Like the book of Esther, Song of Songs does not mention God directly and its sensual nature puts many off reading it. But all Scripture is God-breathed and useful to us (2 Tim 3:16) and Dave spoke tonight from Song of Songs 3:1-4 about the need for God’s people to seek Him.

The book is an allegory and parable, showing on one level the love relationshp between a man and a woman (‘Lover’ and ‘Beloved’) and the struggles which they must overcome to enjoy true love. The allegorical nature of the book points to the church as the Beloved of God, the Bride of Christ. Jesus died for us so that we could be reconciled to  God; the joy set before Him was that of presenting a spotless bride one day (see Heb 12:2). We may be like the woman in the story, doubting whether the Lover will return as he promised. In chapter 3, we see how she misses meeting her lover and longs to find him, even roaming the streets at night in her search for him. We too can sometimes feel that we have lost the intimate presence of Jesus and need to search for Him, for He is our passion and our delight.

When we cannot feel God’s presence with us, we must search the Scriptures, continue in prayer and stay in fellowship, for nothing is more important than our personal relationship with the Lord. We have to do hold on to Him when we do find Him, by faith, trusting in Him and resting in Him. We have to pursue God with all our hearts, for we love because He first loved us. Nothing is more important than seeking the Lord, and those who seek Him will be found by Him.

Mark Burgin spoke this morning from Matt 6:25-34, focussing on our need to seek God and His kingdom above all. When playing ‘Hide & Seek’ with grandchildren, it gets harder to find them as they get older and become more adept at hiding; sometimes we really have to seek hard! In the same way, seeking God has to be our first priority in life.

Living life God’s way has to be our number one priority. 2 Chron 7:14 reminds us that this involves humbling ourselves, repenting, seeking God and praying continually. We must be sure to be seeking God’s face, reclaiming our first loe. Moses met with God face-to-face; Ps 63:1 talks of earnestly seeking God’s face. Do we long and thirst for God, seeking Him early in the morning? Do we continue to seek Him throughout our busy days and last thing at night? God is looking for people who will seek Him whole-heartedly, avoiding distractions. It’s true, though, that God is also seeking us (see John 4:23-24). He is looking for people who will worship Him in spirit and truth. When His searching meets our seeking, then there is an explosion of divine grace and we are changed by our life in God.

Numbers in the book of Revelation have been debated for years. Whether they are meant literally or metaphorically can be discussed endlessly, with few incontrovertible conclusions reached. In Revelation 4:1-11, we see twenty-four thrones and twenty-four elders as well as God’s throne; we also see four living creatures covered with eyes alongside seven lamps blazing who are identified with the seven spirits of God. What are we to make of all these numbers?

It’s impossible to be dogmatic about these things. Seven is usually understood as the number signifying completeness or perfection, and the ‘seven spirits of God’ may refer back to Isaiah 11, indicating different aspects of God’s Spirit. The four living creatures have been identified with different aspects of the four gospels, but given their similarity to the visions of Isaiah and Ezekiel (Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1) may well refer to angelic beings who worship God for His holiness and majesty. The twenty-four thrones and twenty-four elders refer to angels according to some commentators, but their white robes, gold crowns and prostrate worship may also represent the whole of God’s people, with the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles of the New Testament acting as a representative body of all those who have been saved by God.

What is clear, however, is that these creatures are not the focus of the vision. The focus of the vision is God’s throne; these creatures worship God ceaselessly. Worship, to paraphrase C. S. Lewis, is the serious business of heaven. Worship of God relates to who He is (‘holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come’ Rev 4:8) and to what He has done (‘for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being’ Rev 4:11). We can start our worship now by declaring these truths aloud in the presence of God.

This morning, in our series ‘The Miraculous & The Mundane’, we looked at the topic of ‘Seasons of the Soul.’ In nature, we have in our country four distinct seasons (spring, summer, autumn and winter), and each season brings with it different weather and different advantages and disadvantages. There is change in each season we cannot control, but there is also consistency, regularity and purpose in the seasons. After the flood, God promised, “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” (Gen 8:22) We see that ‘there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens’ (Eccl 3:1), and just as there are specific times for things to happen in nature, so our spiritual lives can seem to go through different seasons!

Most of us prefer spring and summer, when new life is happening, flowers blossom and we enjoy warmer weather. Autumn is a time of riotous colours and harvesting. Few of us like the barrenness and cold of winter. Similarly, in our lives, we want to feel the presence of God close to us and enjoy fruitfulness all the time, but we must also learn to navigate those more difficult spiritual seasons when perhaps God feels distant and we do not see what He is doing.

Navigating the seasons of the soul requires perspective, patience and perseverance. Without these three Ps, our lives will be at the whim of our feelings, and we will be tossed about (see Eph 4:14). Having perspective means seeing things from God’s point of view and understanding that the difficult seasons don’t last forever. As Paul puts it, ‘our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.’ (2 Cor 4:17-18)

Patience means learning to wait for God (see Ps 27:14, Ps 33:20, Ps 37:7). There are lessons for us to learn from the Biblical principles of crop rotation and leaving land fallow (see Lev 25:1-7). It is counter-intuitive to us to leave land fallow, but this helps the soil to be refreshed and ultimately to be more fruitful. Similarly, those periods in our lives when nothing seems to be happening and God does not seem to be answering our prayers are times when we learn to lean more on Him and to grow in trust.

Perseverance is ‘patience plus’! Perseverance means we do what is right despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. If we persevere, James says, we may ‘be mature and complete, not lacking anything.’ (James 1:4) Moses persevered because he saw ‘him who is invisible.’ (Heb 11:27) Our perspective fuels our perseverance; we have to keep on doing what is right, no matter how we feel.

Whatever season of the soul we are currently facing, God is still with us. Paul reminds the Philippians that he is confident ‘that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.’ (Phil 1:6) With perspective, patience and perseverance, we can live through every season of the soul and know the joy of meeting the Lord face to face one day and being welcomed into His presence. Don’t give up.