“My beloved is to me a bundle of myrrh that lies at night between my breasts.”
— Song of Songs 1:13
When we follow the Lord, we need to value what He values and love what He loves. Only when we follow Him seriously will we be able to continue to follow Him through the various environments He measures to us. A person who does not know the cross does not yet know what it means to love the Lord. When he touches something, he may shout, “Now I see it! Hallelujah, amen!” but afterwards, he will still live his life his own way. A person who really follows the Lord realizes the meaning of “night” and has only one desire, that is, that the morning would dawn.
Most people prefer the day above the night. One problem we have is that we simply do not feel we are in the time of night. We think instead that we still have many hours of daylight left, and therefore things don’t bother us; we feel very confident and capable and therefore do not feel we need the Lord’s presence. Few of us have the feeling that we are in the time of night.
Only those who realize that they are in the night need the Lord’s death, represented by the myrrh. If you don’t feel you are in the night, death does not have much opportunity to operate in you, so there will be little of the deeper working of the cross. A person who truly follows the Lord only desires the Lord’s return. He lives only for the Lord. Since he realizes he is living in the night, earthly ties do not entangle him.
When Watchman Nee was 22 years old, he wrote a that expressed his desire that his living and work would be able to pass through the fire and the Lord’s examination before His judgment seat. Every day he felt that his living was for the Lord and His coming. He hoped what he had done in this life could stand the test before the Lord on that day. Because of this desire and this attitude, his Beloved was to him a bundle of myrrh at night between his breasts.
Adapted from The Journey of Life, pages 157-158.
Tomorrow: “A Cluster of Henna Flowers”