Problems with Church

Song of Songs is such a real book. You wouldn't think so at first, but it's so about where we live. On Monday, we talked about verses 1:5-8, about problems with family and where to find Jesus in it all – namely in church, in our God-family.

Today let's talk about problems at church. In Chapter 5, the Beloved (you and me) is desperately looking for her Lover (Jesus). She missed His call by hesitating (verses 5:2-6), so now she's desperate to find Him. Look at verses 5:6b-7: “I looked for Him but did not find Him. I called to Him but He did not answer. The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. They beat me, they bruised me; they took away my cloak, those watchmen of the walls!”

Watchmen in the Old Testament represent those waiting for Jesus' return and the Kingdom of God on the earth; in other words, the church. She was abused by those who should have helped her.

Have you ever, in your dark night of the soul, desperately searched for Jesus, trying to recover His presence when you just can't sense Him like you used to? Have you ever been misunderstood by church people who beat you and bruised you (verbally and emotionally) because they didn't understand your desperate search for Jesus outside the status quo?

Verses 5:8 – 6:1 are an argument between the Beloved and those who don't understand her desperation to find Jesus. They challenge her in verse 5:9, “How is your beloved better than others?” But she speaks only about the beauty of Jesus her Lover. She describes Him intimately in verses 5:10-16. And she wins; they finally get it in verse 6:1 – they ask her, “Which way did your lover turn, that we may look for him with you?”

She persists in pursuing intimacy with Jesus, even when misunderstood by her church and thought too radical. But then they want what she's got.

Sometimes God lets us long for Him for a while – it's contagious and rubs off on others, which is a very good thing. By persevering through the pain, not pursuing her own right to be right but clinging to and speaking only about the beauty of Jesus, she changes her church and they are pursuing Him with her. Wow.