My beloved spoke and said to me,
"Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, come with me.
See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.
The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me."
Song of Songs 2:10-13
I have been reading Brennan Manning's book, The Furious Longing of God. In it, he translates verses 10-11 above this way:
'Come now, My love. My lovely one, come. For you, the winter has passed, the snows are over and gone, the flowers appear in the land, the season of joyful songs has come.'
For you – for me – the winter is passed. I felt the Lord calling me out of a long season of darkness. "Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me."
The Hebrew word translated "winter" in this verse is sethav (סְתָו). It is only used this one time in the Bible. It means winter as the dark season. It comes from a root word meaning "to hide." 1
Like a long season of God hiding his face and plunging me into darkness. For it is by the light of his face that we see.
There are many who say, "Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!" Psalm 4:6 (ESV)
Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved. Psalm 80:3
But sometimes - for our good I guess, though it doesn't feel good - we have to go through times of darkness, what David called "the valley of the shadow of death." When it seems that God is not there. When we can't see his light or hear his voice.
Today I noticed something about Psalm 23. David starts off referring to the Lord in the third person - "the Lord is my shepherd … he makes me lie down in green pastures" - but after David has walked through the valley of darkness, he speaks directly to God in the first person – "for you are with me You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies … you anoint my head with oil." Something has happened there in the dark winter season.
Brennan Manning called this time "a passage into pure trust."
"The scandal of God's silence in the most heartbreaking hours of our journey is perceived in retrospect as veiled, tender Presence and a passage into pure trust that is not at the mercy of the response it receives." -- Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust
Yes, something happens there in the dead darkness of winter. A decision is made. A decision to trust him no matter what. And I tell you, deciding to trust God has been the hardest thing I have ever done. Especially, trusting him with my children and grandchildren. Yet!
Though He slay me, yet will I trust (wait, stay, hope in) Him. Job 13:15 (NKJV)
If you are in a season of darkness like me, this is our time to make that decision to trust him. And he will call us out into the light. A new day. A new season. The "season of singing."
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. Psalm 143:8
Let the morning, the end of winter and the dark season, the end of Your seeming hiddenness Lord, the end of your silence, bring me word of your unfailing, your continuing-even-when-hidden, love.
Show me the way I should go ..
Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.
1Strong's Exhaustive Concordance and Brown-Driver-Briggs
Photo of figs by Shlomi Kakon https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PikiWiki_Israel_44800_FIG.jpg
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