Songs 2:2 As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. I. First, I think my text very beautifully sets forth THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH AND OF EVERY INDIVIDUAL TO CHRIST. He styles her, "My love." An exquisitely sweet name; as if His love had all gone forth of Him, and had become embodied in her. 1. The first point, then, of her relation to Christ is that she has His love. Think of it, and let the blessed truth dwell long and sweetly in your meditations. Each one of us may rejoice in the title under which our Lord addresses us — "My love." This love is distinguishing love, for in its light one special object shines as a lily, and the rest, "the daughters" are as thorns. Observe that this is a love which He openly avows. The Bridegroom speaks and says before all men, "As a lily among thorns, so is My love among the daughters." He puts it upon record in that Book which is more widely scattered than any other, for He is not ashamed to have it published on the housetops. He declares it that His adversaries may know it, that He hat h a people in whom HIS heart delights, and these He will have and hold as His own when heaven and earth shall pass away. This love, wherever it has been revealed to its object, is reciprocated;, If the Lord has really spoken home to your soul and said, "I have loved thee, your soul has gladly answered, "This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend; yea, He is altogether lovely." 2. Next, she bears His likeness. Notice the first verse of the chapter, wherein the Bridegroom speaks — "I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys." He is the lily, but His beloved is like Him; for He applies His own chosen emblem to her — "As the lily among thorns, so is My love among the daughters." Notice that He is the lily, she is as the lily, that is to say, He has the beauty and she reflects it; she is comely in His comeliness, which He puts upon her. Note, too, that He who gave the beauty is the first to see it. While they are unknown to the world Jesus knows His own. Love's eyes are quick, and her ears are open. Love covers a multitude of faults, but it discovers a multitude of beauties. Let His condescending discernment have all honour for this generous appreciation of us. Let us bless and love Him because He deigns to think so highly of us who owe everything to Him. "Thou art," saith He, "My love, as the lily." It is evident that the Lord Jesus takes delight in this beauty, which tie has put upon His people. He values it at so great a rate that He counts all rival beauties to be but as thorns. 3. Bringing out still further the relationship between Christ and His Church, I want you to notice that her position has drawn out His love. "As the lily," saith He, "among thorns, so is My love." He spied her out among the thorns. She was at the first no better than a thorn herself; His grace alone made her to differ from the briars about her; but as soon as ever lie had put His life and His grace into her, though she dwelt among the ungodly, she became as a lily, and He spied her out. The thorn-brake could not hide His beloved. "As the lily among thorns" wears also another meaning. Dr. Thompson writes of a certain lily, "It grows among thorns, and I have sadly lacerated my hand in extricating it from them. Nothing can be in higher contrast than the luxuriant, velvety softness of this lily and the withered, tangled hedge of thorns about it. Ah, beloved, you know who it was that in gathering your soul and mine, lacerated not His hand only, but His feet, and His head, and His side, and His heart, yea, and His inmost soul." 4. Yet once more, I think many a child Of God may regard himself as still being a lily among thorns, because of his afflictions. Certainly the Church is so, and she is thereby kept for Christ's own, If thorns made it hard for Him to reach us for our salvation, there is another kind of thorn which makes it hard for any enemy to come at us for our hurt. Our trials and tribulations, which we would fain escape from, often act as a spiritual protection: they hedge us about and ward off many a devouring foe. Sharp as they are, they serve as a fence and a defence. II. Our text is full of instruction as to THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE CHURCH AND EACH INDIVIDUAL BELIEVER TO THE WORLD — "The lily among thorns." 1. First, then, she has incomparable beauty. As compared and contrasted with all else she is as the lily to the thorn-brake. The thorns are worthless, they flourish, and spread, and cumber the ground, but they yield no fruit, and only grow to be cut down for the oven. Alas, such is man by nature, at his best. As for the lily, it is a thing of beauty and a joy for ever; it lives shedding sweet perfume, and when it is gathered its loveliness adorns the chamber to which it is taken. So does the saint bless his generation while here, and when he is taken away he is regarded with pleasure even in heaven above as one of the flowers of God. He will ere long be transplanted from among the thorns to the garden enclosed beyond the river, where the King delights to dwell, for such a flower is far too fair to be left for ever amid tangled briars. 2. In the comparison of the saint to the lily we remark that he has, like the lily, a surpassing excellence. The thorn is a fruit of the curse: it springs up because of sin. Not so the lily: it is a fair type of the blessing which maketh rich without the sorrow of carking care. The thorn is the mark of wrath and the lily is the symbol of Divine Providence. A true believer is a blessing, a tree whose leaves heal and whose fruit feeds. A genuine Christian is a living gospel, and embodiment of goodwill towards men. 3. The last point with regard to our relationship to the world is that the Church and many individual Christians are called to endure singular trials, which make them feel "as the lily among thorns." That lovely flower seems out of place in such company, does it not? Christ said, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep among sheep"— no, no, that is my mistake, "as sheep among wolves." It is a very blessed thing to be as sheep among sheep: to lie down with them under the shadow of the great rock, and feed with them in green pastures under the Shepherd's eye. This is our privilege, and we ought to value it greatly, and unite with the Church and frequent its ordinances; but even then we shall, some of us, have to go home to an ungodly family, or to go out into the world to win our bread, and then we shall be as sheep among wolves. Grace struggling in loneliness is very choice in God's esteem. If man sees thee not, O lonely believer, thou mayest nevertheless sing. "Thou God seest me." The flower which blooms for God alone has a special honour put upon it, and so hath the saint whose quiet life is all for Jesus. If you are unappreciated by those around you, do not therefore be distressed, for you are honourable in the sight of God. But why doth the Lord put his lilies among thorns? It is because He works transformations, singular transformations, by their means. He can make a lily grow among thorns till the thorns grow into lilies. He can set a Christian in a godless family till first one and then another shall feel the Divine power, and shall say, "We will go with you, for we perceive that God is with you." Be lilies, preach by your actions, preach by your kindness, and by your love; and I feel quite sure that your influence will be a power for good. If the Holy Spirit helps all of you to stand among your associates as lilies among the thorns, the day will come when thorns will die out, and lilies will spring up on every side: sin will be banished and grace will abound. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.WEB: As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. Beloved |
    |