by Wade E Taylor
“My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, He stands behind our wall, He looks forth at the windows, showing Himself through the lattice. My Beloved spoke, and said to me, Rise up, My love, My fair one, and come away.” Song of Solomon 2:9-10
At this present time, within the Church, the Lord is especially stirring individuals who have been seeking “something more,” without really understanding what they are searching for. Many of these are thinking, “What is happening to me?” This is because they are being drawn away from any satisfaction with, or dependence upon that which is less than the Lord’s best.
In the past, many have been content with knowing the Lord as their Saviour, or have gone a little further, and know Him as the one who answers their prayers, heals them, provides their needs, and uses them to minister to others. These remain satisfied with only the “feeling” of His anointing, not realizing that the Lord is seeking to reveal Himself to them.
The Lord greatly desires to take each one of us, whom He is presently drawing to Himself, beyond this level of experience – “being satisfied with receiving the letter of the Word through ministry, the Web, and literature about the Word.” He is, through intervention, beginning in a more direct way to make Himself known to us, as a person with personality and feelings, who desires our fellowship and our cooperation with Him in the outworking of His purposes.
All too often we become satisfied with the “things of God,” rather than going beyond this and coming to know the “God of all these things.” We get so taken up with our involvement in working for Him, or in our concern with our needs, or the needs of others, that we fail to notice when He comes to seek a time of personal fellowship with us.
We become satisfied with abiding in the “fact” of His Omni-Presence, rather than taking time to seek His Manifest Presence. Our Lord is a seeking God who will draw us into a personal, intimate relationship with Himself, if we will respond to His seeking after us.
“The voice of my beloved! behold, He comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.” Song of Solomon 2:8
In the past, the Lord graciously allowed us to remain satisfied with our own ways. However, the hour is so late, and the need so urgent, that He is moving in intervention to bring about a correction. In order to accomplish this, the Lord will intentionally withdraw Himself from our spiritual activities, and stand in the shadows, outside of the “room” of our present spiritual experience.
It is important for us to understand that the (seeming) withdrawal of the Lord’s presence from us, and from anything that we attempt to do for Him, is a blessing meant to draw us up into a higher realm of relationship with Himself.“My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, He stands behind our wall, He looks forth at the windows, showing Himself through the lattice.” Song of Solomon 2:9
In order to bring about a change within us, concerning our being satisfied with the “things of God,” and turn our attention to the “God of the things,” the Lord of Glory, will reluctantly remain apart from us, because He desires something better for us. He longs to manifest Himself to us, and spend time with us in fellowship and communion. It is here that we will begin to intimately know Him, and come to understand His ways. Only then will we be able to rightly serve Him.
The Lord is grieved when we do not recognize, and quickly respond to His desire to make Himself known to us. He will patiently continue to wait without, until we begin to recognize that we need something more than all these things that He has been amply providing, and invite Him to come within our spiritual experience and abide with us.
“He that has My commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves Me: and he that loves Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.” John 14:21
This experience of “His manifest presence” is conditional upon our having and keeping His commandments. Only as we relinquish our self-nature to the cross and come into an experience of oneness with the Lord, will our obedience be possible. As we die to our self-will and respond to Him in obedience, He will be released to manifest Himself to us, and to others through us.
This word “Manifest” means that the Lord causes us to become aware of His manifested presence through one, or a combination of our five natural senses. His manifest presence begins at the point where we pass from the “letter” of the Word, into the “spirit” of the Word. When we enter into His manifest presence, He will make Himself known to us in one or more ways.
The Lord may lead us to quietly wait upon Him in His revealed presence. He may make known to us something that He desires to accomplish, and reveal our part or responsibility in its outworking. He may quicken us in a special understanding of His Word. He may share with those who are very close to Him, and have experienced in some measure the “Fellowship of His Sufferings,” a specific burden of prayer or intercession.
The possibilities are manifold and marvelous to experience. The Lord greatly desires to reveal Himself to us as a person having feelings and desires. “Manifestly” means that He does this, not in types and shadows, but as a present reality, made known to one or more of our physical senses. The Lord cannot remain satisfied with our continuing to relate to Him only through His producing within us a feeling of anointing, or power.
The Lord has been hurt so many times by those who take His presence lightly, that He is reluctant to openly reveal Himself. Therefore, He will approach us very cautiously to see if we are really interested. Those who are intently searching for “something more,” will quickly notice that He has withdrawn His presence from them, and will urgently ask Him to return.
The Lord will respond to this invitation. Then He will express to these a word of urgency:
“My Beloved spoke, and said to me, Rise up, My love, My fair one, and come away.” Song of Solomon 2:10
We are living in the time of the birthing of a new day. Herein is the cause of our wondering, “What is happening” as we feel the birthing pains of this new day. This experience will not come through an intellectual comprehension or understanding of His Word alone. It requires the anointed impartation to us of His life, as we fellowship with Him.
He is presently without, looking through the window of our spiritual room, waiting for us. We must quickly respond to His call to “Rise up and come away.” It is essential that we invite the Lord to come within, and give Him full control over us, and all that pertains to us.
Nothing that we could obtain, while remaining in a lesser realm could compare with this.