Song of Solomon 5:4

This is a movement in the right direction. The Lord be praised! His own hand has done it. Now we have something like an answer to His love. Feeble it is, but real. The heart is moved for Him. She has never ceased to call Him "My beloved." There is affection for the Lord, though failure. But when we ignore the gentle, gracious knocking of a Saviour's love, He uses other means. He knows the state of the heart, and what will really move it towards Himself.

He has already spoken; now the Bridegroom stretches out his hand to the bride. This silent appeal fills her with longing for him. Peter went through the same thing. At the very moment of his denial the Lord "turned and looked" at him. That look said more than words could: "You have denied Me, but I love you." Like the Bridegroom's hand here, it began the work of restoration, for Peter "went out and wept bitterly." And do not our hearts burn within us when the Lord stretches out His hand towards us in our failures — the hand with the wound-marks that tell of His unchanging love?

Though God's love was set before her soul, she does not answer at once by going out to meet Him. She makes excuses. She cannot take the trouble to open the door — and that was all that was needed. So "My beloved put his hand to the latch." There is still an appeal to her, but there is also something meant to produce self-judgment in her. As she sees it, He lingers; He does not at once turn His back on one who repaid His love so badly.

He would still assure her that his love never changes. She might change or grow cold; he could not... He had anointed the handle of the door with this perfume. It was a sign that his affection had not cooled, even when she was cold towards him. What proof could she give of her love? His withdrawal showed up her neglect. What a proof he had left of his, as her hands dripped with myrrh.

Only one thing moves our often-cold hearts towards the Lord Jesus: a reminder of all that His love cost Him in suffering on the cross. If we could see His blessed hands, we would see also the print of the nails. If we reached out to Him, we would be reminded of the sweetness of His unchanging love that took Him into death for us. Knowing how easily our hearts forget Him, He gave us the Lord's Supper, where we remember Him in His death every week. If you do not do this, do not be surprised if your heart grows indifferent to the claims of Christ. Do not be surprised if you find yourself at ease in places where He would not come.

But He never presses Himself on unwilling hearts. So when He found the door closed against Him, He withdrew. She had heard His voice, and she had heard His hand upon the door, and at last her heart responds. Her sloth is gone... When her Beloved pressed Himself upon her, she could not make the effort to receive Him. Now that she had opened the door, she found He was gone. The soul has to learn that it must wait on the Lord's pleasure. Communion and the enjoyment of intimacy are only possible to a responsive heart.