Your Maker is Your Husband
[Guest post by Kendra Arsenault: It’s so hard to just try to imagine the love Christ has for us. It’s posts like these that really get me praying.]
I stood there lifeless, unable to hope, ashamed to be seen, abused by self and abused by others. It was my second…third… fourth… no fifth, maybe sixth failed relationship.
Chasing, yet never obtaining. Compromised yet never respected, I had willfully agreed to be used rather than loved and the light of hope was soon fading. I was emptied out of my storehouse, how could I be filled again? How could dignity be restored?
“Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep,” were my unspoken thoughts to God,“From where will you get this life giving water?” Then there came a whispered voice; it was my voice, calling out to Him with my last bit of strength: “If you could show me who you are, I would follow you to the ends of world…”
Not long after would Jesus answer this prayer. And the unsealed fountains of my heart that poured forth it’s affections in exchange for love, security and identity would soon be stopped up by the King. It would pour forth only for Him.
“They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.” (Revelation 9:4).
There is much to be understood about the seal of God, much cause of meditation. The seal of God is the seal set upon the fountain of the heart, securing the outflow of it’s affections for Christ alone. It is a seal upon the mind, directing it’s energies heavenward, in meditation upon His word. With a heart that was bleeding for love and a desire to be called as someone’s own, the message I needed to hear more than ever was “Your Maker is Your Husband, the Lord of hosts is His name.” (Isaiah 54:5).
Renouncing my former life, I soon began to pursue the one whom my soul loved. I began to learn Hebrew and the book that became the object of my study was The Song of Solomon. The interplay of love between the divine and human was the answer for how I could relate to Christ, how and what I should be praying for, how to have my heart knit with His in empathy for Him and in unity with His will.
“Who is the Son of Man that I might believe in Him?”
The masculine figure of the story is Solomon whose name means “peace”. But more than a feeling, Solomon is the word for a “garment”, “covering yourself with light as with a garment (sholomah).” (Psalms 104:2). He is a covering to the nakedness of the woman. He is a guard about her weakness, a protector of her trust. The feminine counterpart of the story is named “Shulamite”, which is the feminine form of the name “Solomon”. She represents humanity who has been given the privilege to be a covering to the nakedness of Christ.
It has always been difficult for me to see God as someone who I could have a close intimate relationship with. People seemed so much more tangible, the human touch so much more substantial. But it wasn’t until I understood that God came to make Himself human, to display His humanity, to subject Himself to be affected by His bride—encouraged by her faith and ravished by her infidelity—that I started to realize that He is the substance. He is more affected by our love and pained by our rejection than any earthly companion could be. His capacities are infinite while His ties of sympathy are human.
When I understood that Christ was affected, right now, by my decisions; that He exists now in great vulnerability, hushing the songs of angels that He might hear the cry of one poor soul struggling in their sin, distressed by the enemy, I knew that Paul never spoke in high language or poetic tones, but that He spoke plainly about Jesus.
All earthly love is but a shadow, fickle and fleeting, compared to Him who is substance, Him who remains even unto death, even the end of the world.
Should we look for another when the richest, gentlest, strongest, meekest, most magnificent and awe-inspiring man in the universe has cast His eye upon us? It is the bride who realizes that He is “the desire of women”, “the desire of all nations” that Jesus will say, “A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.” (Daniel 11:37; Haggai 2:7; Song of Solomon 4:12). For “Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? Let them be only your own, And not for strangers with you.” (Pro 5:15-17).
My heart was won and He, my all. The seal represents those who have found rest in the house of their Husband and have contented themselves with all that He is and will provide.
“The LORD grant you that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband.” (Ruth 1:9).
Kendra Arsenault is a student of biblical research and semitic languages as well as an author and co-host for “Song of Solomon Radio.” She is a passionate producer of Christian media and is currently working on two documentaries: “Omega of Apostasy” and “Behold the Man”. You can learn more about Kendra at awakenlove.org.
photo credit: Nathan O’Nions via photopin cc