Song 3:1 “On my bed night after night I sought him
Whom my soul loves;
I sought him but did not find him.
Song 3:2 ‘I must arise now and go about the city;
In the streets and in the squares
I must seek him whom my soul loves.’
I sought him but did not find him.
Song 3:3 “The watchmen who make the rounds in the city found me,
And I said, ‘Have you seen him whom my soul loves?’
Song 3:4 “Scarcely had I left them
When I found him whom my soul loves;
I held on to him and would not let him go
Until I had brought him to my mother’s house,
And into the room of her who conceived me.”
There are two places in the Song where The Lords withdrawal is referenced. Here, and also in chapter 5. Again, it is not a withdrawal of His love or presence; instead it is a withdrawal of His manifest presence in our conscious experience. In both instances the Shulamite is slow to respond to Him. In verse one of chapter three the Shulamite reaffirms Him as the one her soul loves. Here the Shulamite hasn’t wavered in Him becoming the love of her life, but instead of leaving all behind, and following Him to even higher ground, as is voiced in (2:10,13) she stays behind and seeks Him at a safer level where it is comfortable. The result of her unwillingness to risk it all in pursuit of Him and His offer, He withdraws His manifest presence. All of us have experienced this, and The Lord uses these withdrawals to awaken passion in us that will ultimately drive us to Rise Up out of our comfort zone in pursuit of Him and all that He has for us. This is His gift to us. This gift of “His unbearable absence” reveals true Lovesickness in us. It is often here that we discover just how much we really love Him, and how far we are truly willing to go to abide in His presence.