In the Song of Solomon it says, "Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits" (4:16). God is coming to His garden and He is looking for love. But will He find that love?
The Bible says, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind" and "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"; and that "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Mat. 22:37-40). But the Bible also says that in the last days "because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold" (Mat. 24:12). This is not speaking of the individual who has never known Jesus Christ. He has never been in love with God so how could his love grow cold? It is speaking of Christians. Because iniquity shall abound--temptations are so easy at hand, the pressures and cares of this world are so violent, men race to and fro--the love of many Christians will grow cold.
So many Christians tell me, "Oh, I want to be used of God; I want God to use me in a big way!" And, usually, as I dig underneath all of that, the reality of the reason they want to be used comes to the surface. What they really mean is, "I want to stand in front of people; I want to be seen and heard." They say, "Oh, I've got such a burden for souls!" And when you dig underneath that so called "burden for souls," you find that it is nothing but the sheer carnality of wanting to be a spiritual or religious hero.
God wants to use us. A woman called me and said, "Please pray for me. I want God to use me." And I asked her, "Do you have any children?" She said, "Yes." I said, "How do you use those children?" She responded, "Oh, I would never use my children!" I answered her, "Oh, yes you do. I have little children and I use them every day. And how do I use them? I pick them up and hold them close. I hug and kiss them, and their love comes to my heart and I am refreshed."
Now, how does God want to use us? God has created us for Himself that love might flow from our hearts, that when He comes to His garden He might find the flowers in bloom and the fragrance of love coming from the lives of His children. But . . . "because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold."
Let us face some realities. God looks upon the Church and He sees division and bitterness, narrowness and meanness. He hears sharp little tongues that spread gossip and speak of picayune things that have no place in love. Jesus Himself said, "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:2, 3). He is coming to His garden again; but the Bible teaches, before the curtain goes down on time and space, that there will be holocausts, there will be famines, and there will be earthquakes. There will be realities that you and I do not want to face. We run away from these things, and sometimes God must use shocking, jarring realities to make us look at where we are and what we are doing, and to call us back into the sanity, reasonableness and wisdom of being in love with God.
Scientists are saying that there is a food shortage in this earth now, and that the food problem is so severe that a famine where millions of people will die is inevitable; and that there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. That is not some preacher standing up in the pulpit, telling you what he thinks is going to happen because of a vision he thinks he has seen. That is not somebody's interpretation of the Bible. Scientists are now telling us that this world as we know it will come to an end. You see, men will bring judgments upon themselves. The Bible teaches in 2nd Peter that, "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (3:10). The Bible also teaches that there will be a war and one third of mankind will be destroyed.
You might say, "How could a God of love allow such things?" God is not doing this. God put a cross in the middle of time and said, "World, I love you. Come out of your hatreds; come out of your iniquities; stop devouring each other; wipe the blood off your teeth; get the blood off your hands; share your food; have an open heart." There would be no starvation if men were not so cruel and narrow. There would be no wars if men were not so filled with hatred and greed. There would be no divorces, there would be no broken homes if men were filled with the love of God. The gift of sex has its perfect place in marriage. It is a blessing, it is meant to be an enjoyment and a pleasure; but men abuse it and set the world on fire with disease, broken marriages and broken hearts. There would be no crimes and violence if men walked in the love of Jesus Christ. Don't you ever point the finger of condemnation and say, "How could a loving God do this?" I say, "How could He be so merciful as to forgive us for this?" Every gift God has given us we drag through the mud, we defile it. And even when He sent His Son, we dragged Him through the muck, dragged Him up a hill and nailed Him to a cross.
The Lord is coming back. And yet He is here. He said, "Lo, I am with you alway" (Mat. 28:20) and "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" (Heb. 13:5). But He is coming in another way. He is coming to His garden looking for love.
Let us look at this verse from the Song of Solomon again: "Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits." When the Holy Spirit blows His wind upon our lives, if we are real and if our hearts are turned toward God, there is a fragrance of praise and thanksgiving that rises to Heaven. There is a billowing cloud of incense that rises to Heaven, no matter what persecution, what struggle, what striving we have been going through. The church needs to pull out its weeds and stop its petty involvements, and realize that it has the greatest call in the whole world: a call to be a lover of God.
Called to be a lover of God! Our feelings may have become hurt because someone said the wrong thing, or someone may have snubbed us, or maybe the pastor did not do exactly like we wanted. Let us throw those things away. Compare them beside the great calling of being a lover of God.
If you were a young girl and you were chosen to be the lover and wife of someone famous, like a rock star, your life would be raised to the seventh heaven. You would feel so proud. Why is it that you cannot be more proud that you have been singled out to be a lover of God, the Creator of the universe? I pray that God will blow on His garden and that the fragrant spices of prayer, praise, thanksgiving and gratitude will rise, and then we will see and know the love of God.
The Bible says, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples." By what? By this: "If ye have love one to another" (John 13:35). Love is not sentimental affection. Love in its most immature state is a little child having to have you lay hands on him all the time. But God has called you to another kind of love, a higher love, a love of the heart and soul. He has called you to a heavenly, spiritual love, not immature fleshly affection, but a love relationship with Him