“Who is this coming up from the wilderness
Like pillars of smoke,
Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
With all scented powders of the merchant?”
— Song of Songs 3:6
The spiritual experiences of the first and second stages portrayed in the Song of Songs are interrelated; they cannot be separated from one another. When you come to the second stage, you still will sense that you need to return to the experience of being kissed by the Lord, to be with Him at His table, and to be under His banner of love in the banqueting house. Furthermore, you will sense that you need more experience of the Lord’s death and resurrection, that is, to be found in the clefts of the rock and the covert of the precipice.
Brothers and sisters, the first two chapters of the Song of Songs are for us to experience again and again for the rest of our lives, because they form the foundation of all our spiritual pursuing. But now we come to the seeker’s experiences in the third stage of her pursuing, in which she has moved well beyond her experiences in the first and second stages.
Adapted from The Journey of Life, page 208.
Tomorrow: “She Who Comes Up from the Wilderness” (2)
Revised August 8, 2012