Friday, December 21, 2012

Song of Solomon 1:12  “While the King was at His table my spikenard gave forth its fragrance”

Jesus is not only our holy Bridegroom, but He is the King of all kings. It is almost incomprehensible that we have been invited to sup with the Sovereign Ruler of the universe and that He calls us to sit with Him at His table. Through the cross where He gave His life for us He has made every provision to make us clean, pure, holy, spotless and blameless so we can commune with Him at His table.

It is at this table that He feeds our spirits with the revelation of who He is and what He did to redeem us to Himself. At His table we freely partake of the gift of our salvation and the amazing heritage He has called us to. What riches have been bestowed upon us!  He has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that we may be partakers of the divine nature, (2 Peter 1:4) We have been raised up and made to sit in heavenly places in Him, (Ephesians 2:6) We are chosen, a royal priesthood, holy, His own special people, (1 Peter 2:9) He has crowned us with lovingkindness and mercy and satisfies us with good things, (Psalm 103) and Romans 8:32 tells us, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” I don’t think we can begin to conceive the depths of God’s desire and intimacy for us or the honor and glory in which we are created.

As we sit as His table and meditate on the depths of His love and the truths related to our salvation, our hearts are stirred to extravagant worship.  True worship comes from seeing God; one glace upon His beauty and glory will ruin us for anything else in life. Our worship is a sweet fragrance, like spikenard, that ascends before our Beloved.The Lord enjoys the aroma and fragrance that emanates from our spirit when we focus on His provisions. 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 says we are the fragrance of Christ to God. Jesus' life , death, and resurection is a fragrant aroma to God the Father, but like spikenard it came with a great cost. The bride chose spikenad to symolically speak of our worship, love, and affections that acend to the Beloved because meditating on His incarnation, redemptive work of the cross, and our eternal inheratance invokes an extravagant worship from our hear. This type of abandoned worship seems rare and costly in the world today, but for the pleasure it brings to His heart it's worth every moment spent in His presence!

Devotional Prayer,
Jesus, You have created us with so much honor; the wonder of being created as Your bride is beyond comprehension!  Thank You for the demonstration of Your love and affections by becoming like us, taking on the form of man, in order to redeem us from our fallen nature. For all eternity we will gaze on Your beauty and never exhaust searching out the depths of Your love for us! Help us to never lose the awe of our salvation and the love You displayed at the cross. Holy Spirit, give us greater revelation into these truths and anoint our hearts to worship from the dephts of our being. May our lives be a fragrant aroma to You that the Lamb who was slain may receive the reward of His suffering. Thank You that You take pleasure in our lives to the extent that You have placed Your own Spirit within us that we will never be apart! In every season of our lives You prepare a table before us, even in the presence of our enemies, that we can partake and commune with You.