The Bible says, "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men" (Rom.12:18). Whenever I find myself in a stormy situation, I try to remain as calm as I can. I will go out of my way to avoid getting into fights and arguments; life is too short for that. Besides, it can be dangerous to my health. However, there are exceptions to the rule. I remember an incident that happened a long time ago which rattled me so much that I became fighting mad.

This event took place while I was in the service and was stationed on a small island far away from home. What I cherished most while I was there were the letters I received from the girl that I loved.

One day, after reading one of her love letters over several times, I placed it on top of the stand that was beside my bed. (That was not the best place to keep something so personal.) As I was resting upon my bed, a guy came along, snatched up the letter and began to read it aloud to all the men in the barracks.

He did not get to read much of it before I jumped up from my bunk and went after him with a vengeance to retrieve my letter. This event occurred more than thirty years ago; it was before Roberta and I were married--we were engaged at the time. I have a lot more self-control now than I did back then, but if the same thing happened today, I would still react in the same manner.

There was one way my letter could have been protected, which would have spared me from getting into that fight. Roberta could have written to me in a secret code!

Now, before you jump to conclusions and think that writing coded love letters is just one of my strange ideas, let me remind you that the Lord thought of it long before I did. Much of the Bible is a personal love letter from God to you and is written in the secret code of symbolism. Song of Solomon is one of my favorite books in the Bible. It is the love story of all love stories, a personal love letter from the Lord to all who love Him. Like the book of Revelation, it is packed with symbolism. It is written that way for the same reason our Lord taught so much by using parables: to hide truth from some and reveal it to others. Would you want just anyone to read and know what you wrote in a personal letter to the one you love?

The Lord will also use the code of symbolism as He speaks to you in dreams. If you try to share a dream from the Lord with a person who does not understand code language, he might think you are completely out of your mind. If you give a spiritual coded message to someone who can only interpret it with his human mind, it is like casting your pearls before swine (Mat.7:6). The Bible states: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1Cor.2:14).

The mistake many of God's children make is that they think the code is difficult, when in reality it is easy to comprehend . . . if they are willing to stay in their resting place and be taught directly by the Lord. The Bible says, "All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world" (Mat. 13:34, 35).

The disciples and the multitude witnessed the mighty miracles of God: they saw, with their own eyes, the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers cleansed and the dead raised to life. Regardless of all the wonderful works they saw, they still could not learn the secret meaning of the parables until they got alone with Jesus: "And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable" (Mark 4:10).

Jesus said, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). When the Lord draws your attention to a certain portion of scripture that you do not understand, or gives you a special dream and you do not have the slightest notion as to what it means, do not rush to ask your minister or priest or some other person (whom you think may be more spiritual than you) for an interpretation; just go to Jesus and learn from Him. If you don't receive insight right away, wait patiently on the Lord; in due time it will be given to you. You don't have to go to another person and possibly receive a wrong interpretation of the Bible that could bring you into bondage; your own human intellect can accomplish that without any help. Only the Bridegroom can reveal His secret truths to the Bride. He does that in His chamber, which is also her resting place.

The Song of Solomon could also be portrayed as "The Diary of the Lord's Bride." Something as personal as that would undoubtedly need to be written in symbolic code. Have you ever read such a pure love story? Listen to some of the Bride's words: "For I am utterly lovesick. His left hand is under my head and with his right hand he embraces me" (Chapter 2:5,6). She knew what her marriage was all about; she said, "My beloved is mine, and I am his" (Chapter 2:16). All that really mattered to her was that she was close to her Husband.

She also was well aware of the Bridegroom's love for her as she said, "He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love" (Chapter 2:4). Do you recall how you felt when you first came to Christ? Remember how much you were in love with Him? Well, it should be that way now; in fact, you should be even more in love as you mature and grow in Him.

Now, Satan cannot stand it when he sees someone who is in love with Jesus, so he will use any device he can to try to remove the Bride of Christ away from being close to the Lord. We read in the diary that he even used members of her own family: ". . . my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept" (Chapter 1:6).

If you are living in the grace of God, it will cause other brothers and sisters in the Lord, who are living under the law or operating in the flesh some other way, to be very angry. When they see you receiving more blessings than them, they will become jealous. It is not that they have been given less but that they have moved out of the place where the benefits are collected.

They remind me of how Joseph's brothers acted when they saw Joseph wearing the coat of many colors that his father, Jacob, had given to him, and were told of the dreams that Joseph received from the Lord. These brothers did not understand the coded symbolic message in his dreams; they were too carnally minded to believe that God would speak to their brother that way. They were so full of envy that they hated Joseph and conspired against him to slay him (Gen.37:18). Your brethren may not stick you down a well or sell you as a slave, but some will try to bring you into bondage and work you to death!

If you are a new Christian--beware--this is a warning: sometimes members of your own spiritual family will see your joy, your love for the Lord, and they will try to make you a keeper of their vineyards! They will use your eagerness to serve the Lord for their own advantage.

I remember twenty-five years ago when I received Jesus into my heart how much I loved and wanted to serve Him (and I still do). Back then when I was young in the faith I thought that doing any kind of "church work" was serving the Lord, so I made up my mind never to say "no" when the pastor or any church leader asked me to do a job.

Before long I was a member of four different committees, a counselor for a youth group, a coach for two basketball teams, and heavily involved with building projects and fund raising events. Now, please don't misunderstand me, I didn't complain; as a matter of fact, I loved it. I had a lot of energy and I thought I was doing the right thing; that is, until I heard the voice of my Lord telling me to stop!

When I was obedient to the Lord, the people in the church thought I had become a backslider. They would shake their heads and say, "Poor Dick, I remember when he used to be such a good worker." I am surely glad I have learned to say "no" regardless of what people say or think of me.

The Bible symbolizes you as God's garden (1Cor.3:9); therefore, you should take good care of yourself. Notice that when the Bride was working under the direction of her brothers and sisters that she neglected to take care of her own spiritual life. She said, ". . . but mine own vineyard have I not kept" (S. of S. 1:6). The heart of a church workaholic is not that good ground where God shows forth the fruit of the Spirit.

Joy is a fruit of the Spirit and much joy comes from hearing the voice of the Bridegroom. We who belong to Christ are not only called His Bride but also His friends . . . if . . . we do whatsoever He commands (John 15:14). But how can we obey Him if we cannot hear His voice? And how can we hear if we are too busy to listen? Are you going to let anyone or anything spoil your friendship with God?!

John the Baptist said, "He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled" (John 3:29). Fullness of joy comes to us when we are in our resting place, because that is where we hear the voice of God.

When the Bride of Christ was in that position, she said, ". . . I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste" (S. of S. 2:3). How sad it is when she is moved out of that location.

I know a woman who used to be very close to the Lord. She was the kind of person you love to be with. Her words were always full of faith and encouragement. Then something happened that caused her to move out of her resting place. She went back to all the old religious activities that she was caught up in before she came to the Lord. The hours she used to spend reading the Scriptures were now filled with busy church work. Valuable time that used to be set aside for prayer was being wasted by watching the soaps on television. Now, when I meet her, it is much different than it used to be. Instead of having that sweet fellowship, it is almost like talking to a stranger.

Some people cannot understand why the Lord lets His Bride go astray. Why doesn't He stop her?

God will not interfere with our freedom to choose. Even though we may have surrendered our whole lives to Him, still He will not control us. We are His "uncontrolled Bride." He does not take away our free will even though it does get us into a lot of trouble!

God does not play the control game. This urge to control others that we have is not good; it comes straight from the devil. He is the controller of all who do not belong to Christ. Trying to control others is another way of operating in the flesh. Husbands try to control their wives; that is, when they are not being dominated by them. Children learn how to manage grown ups at a very early age. Parents are fearful that they will lose control over their teenagers. (I am not saying they shouldn't give them firm, loving guidelines.) Pastors want to lord it over their congre- gations. This wanting to control others is a problem in the flesh that we all have, and it should be denied.

Rather than trying to control His children, God will go to great lengths to guide them in the paths of righteousness and to warn them of the dangers that lie ahead. But the bottom line is that we do have a will of our own. Remember the parable of the prodigal son? There is no doubt of the father's love for him; yet the father did not control him like a puppet, even though he knew the heartaches his son would cause when he insisted on doing his own thing.

This free will business has created a strange atmosphere in the part of God's kingdom that is still here on earth. When we are in Heaven, we will behave much differently because we won't have our old human nature with which to contend; but while we are here on earth in these bodies, we can do some terribly foolish things.

Please bear with me as I try to explain: The gospel invitation has gone out and multitudes have responded to the Lord's call and have been saved. We who belong to Jesus are now seated in heavenly places or you could say, "He brought me into His banqueting house." Now, use your imagination while I attempt to describe the kind of atmosphere we have created since we came through the Door into this sacred place.

Picture in your mind a large table in the center of a room. It is big enough for everyone to be seated there. Over the table is a banner that states God's love for us (S. of S. 2:4). All the cups are running over with Living Water and the table is filled with rich spiritual food, prepared by the Holy Spirit and served by the angels. All who are at this table are filled with the love of God: there is praising and worship and singing to the Lord from the bottom of their hearts. What a tremendous place to be in. Wouldn't you think that all God's children would want to gather at this table? But look around: they are scattered all over the place.

Over there, a man has built a platform on which he is standing and a crowd has gathered to hear him speak. He is saying, "I have some spiritual gifts I would like to display to you." A little further down, a larger group is listening to another man tell them that if they don't shape up and follow the rules he has posted up on the wall, they will be kicked out of this place. And would you believe it? Right in the Lord's Banqueting House some people have gone ahead and set up a table of junk food that they have prepared themselves from the letter of the word. Don't they know that "the letter kills"? (2Cor.3:6).

This next scene is awful: There is a big fight going on; brothers and sisters in the Lord are really slugging it out. They are fighting over the meaning of certain verses they have read in the Holy Bible.

I warned you that there are some strange things going on due to the freedom to choose we Christians have, but this next scene is downright embarrassing: There are a lot of people who are walking around naked! They have no clothes on, only a few fig leaves that they got from their old human parents, Adam and Eve. Don't they know there is a dress code in this place? They could, by faith, keep on their beautiful garments of salvation and their glorious robe of righteousness woven for them by the Lord at Calvary; but instead they have chosen to cover themselves with something that they have made by their own works, which sure does expose a lot of their flesh. Some areas of this place look more like a nudist colony than the Banqueting House of God!

Look over there! Would you believe that someone has started a bingo game? And another group is busy studying plans that a worldly merchant gave to them, which tell how to make money.

But perhaps the strangest sight of all is these small tables spread out all over the room with signs placed on them that were made with children's handwriting. Let me read some of these little name tags to you. This one says "Methodist"; this one reads "Catholic"; this one "Baptist"; another one says "Lutheran"; and this one has "Congregational" written on it. There are so many I won't take time to read any more. What a strange sight to see in the Lord's Banqueting House!