D. Scott Meadows

“The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.” —Song of Solomon 2.12

Sweet is the season of spring: the long and dreary winter helps us to appreciate its genial warmth, and its promise of summer enhances its present delights. After periods of depression of spirit, it is delightful to behold again the light of the Sun of Righteousness [Mal 4.2; i.e., Christ]; then our slumbering graces rise from their lethargy, like the crocus and the daffodil from their beds of earth; then is our heart made merry with delicious notes of gratitude, far more melodious than the warbling of birds —and the comforting assurance of peace, infinitely more delightful than the turtle’s [dove’s] note, is heard within the soul.

Now is the time for the soul to seek communion with her Beloved; now must she rise from her native sordidness [lit. dirtiness], and come away from her old associations. If we do not hoist the sail when the breeze is favorable, we shall be blameworthy: times of refreshing ought not to pass over us unimproved.

When Jesus himself visits us in tenderness, and entreats us to arise, can we be so base as to refuse his request? He has himself risen that he may draw us after him: he now by his Holy Spirit has revived us, that we may, in newness of life, ascend into the heavenlies, and hold communion with himself. Let our wintry state suffice us for coldness and indifference; when the Lord creates a spring within, let our sap flow with vigour, and our branch blossom with high resolve.

O Lord, if it be not spring time in my chilly heart, I pray thee make it so, for I am heartily weary of living at a distance from thee. Oh! the long and dreary winter, when wilt thou bring it to an end? Come, Holy Spirit, and renew my soul! quicken thou me! restore me, and have mercy on me! This very night I would earnestly implore the Lord to take pity upon his servant, and send me a happy revival of spiritual life!

—C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, 24 April PM

On Song of Solomon 2.12

Immediately after the flood in Noah’s days, God in His mercy promised perpetual seasonal changes to mankind. “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Gen 8.12). He has kept this promise for thousands of years ever since, and He shall not fail to do so until the end of the world, despite all the climate change naysayers.

The annual change from winter to spring is most welcome because it brings conditions both more favorable and comfortable. These are but a prelude to the summer of greatest warmth and fullest life.

Godly people have always meditated on natural things like these and made connections with the spiritual. King Solomon’s Song of Songs excels in the art, and Spurgeon exhibited the same kind of aesthetic sensitivity. This OT book was much more often used for sermons in those Elizabethan days and the times of Puritanism, when preachers were more often wellrounded men of letters and lovers of exquisite poetry.

The use of Song of Solomon 2.12 for a believer’s relationship with Jesus was commonplace in Spurgeon’s preaching and also in the Christian tradition for centuries. This approach to the inspired wedding poem became conspicuous in church history since the days of Bernard of Clairvaux (b. 1090 AD). Modern interpreters resist it in favor of, basically, a manual for human romance and marriage. In my opinion, they are missing the main point intended by God. When we come to realize that He ordained marriage in the first place for gospel reasons, to teach us of Christ and His church (Eph 5.31–33), then the traditional interpretation of the Song of Solomon will appear more plausible. Too many seem to think in a backwards way about this, that the point of the gospel is to have a good marriage. No, the point of a good marriage is to reflect the glory of Christ.

The structure of this devotional message

I. The Comparison of Spring. Like spiritual revival of a believer’s soul with fresh joy, vigor, gratitude, and assurance.
II. The Call of Spring. To seek greater enjoyment of communion with Christ, and to leave behind all hindrances to it.
III. The Cause of Spring. The gracious ministry of Jesus and the Holy Spirit within us, quickening us to elevated spiritual experience.
IV. The Cry for Spring. An earnest prayer for this revival of spiritual life within me, since He alone can grant it.

Points for further reflection

1. While a believer’s position in Christ never changes, our walk with Him is experientially uneven. Human marriage illustrates this. A faithful husband and wife stay married until death parts them, but over the decades of a long marriage there are seasons when they enjoy each other more, and also when all is not well between them. There is the ebb and flow of sweet marital communion. So it is with us and our Lord—though He is never to blame.

2. “Times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3.19) are a matter of His sovereign pleasure, but that does not imply we must wait for them passively. We have a biblical warrant at all times to pray for divine mercy, whatever our condition, and to hope that the Lord will hear and answer our prayers (e.g., Psa 51.7–12). Ω