To Burn

Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of Yahweh - Song of Songs 8:6

Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD - Psalm 27:14

The soul surrenders herself wholly to God, and God gives Himself wholly to the soul...But ah! what a distance is yet to be travelled, and what sufferings to be undergone before this eagerly desired union can be granted or consummated! - Jean Guyon, a 16th Century French Monk, Song of Songs of Solomon

When we surrender to Jesus, we enter into a place that is more intimate, more reserved, more pure than any other. It is so enjoyable, so desirable, so joyful, so wonderful.

As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you. - Isaiah 62:5 (NIV)

When we come to him just as we are we get to enjoy his presence in ways we never thought possible. It's an closeness and intimacy oh so magnified with our God. It feels wonderful, enjoyable. It's a place where we can worship freely, where our words of worship and thoughts of worship somehow translate into spiritual kisses upon the Beloved. It's something incredible and joyful and after we've been intimate with him for long, we are left in a state of aching. It is an aching for both more worship and closeness, but also an aching to finally be wrapped upon him and know him and embrace him. It is an aching for the consummation of our marriage to our God.

[As a brother in this family of God, I entreat you: don't let go of him. He is priceless, beyond anything this world could ever offer. If there is anything, anything at all in your world that could pull you away from him, throw it away! Give yourself to him and he will love you forever. You are the desire of his heart. He wants you and never wants to be away from you. Don't take anything that is below him as something in place of being with him. Worshiping our beautiful Lord Jesus and being one with him is far greater than anything this world could offer.]

And so now we must wait upon our Lover. We must wait upon the Son of God to come to us. He will. He said that he would one day (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). But as a beloved left waiting for our Lover to come home from the war, we are left to burn in our desire for him. In this time we must cultivate patience. It will not be too much longer and we will be in his embrace. But for now, we must wait and be patient. As Jean Guyon said,

He is not yet a Bridegroom whom I may embrace in the nuptial bed, but a bundle of crosses, pains and mortifications; a bloody husband ( Exodus 4:25), and crucified lover, who desires to test my faithfulness, by making me partaker of a good share of his sufferings. For this is the part of the soul at this period.

We are waiting upon our God. And as we wait we can foretaste the enjoyment of our God in us, as a bridegroom enjoys his bride, when we worship his gorgeous Holy Spirit. We have him forever and it will only get better :)

As St. John of the Cross, the 16th century Spanish priest, wrote in his Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ (which is considered by some to be a free-form version of Song of Songs):

(Stanzas 6, 37, 38, 39)

Oh! who can heal me?

Give me at once Yourself,

Send me no more

A messenger

Who cannot tell me what I wish

We shall go at once

To the deep caverns of the rock

Which are all secret,

There we shall enter in

And taste of the new wine of the pomegranate.

There you will show me

That which my soul desired;

And there You will give at once,

O You, my life!

That which You gave me the other day.

The breathing of the air,

The song of the sweet nightingale,

The grove and its beauty

In the serene night,

With the flame that consumes, and gives no pains.