Song of Solomon 1:9

Now He speaks about her entirely. He drops the subject of the questions; His address is direct and personal. And how full and free are the expressions of His admiring love.

It is the Lord speaking here. As He looks at His beloved one, He describes what He sees in her that delights His heart. It is a privilege to know His thought about us, and especially, if we love Him, to know what He delights most to see in us.

There is divine wisdom, and instruction for the soul, in the choice of His first comparison. Here He reminds the bride of the true Solomon of Egypt. He redeemed her out of it with an outstretched arm. He reminds her of Pharaoh too, out of whose iron grasp He rescued her. The truth of God is a circle. The love that delivered us out of Egypt is the love that brings us into Canaan, with all its mercies along the way. It is one perfect unbroken circle of grace and truth.

There is no doubt a reference here to energy devoted to the master's service, and to walking and pulling together in harmony. But there is another thought of still deeper meaning. The wild ass likes his own wild ways. He likes to run about at will and refuses to be bridled or tamed, or to submit himself to another's will. Is not this a striking picture of what the unregenerate heart is? But a steed in Pharaoh's chariots has been broken. It has learned to give up its own inclinations. It yields to the pull of the rein in its master's hand, and so spends its energy in its master's service. This driver of Pharaoh's chariot can be taken as a picture of the Holy Spirit. What the Lord delights to see in His own is that they give the reins of their lives over into the hands of His Spirit, to be subject to His guidance in all things.

...walking and working in peace and harmony with others who are likewise yielded to Him. Let each of us ask, Is that what the Lord sees in me? How it must grieve the Lord's heart to see His own so often in strife and discord. They spend their energy on selfish pursuits and go on in their own ways. They miss by far His chosen plan for their lives. No wonder their testimony is so weak, and their lives have so little fruit to His glory.

The chariot horse wears splendid harness. It may stand for strength, graceful build, swiftness, royalty and willingness in service. As soon as the charioteer has taken his seat, his horses are ready to move off. They grow impatient at delay. The lifting of a hoof, the movement of every muscle, tells him plainly: if he is ready, they are quite ready. And then, for all their power, how they answer the slightest touch of the guiding rein.

Like a horse in Pharaoh's chariot, adorned with all the trappings of royalty, so the bride was lovely in His sight. Her beauty was the beauty He had put upon her. The Lord can say the same through Ezekiel: "I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck" (Ezek. 16:11).

How often the human mind clothes the object of its admiration with attractions, and then loves and worships its own image. Not so the divine mind: there, everything is real. The Lord clothes the bride of His heart with His own attractions, and then admires her. He loved her — adored be His name — before there was anything about her to admire. Having adorned her with His own excellence, there is now nothing to offend His eye or grieve His heart.