Song 1:12 ¶ “While the king was at his table,
My perfume gave forth its fragrance.
In his first 12 “perfume” does speak of worship (adoration), and affection, especially as it is expressed in lovesick abandonment to His heart and will. Three different times in the Gospels, Mary of Bethany found herself in the presence of Jesus, and poured out perfumed oil on His feet and head, in lovesick devotion and surrender. We should never view our time alone in His presence as a duty to be fulfilled, but instead we should see it as our greatest privilege. Every time I am alone with Him deep calls to deep. The depths of His love for me calls for the depths of my love for Him. It’s the sound of His waterfalls that calls for the depths of us to be totally abandoned in love. The waterfalls in that Psalm 41 speaks of His voice which is like the sound of many waters. As we sit at His table His voice is like breaking waves that roll over us, sweeping us off our feet, under the sounds of perfect love. When Mary Magdalena encountered the risen Jesus in John 20 she did not recognize Him. She didn’t even recognize His voice until she heard Him speak her name. I would imagine that voice sounded like the sound of many waters when her name was spoken. In His presence she had heard that voice many times, and she recognized it now, not because of its tone, but because of the depth of the affections in that voice that she had heard often, while beholding His face, as she sat at His feet. The Lord paid a huge price for me and you because of the joy that was set before Him. That joy, was the thought of spending eternity with me and you as His Bride. The possibility of our not being with Him in a loving relationship for all of eternity was unbearable to Him. It was his father’s will for Him to go to the Cross, but it was not duty that held Him there, it was joy. The joy of being with you forever. Listen to this verse; “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep we may live together with Him.” Whether alive on this side, or on the other side, He died that we might forever live together with him. That is 1 Thess. 5:9-10. If He feels that way about being with us, then we should never approach our quiet times with Him as a duty, but only as a delight, because it is there that our perfume, in response to His beauty, gives forth it’s fragrance.