Vineyard Days – Yours Also is the Night

Yours is the day,
Yours also is the night;
Do not deliver the soul of Your turtledove to the wild beast;
Do not forget the life of Your afflicted forever.
Psalm 74:16a, 19 NASB

 

Prior in Selah VI:  Chapter three of the Song of Songs opens with our becoming Bride in the midnight hour of adversity. It is a time of searching and testing the relationship with her Beloved, and of additional importance, developing trust.

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Nothing brings starkness to the darkness quite like the nighttime.

Countless sleepless Shulamites have searched, head on  pillow with mind running to and fro, for the One their soul loves. Like our Shulamite, countless haven’t found Him; not in the tossing and turning anyway.

“On my bed night after night I sought him Whom my soul loves;
I sought him but did not find him.
Song of Songs 3:1

“Where is relief? Why is He so elusive? He swore He’d never leave me! Where is He?!”

For many, the searching ends – or should I say, continues endlessly – right here. But, our Shulamite is not a quitter; may we not be either. Another shift occurs between verses 1 and 4. As we will discover with the Shulamite, she will get there but by no shortcut. This is our progressive, non-shortcut story too.

There is a night season that comes in every true believer’s life. How long it lasts is due in part to the level of desperation one reaches and the Lord’s knowledge of what is necessary for His beloved to desire Him more than anyone or anything else.

He doesn’t force the time of testing. He just allows life’s adverse circumstances to bring about the exam.

At this point in the narrative, the Shulamite’s bed feels like a rock and her pillow a hard place. All by her Beloved’s design:

To find Him, she needs to seek Him. To seek Him, she’s going to have to get up and search Him out. (Jeremiah 29:13) But for all the earthly reasons, and there are many, it is easier to remain comfortable even if not comforted.

True to His intention, not once has He stopped desiring that she rise up and go with Him. Twice now He has bid her to do just that. And twice she has refused.

It is simply easier (not better, just easier) to worry and believe what one prefers to believe. What a deadly combination. That line of reasoning has maimed or killed many an earthly relationship. Worse,

How often in our spiritual growth have believers started out this ‘Jesus life’ with vigor and enthusiasm (zeal)? Then comes the day when the honeymoon is over. What started out as an exhilarating declaration of love and loyalty (on our part) has been reduced to a caricature of the covenant.

Almost before it has been given a chance to be tested and proven, the glow has dimmed. Drastically. Doubt begins to creep in around the edges like lengthening shadows of the day giving way to twilight and finally, darkness.

Welcome to the dark night of the soul. The season every disciple will and must go through.

***

Now is a good time to remind us once again that the Shulamite is us – all of us, regardless of gender. Lest we pale the significance of the message of the Bride by thinking only in female terms, let’s not. The nighttime settles in on us all. As the Lord’s turtledoves, we each are distinguished by our single eye for Him. To become a warring and priestly Bride, this need for first developing trust in our Beloved is crucial.   

***

In the night season of spiritual darkness, when we cannot understand what the Lord is doing within us or in our circumstances, our ability to trust Him and His faithfulness has a tendency to fade to black. Gripping fear, stress-filled anxiety, and debilitating depression block any glimmer of light and hope.

Yet, He is the very Light of life that we need. The enemy of our soul would have us believe that dark is the new light. Oh my friend, it is not!

Being able to trust the faithfulness of the Lord is one of the most difficult areas of our spiritual progress.

However, if we are to progress further in the experiential living out of our covenant relationship with Him, our lack of trust has to be dealt with.

His love for us ensures we have plenty of opportunities. His heart is to give us the enabling grace to not just say but know, “Yours also is the night.”

He has made no shortcut available for His becoming Bride.

But He has made a way.

~ Gracefully Free

Please join me next time as we continue.

Song of Solomon 3:1 – night: Psalm 4:4, Psalm 6:6, Psalm 22:2, Psalm 63:6-8, Psalm 77:2-4; Isaiah 26:9

Yours Also is the Night, Part 2

Yours Also is the Night, Part 3

Photo Credit: Free from Unsplash – taken by Kyle Richner

Shammahs Field LLC/Shammah Ministries is the biblical counseling, life coaching, and spiritual growth ministry entrusted to Wayne & Nancy Bentz. You can learn more about the resources they have to offer at shammahsfield.com and nancybentz.com.