I never cease to be quietly delighted at the Lord’s attention to timing and detail. It has been eight months since Selah VII was penned. I didn’t know then that Selah VIII would come right on time eight months later.
Eight is the biblical number of ‘new beginnings’. How appropriate as we prepare to journey into Chapter Four of the Song of Songs during these Vineyard Days. As we will see, there is a fresh yet deepening intensity to the developing relationship of love and trust between the Bridegroom King (Shepherd Lover) and His promised bride (the Shulamite).
Photo: Husband and Wife tree (two trees entwined together)
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New beginnings has a nice ring to it, kind of like the sparkle and shine of wedding rings that signal the same. As the old saying goes though, it’s not long before ‘the honeymoon is over’ and reality sets in. Suddenly or with a slow creeping dullness, it becomes apparent that marriage is not just one long, forever after new beginning. To stay in the stuff and continue in this covenant relationship requires more than one ever thought (or didn’t) standing at the altar taking vows and exchanging endless circles.
Just ask my parents who commemorate 68 years of marriage this month (congratulations!). Or my husband and I who will celebrate our 40th anniversary this year. Or any other number of couples who have remained committed to ‘let no one put asunder’ and ’till death do us part’. It is not because it has been easy. Easy is not found in the marriage vows. Inheritance is.
In the case of Vineyard Days and the generations that follow a marriage, I’m not talking monetary inheritance, though that may or may not be passed down. We are His inheritance.
By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light,
so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you,
and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones),
Ephesians 1:18
Genuine inheritance is not found in things. It is, instead, what is found to be of eternal value that has been wrought in the lives of individuals down through the generations. Inheritance begins with two.
As has always been held throughout the message of Vineyard Days, the bride of Christ is comprised of both male and female, married and never married, widowed or single, with or without natural children. Whatever our low estate, His heart hungers for us to come to know Him in His highest and best will.
His inheritance begins with two: you and Him.
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The Shulamite will soon be beckoned again in order that His inheritance in her be made known.
Up to this point in the Song we have heard Him more than once call her to ‘come away’ with Him. Having done so in response to His pursuit of her, she can say, ‘My Beloved is mine; and I am His.’ (SS 2:16)
Now the invitation will be extended to ‘come with Him from…’
There is a difference. A glorious difference. Followed by her deepened second confession of love.
May we follow on with Him so we too may reflect such glory and confession of love from our heart.
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There is uncommon grace these days for the message of the Lord’s heart to be released and internalized in those who desire to know Him and be known by Him.
Even as our day and time in history grows darker, the eyes of our heart may be flooded with light. As surely as the dawn, our continual responsiveness to His beckoning transforms us into His beacons.
I hope and trust that you will choose to continue the journey with the Bridegroom and His promised Bride through the lens and life of Vineyard Days.
Thank you for your companionship thus far.
~ Gracefully Free
Photo credit: Husband & Wife Tree – Linncraigs, Dalry, North Ayrshire from Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
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