally, “your voice”, and not the voice of someone else. When we speak to Him in prayer, we should not suddenly start talking in a completely different tone, as I have heard someone do. The words we use must also be our own. Not parroting others or trying to be completely differently, because we want to be ‘original’. The Lord then sees another form.

Every believer who lives with the Lord has learned a lot from others, but he is not a copy of those other believers. It is not about trying to say it in a way that no one – we ourselves or anyone else – has ever said it before. It is about saying it in a way that the Lord has never heard of us before. We use the same words as before or words that someone else has used, but it comes from our heart in a more profound way.

The Lord does not only say that He wants to see our form and hear our voice. He says also why this is so: “Your voice is sweet, and your form is lovely.” This shows His desire for fellowship with us. We hear this desire in His voice. When we hear Him speak like this, can our heart then remain cold? When He speaks in this way to us to persuade us to come to Him, can we keep Him at a distance? He speaks so graciously to us to let us know how precious we are to Him and that He is so eager to hear from us how precious He is to us. Shall we let Him talk and ignore His loving attempts to conquer our heart? Shall we forget Him and continue our own life? What a disappointment and sorrow that would be for Him!