“My beloved is to me a bundle of myrrh that lies at night between my breasts.”
— Song of Songs 1:13
Myrrh symbolizes death. Verse 13 reveals that the seeker considers the working of the Lord’s death something to be treasured. Prior to this, she treasured the Lord’s love beyond all else. (“For your love is better than wine….We will extol your love more than wine”; 1:2a, 4b). Here, however, her beloved has become to her a bundle of myrrh. She has come to realize the meaning of the Lord’s death.
At first, our experience of the Lord is primarily something of love. We were drawn by the Lord’s love and His loveliness. We saw that the Lord was worthy of our pursuit. Gradually, we discovered that the death of the Lord is the realization of His love in us. Apart from realizing the death of the Lord, we cannot know the meaning of His love. How can we experience His love? It is by our dying together with Him. The more we die, the more we experience His love and the more deeply we experience the riches of His love. When we are put into His death, we are put into His love. If we are constantly living in the death of the Lord, we are constantly living in His love.
Adapted from The Journey of Life, page 156.
Monday: “At Night”