SONSHIP 23 SET ME AS A SEAL

SET ME AS A SEAL

Song of Solomon 8:6 "SET ME AS A SEAL UPON THINE HEART, AS A SEAL UPON THINE ARM: FOR LOVE [IS] STRONG AS DEATH--" ; jealousy [is] cruel as the grave: the coals thereof [are] coals of fire, [which hath a] most vehement flame.

Song of Solomon 8:7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if [a] man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

This is a story of a peasant girl who had been taken from her home and family for a very strange purpose. The record does not tell us if she suffered from homesickness. Neither does it tellus if she found her task repugnant.

Little did she know that she would become the theme of a most beautiful and inspiring Song-- the Song of Solomon.

Her strange task? It was before our modern ways of caring for the aged. I believe it was a bungled solution to the problem, but it seemed to be in the Mind of God, non-the-less. He OFTEN USES OUR BUNGLING ATTEMPTS for His purposes.

I Kings 1:1-4 Now king David was old [and] stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat. Wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat. So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. And the damsel [was] very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not.

After King David had died, one of his sons was desirous of her attentions, and asked King Solomon for her hand. It displeased Solomon very much, and he had the man killed.

I Kings 2:22,23 And king Solomon answered and said unto his mother, And why dost thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? ask for him the kingdom also; for he [is] mine elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah. Then king Solomon sware by the LORD, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah have not spoken this word against his own life.

Legend has it that this fair damsel had been in love with a young man of Shunem before she was chosen for this strange mission to King David, and would have desired to return to her young lover there.

But, it was not to be, for God had other plans for her life, much like He does for each one of us, if we will be submissive to His Will for our lives.

To make a long story shorter, after much wooing on Solomon's part, her heart is finally won over to him. She FALLS DEEPLY IN LOVE with her Lover, who has tenderly and faithfully done what He could to win her affection.

The Shulamite serves very well as a type of those who whole-heartedly respond to the wooings of the Spirit of God. The King patiently waits for her to lose her desire for her former love, and to be drawn to Him. She would not have voluntarily been drawn to the King, but His attentions were overwhelming.

Neither would we have followed the Heavenly King voluntarily. But the "drawing" of the Lord was overwhelming.

John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all [men] unto me.

Many of us have fallen in love with Jesus. BUT SOME HAVE FALLEN SO DEEPLY IN LOVE WITH HIM THAT THEY ARE CONSUMED WITH A DESIRE TO BE A PART OF HIM. But they have been hindered by their inability to completely sever themselves from their former love. (their life before they knew Jesus)

But they, like the Shulamite, are calling out to their Lover, and asking of Him that He-- "SET ME AS A SEAL UPON THINE HEART, AS A SEAL UPON THINE ARM: FOR LOVE [IS] STRONG AS DEATH--"

THAT IS THE HEART CRY OF EVERY POTENTIAL OVERCOMER.