Song 1:7 “Tell me, O you whom my soul loves,
Where do you pasture your flock,
Where do you make it lie down at noon?
For why should I be like one who veils herself
Beside the flocks of your companions?”
The Shulamite is asking for the place of rest offered in His presence. As a Daughter of Jerusalem she had spent so much time striving for Him that her “vineyard” was weary and heavy laden. She had noticed that the “Hidden Ones” seemed to walk in a peace that passed understanding; a heart rest that she longed for. She was telling Solomon that she no longer wanted to live a life of pretense in front of other believers, (His companions). Noon represents the “heat of the day:” the time when the circumstances, temptations, and pressures of this fallen world are the strongest. Jesus offers us a supernatural peace regardless of what’s going on around us. There is nothing worse than the stress of faking it on the outside while falling apart on the inside. The rest Jesus offers us is not a rest of inactivity, but it is the rest of His activity in and through us, even in “the heat of the day,” setting us free from the struggle of our own empty, though sincere, self effort. The freedom of losing the veils of pretense and resting, and feeding on His presence is the joy of authenticity. “Jesus Thou hast offered rest, O give it then to me; the rest of ceasing from myself, to find my all in Thee.”