WILDFLOWER

The book of Song of Solomon is a love story; and it is scripture told differently than any other book of the Bible. It consists of several conversations, declarations, and contemplation. It is a story about a young woman who meets a young shepherd while tending sheep and falls in love with him... but king Solomon falls in love with her.

Though this tale involves three people, it is actually scripture about your relationship with God.

• WILDFLOWER 

She's a wildflower, a lily of the valley. She has grown up the younger sister of brothers and has been allowed to roam the fields. She is beautiful and tanned from the sun. She's completely separate from the royal court and city life; born in the country to a modest family of herders. She spends her days tending to her family's sheep, roaming the fields and vineyards, eating apples and raisin cakes and falling in love. 

Her life and love is beautiful, innocent and completely natural... but her brothers, misunderstanding that, remove her from the fields and away from the shepherd boy. They place her in a vineyard instead, but then she captures the attention of the wealthy, powerful, prominent king Solomon. King Solomon removes her from her home and brings her into his royal chambers. 

This could have been a great honor and privilege; to many others, it would have been. After all, it is a rare opportunity to capture the attention of the wealthiest and most powerful man in the world. To the young woman, it is simply an unwanted obstruction. She has already fallen in love; and though perhaps it seems more modest a love at first glance, it is deeper than any relationship she could have with the king.

In this story, the young woman is a symbol for you and the shepherd she falls in love with is God. King Solomon serves as a symbol for anything, person or idea which obstructs your relationship with God or exists as a temptation within it.

• CATCH US THE FOXES 

King Solomon offers the young woman everything the world has to offer. Because of his fascination with her, he gives her his attention, his silver and gold, the protection of his guards. A prominent place in his house, his affection and compliments. But the young woman remembers, from her time in the fields with the sheep, how important it is to catch the foxes. Sly little things creep into good relationships and ruin them. Just as the foxes sought and destroyed the young grapes on her family's land, so too could the materialistic lifestyle of the king ruin her sweet relationship with the shepherd.

You also have to catch the foxes; they must not be permitted to enter your life for then they will enter your relationship with God. If God is the shepherd, literal in life and figurative in this story, you are His lamb, His sheep. Foxes are a threat to you; once they get their grip on you, they prevent you from returning to your shepherd. The foxes in your life and like the foxes in this young woman's life. They are those voices of doubt and temptation. They are the whispers in new places that tempt you from returning home, to God.

Your steadfast relationship with God is strong enough to withstand any fox, as long as you are aware of them and their tactics. You catch them preemptively. It was on the young woman's mind to consider the threat and damage of foxes because she, like you may one day, found herself surrounded by them.

• I SLEEP, BUT MY HEART IS AWAKE

The young woman starts to feel a little lost. She has been taken away to the king's court, away from the simple and sweet life she grew accustomed to. King Solomon has laid everything at her feet but none of it satisfies her soul as the shepherd does. She searches for him in her heart and in her dreams, but is is a task because of the many distractions that are now part of her life. 

Her struggle aptly describes the struggle you might have in your own life. Though you may want to remain focused on your relationship with God, there are many distractions which work tirelessly to prevent you from doing so. For our own emotions and desires cause us to doubt and neglect our trust in God. Our faith falters as events transpire in our lives seemingly out of time or place and we begin to wrestle for control rather than continue to submit to trust. 

The opposite is true as well. Sometimes the world offers up, seemingly on a platter, a lifestyle that is too tempting to refuse. We choose a relationship, a job, a position, a retort or opportunity that God would recommend we deny, simply because it looks good, sounds good, seems good, or superficially feels good. God is the one who nudges us to hike the higher mountain, even though it is more work. God is the one who coaxes us through the river, even though everyone else is taking the bridge.

We sleep, in that we become like the people of secular mindset: because we cannot always figure out His reasoning behind such seemingly outrageous choices, we take the bridge like everyone else... (and then it collapses). My our heart, our soul is awake and constantly seeking God. 

Like the young woman, we wander... literally, figuratively, spiritually. We try different mindsets and philosophies, different jobs and hobbies and friends. Meanwhile, our faith sleeps while our hearts are wide awake in search and discontentment. 

• WHAT IS YOUR BELOVED? 

However, also like the young woman, our focus on our shepherd and loyalty to Him can lead us through that night search. Solomon had many, many wives and mistresses who were enthralled by him. None of them understand why or how the young woman could prefer a shepherd over Solomon. 

The world will probably not understand your relationship with God, for they have not experienced it for themselves. They certainly will have trouble understanding the appeal of a humble life of servitude. The world has taught a much different message: pride and power are valued by societies in the world. On large and small scales, world and media teach us to control and impress and acquire. God teaches us to submit, serve and give. Do not be surprised when people wonder what the appeal of that lifestyle is compared to their own.

It is important to have a strong relationship with God in moments like that. We need to be familiar with God, to know who He is and what He is like in order to ever answer that question (for ourselves or others). In order to be familiar with God and to know who He is, we need to spend time with Him. We need to commit to Him and scripture. 

The young woman is able to explain her love for the shepherd (for God). She describes him, symbolically, as we would describe God and subsequently explain our love for Him: He is pure and unique; He is strong, beautiful and precious; He exudes health and gentleness; He is provision and order; He is the spice of life; His words are lovely; He is healing and cleansing. 

• I HAVE LAID UP FOR YOU 

Be a fortress of faith, a garden enclosed. The young women reserves herself for her true love. She sees herself in her shepherd's eyes and she finds peace. Look at yourself in God's eyes, for He is looking at you and He does love what He sees. Peace is in His eyes. He has written of His complete love for you throughout scripture. He is devoted.

 The young woman explains that she has laid up for her shepherd. She has waited patiently and faithfully. Every good thing her life has produced she has dedicated to him. The spiritual implication is that we should remain loyal to God; every good thing you have produced was gotten through Him. It would be adulterous (and foolish) to trade Him in for other desires. 

Your relationship with God is a love story. It is a true and everlasting love. It is the most unselfish and generous love you will ever have. God will understand you and believe in you and love you more than anyone else ever could. You are a wildflower when you live in faith; you're off the world's grid when you commit to a spiritual life. Your love and laughter and produce of your life is natural and born free in God. God puts the greatest emphasis on love. Not on desire or power or fame. On love. And it is through loving Him and being loved by Him that we discover and keep all manner of love throughout our lives.

NEVERTHELESS

So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. 

When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing;

Luke 5:1-5

Jesus had been travelling Galilee preaching (teaching) and healing. The Spirit of God was in Him; He spoke with such wisdom and authority that crowds began to amass around Him as He traveled. The word of God nourished their souls like nothing had before and so they were hungry for everything He had to say. Though wholehearted in everything He did, Jesus' task on earth was multifaceted. Not only did He need to nourish the crowds, He also needed to gather disciples to perpetuate the word in His (physical) absence. In order to gather and qualify disciples, Jesus need to reach individuals. 

Simon, a commercial fisherman, had given up. He brought his boat to shore. He washed his net. He declared the situation hopeless. And then Jesus directed him to launch out once again. Verses 1-11 in the Book of Luke are an illustration of the bountiful nature of faith. So often we give up, forgetting that God has more to give.

• BUT THE FISHERMEN HAD GONE

The boat was anchored by the shore; the fisherman was done, but then Jesus climbed onto that boat. He had an idea, a greater purpose for it. He asked the boat's owner, Simon, to move the boat out a little further from the shore; and from the boat, Jesus sat and taught the mass of gathered people on the land.

And here our great multitask-er did two things: He fed the crowd (the figurative bread that is the word of God), and He called Simon back out into purpose. In asking Simon to return his boat to the lake, Jesus asked Simon to step back into the waters, just a little bit from the shore. A small step, but a return to hope and purpose. 

Our steadfast relationship with God enables Him to re-position us. We throw in the towel but faith throws the towel back at us. God calls us back out onto the field: the game has yet to be played, the score on the board is not final. He beckons us back into the water, the lake has not yet been swam. When we are on the shore and walking home, head low, He draws us toward Him until we are ankle-deep in the waters head up, and staring straight ahead. 

Gently, God garners our attention and sparks new hope. When Jesus finished speaking to the crowd, He turned to Simon and directed him to launch out into the deep. Although Simon had been on the shore and finished, Jesus had gently, subtlety re-positioned Simon to go back out. Jesus instructed Simon to put His fishing net into the water.

• NEVERTHELESS, AT YOUR WORD I WILL

Dejected, Simon responded to Jesus that he had already tried, tirelessly, all night and was wearied by the failure of his efforts. This is a familiar position to us: weariness, dejection, capitulation. We surrender to defeat when our effort proves unfruitful. We become tired of trying, and too weary to hope.

But Jesus had just finished speaking the word of God to the crowd, the healing words full of wisdom and love and hope; the word of God had endeared Jesus to the people, to Simon, so Simon was more inclined to listen. He agreed: “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.”

That is what scripture, what our relationship with God, does within us. It relights the fire within us, it opens the door of hope so that even just a sliver of light can enter. Jesus' words brought Simon back into the water after he had given up. It is so important that we keep God's word close because His words are the only thing capable of inspiring us to say 'nevertheless, despite this seemingly hopeless situation, I will try again'.

God's word is full of promises of achievement, of victory, of provision. Nothing else in life gives us that reassurance. In fact, experience and circumstance in life often tells us the opposite: that we will fail, will lose, will lack. It drains our spirit and causes us to bring our boat to shore, our efforts to completion. But faith, faith reveals those things for the lies that they are. Faith reveals and reminds us of the truth and encourages us to let our nets down once again.

• OVERFLOW FROM NOW ON

We aren't catching fish, and neither was Simon, not really. To "let down our net" is to open ourselves up to God's will, to be receptive to His instruction and to willingly follow along His path. To "let down our net" is to live as a inquisitive, vibrant, hopeful, active, alert students and children of God. Finally, to "let down our net" is to have the faith to believe that every day is worth new effort because every day holds new fulfillment of promise from God. Every day is packed with new abundance from God, ready to be gathered by the faithful.

Simon listened to Jesus and let down his net. Simon caught more fish than his net could contain. It was full and bursting. There were so many finished that Simon's crew called to the other boat to come and help and gather. Both boats were filled. There were more fish than either boat could contain. Simon's immediate impulse was to bow. And that is the love of God. It is overwhelming, humbling. Simon bowed down before Jesus' knees; he felt unworthy of such abundance. He was astonished that he could be loved and helped so much, so amply.

God's presence in our lives will cause the same astonished reaction in us. He transforms our circumstances: empty to full; dark to light; end to beginning; impossible to possible; death to life. When God tells us to recast our net, and we listen, we discover with wonderment that our net caught more than we ever thought it would. We must not allow our sometimes dejected spirit to block out the voice of God commanding us to keep going. Because it does it does not matter what a circumstance looks like; the outcome of a situation is dependent solely and entirely upon the will of God. If He says that you should keep fishing, and every day that you wake up is His voice saying that you should, keep fishing. Keep casting the net, because God is never going to instruct you to do something unfruitful. He will never instruct you to waste your time.

Listen to God. Simon's story began with a lesson from Jesus, with the word of God. He listened, and it inspired new hope, new energy in his wearied, hopeless bones. God is able to speak specifically to individuals; within everything He says is answer and explanation, counsel and guidance for the specific situation you are in.

The added bonus is that when we do listen to God, cast our net and catch our fish, He has further purpose for what we have caught.  God perpetuates the abundance He garners for us. Jesus told Simon not to be afraid; He tells us the same. Do not be afraid, God has even more planned for you. Simon, a fisherman, was made into a disciple; he was trained to become a preacher, one of the persons responsible for the establishment of Christianity. 

Simon forsook all and followed Jesus. Forgot your plans, the old plans, and take up God's plan. Follow the path of purpose, productivity and provision. Launch out into the deep, into the depths of faith.

Fit in the Field

Sow for yourselves righteousness;

Reap in mercy;

Break up your fallow ground,

For it is time to seek the Lord,

Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.

Hosea 10:12 

We are each a little field. We are land with fallow ground and able to yield much; but what we yield, and the quality, depends on how receptive we are to scripture, to the instruction our Father has preserved for us. If it was time then, in Hosea's day, it is certainly time now for us to break up our fallow ground. We are meant to be producers, but in order to be so, we need to cultivate fertile, faithful, ground. 

The field within us is our spirit and it requires nourishment.

• I WENT BY THE FIELD OF THE SLOTHFUL 

I went by the field of the slothful,
And by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding;
And there it was, all overgrown with thorns;
Its surface was covered with nettles;
Its stone wall was broken down.
When I saw it, I considered it well;
I looked on it and received instruction:
A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to rest;
So shall your poverty come like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man. 

Proverbs 24:27; 30-24

The definition of "fallow" (of farmland) plowed and harrowed but left unsown for a period in order to restore its fertility as part of a crop rotation or to avoid surplus production.

When we neglect our spirit, we gain zero personal growth. Life without care and attention to our spirit is desolate. The speaker in the Proverbs passage above observed the poor quality of life of someone who lived slothfully. Of course it is true that a person who can work, but refuses to, will not thrive, but we speak metaphorically here as well.

The quality of our soul is dependent on our willingness to be engaged and active participants in life and lesson. An apathetic disposition causes the field within, and around, oneself to be void and likely overgrown with useless chaos. It happens steadily. When we stop asking questions and meditating on the answers, we grow stubborn and lose our ability to be objective and think dynamically. We become closed-minded.

We break that fallow ground by delving into scripture, by emulating Jesus, by submitting to the will of God and by obeying God's instruction. It is stated and repeated and simplified for us throughout scripture: we need to be wise, faithful, compassionate, just, honest, patient, calm. We need to start to implement those qualities in our every day interactions and behaviors. We break the fallow ground, we begin to prepare the soil, when we stop reacting as our emotions tell us to and start behaving and Jesus taught us to. Do good, love enemies, forgive the repentant. Don't worry, don't hoard, don't steal. These are not suggestions, these are not behaviors we should try to adopt. These are commandments and even when they're difficult to follow, we must follow them anyway. That is how we prepare our ground.

• BUILD YOUR HOUSE

Make it fit for yourself in the field;
And afterward build your house.  

Proverbs 24:27

We cannot establish anything unless our foundation of faith is secure. Steadfast faith keeps us centered and focused. It guides, soothes, instructs. We cannot build homes or character, friendships, relationships with God or others, businesses or anything else if our field has not been prepared to yield those things which Jesus taught. Jesus said so himself:

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. Matthew 7:24-27

You have to be spiritually fit in order to smartly build. Your spiritual fitness is exercised in scripture. Your relationship with God will make you fit enough, wise enough to build the relationships and elements of your life on sturdy ground. Founded in God's eternal kingdom, we maintain security on earth. 

• TRUSTED IN YOUR OWN WAY

You have plowed wickedness;
You have reaped iniquity.
You have eaten the fruit of lies,
Because you trusted in your own way,
In the multitude of your mighty men.
Therefore tumult shall arise among your people,
And all your fortresses shall be plundered

Hosea 10:13-14 

We must not live by our own code of conduct. Our code of conduct is flawed. Before our relationship with God, each of us grew the wrong things in our field. We act and react selfishly. We make the wrong decisions, born of the wrong motivations. We misinterpret people and situations, and miss-assign value. When not in accordance with God's will, we are misaligned. We are slaves to are base-behavior, action and emotion that does not fulfill our body or soul. 

A life out of alignment with God is a string of temporary luke-warms and long lows. It is devoid of self-awareness and contentment. It lacks hope, understanding, wisdom, order, direction, and even purpose. Each child of God has purpose, but when they neglect Him, they never realize or discover it... and are subsequently left to plow wickedness, reap iniquity, eat the fruit of flies, in futile search of the contentment that only comes from spiritual fitness.