(g) Resolving Indifference and Feelings of Being Unprepared (5:2-6):

  NKJV KJV NIV ASV


However, even though she’s been crying out to follow Him (even through great cost and sacrifice), she finds her flesh gets in the way!

Verse  2: ‘I (flesh / self)  sleep but my  heart (spirit) is  awake.’(NKJV) - God speaks to our spirits. Our spirits get excited before our flesh has time to come under submission!

The way of the Cross is not easy!  Romans 7:15 is a painful reality. Romans 8 is the only way out of this - walking according to His Spirit, empowered by His Spirit.

"It is the  voice of my Beloved"...His prophetic call once again comes to her (See  2:8,12) -previously it was a 'calling out of' and now it's a 'calling into' the harvest.
 
For the rest of verse  2 we see the Beloved continues to affirm the Bride in her pain at seeing her indifference and apathy. Again He calls her ‘my  dove’ (saying that she has the Spirit in her),’my perfect (mature) one’. This is how Jesus treats us in our indifference and apathy as we struggle to follow Him. 
‘Open for me my  Sister.....for my  head is covered with  dew, My  locks with the drops of the night.’ -
 
Dew = Anointing (see  Ps 133:3),

’Drops of the night’= anointing in dark times (end time anointing). 

During these dark times of indifference and apathy, Jesus comes to us with great anointing (‘the anointing breaks the yoke’ Isa 10:27) and authority ('head'). If we’re desperate for Him, He will come with anointing into our lives to empower us for the job ahead ( Acts 1:8).

Verse  3: She feels she’s NOT READY (sounds familiar!). - We can grow cold to His advances (He continually comes to knock on the doors of our life for us to open to Him).
 
 
Taken robe off = Ready for bed (sleep) - not prepared to go out. 

Robe = One's authority in service.

 Washed my  feet = Not willing to dirty her feet by going out to work! 
(But beautiful feet are dirty feet ! -  Rom 10:15).

Her excuses are that:
 
(a) She is not ready.

(b) She has no authority and covering.

(c) She's not ready to take the Gospel of peace to others.

Verse  4: He does not accept her excuses and keeps knocking!! Jesus loves us too much and is very persistent. Our hearts will continue to yearn for Him only if we soon make steps to follow Him, or else our heart will grow cold and will fall asleep alongside our self !!

The ‘ door’ here speaks of the entrance into His purposes - God will place doors before us - only we can open then and go through - He will never pull or force the door open - it’s up to us! He will knock (draw our attention to the fact that it's time to open a particular door of opportunity) but we must go through!

(See also  hand latch and  heart and see what further insights they yield).

Verse  5: ‘I AROSE....’ - Hallelujah! Finally she does it! What He’s been asking her to do all this time.....ARISE! It’s no use having a heart burning with God’s purposes and not being prepared to take practical steps to follow Him and let Him accomplish His will in your life ( Eph 2:10).

It’s interesting that as she arose to open the  door (due to her longing for Him alone above His purposes) her  hands (ministry for Him) drips with anointing ( Myrrh = ‘Meekness’ and was used in anointing oil) - See the  SPICE CHART.

Only as we step out on what we feel He’s saying to us will the anointing come! We must respond to His leading we sense in our spirits against the opposing feelings of our flesh. She arises not to open the door for herself but for her beloved - we must do it all for Him and then we will see the anointing come!

Her  fingers (her grasp on the will of God) drip with liquid  myrrh (great anointing).

She is now turning the  handles of the  lock - look at the interpretations of these words and string it together with this verse to get a fuller meaning.

As we fight the flesh and follow Him through His doors of opportunity we will have an anointed grasp (understanding) on His Will. We must go forth with humility and that will open the door and see all bondages broken as we step out into His purposes.
Verse  6: She opens the door....is He there to congratulate her ? No!

If He was there she probably would have pulled Him in the house with her (cf. 3:4) - He again seperates Himself to draw her out even further. 

Sometimes when we step out to do His will we feel an initial surge of anointing, but then He seems so far away! the temptation is to draw back, but our  hearts must long even more for Him, we must seek Him with all our hearts even when there seems to be no answer.

NB.This is the second time her Beloved has left her. The first time was to draw her into obedience, this time it is to test her (because of her obedience and desire for Him).
 
“It is as if the Lord is saying,”Let Me ask you, My bride: Am I only the source of your satisfaction, or am I the consuming goal of your life ? Will you serve Me if there are no feelings? When My discernible presence is gone, will you say,’I am your loving bondservant. The issue is no longer that You are my inheritance. I am Your inheritance, my God, and I want You to receive maximum good and glory from my life’?” 

Step-by-step she is walking out her commitment to her beloved.

He is no longer simply a stepping-stone to better things. He has become the magnificent obsession of her life.” Mike Bickle,’Passion for Jesus,p128.

Is He asking you to open any doors and walk though into His will ? Is your flesh rejecting the idea ? Pray to Him for greater clarity as to the doors He's asking you to go through and ask Him for the power of the Spirit to overcome the flesh that is stopping you from doing this.

Next.

 Overview of Stage Three.


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