Repeatedly we find in the sacred records that graphic phrase, “all that great and terrible wilderness” (e.g., Deut. 1:19), by which an attempt was made to describe the dreary places Israel had to traverse in their desert journeys. A wilderness is an undesirable place where no one cares to be. Is it not tragic to find suggested here the possibility of the Desire of Nations, the Altogether Lovely One, the Chiefest among Ten Thousand, becoming unattractive and undesired? Yet such is the inference.

One of the surest and safest proofs of a growth in grace is an ever-increasing appreciation of the finished work and the glories and beauties of the Lord. Trusting in the Lord should speedily lead to “Delight thyself also in the Lord” (Ps. 37:3). What a suggestive order is to be noticed there. “Trust” then “do good”; not “do good” and then “trust.” No, faith first; then works. But be sure to “do good” after trusting. “Trust in the Lord, and feed on His faithfulness” (rv). That is important. As I ponder and nourish my soul on the faithfulness of God, I soon, very soon, will begin to “delight [my]self also in the Lord.” That means goodbye to the wilderness view of Christ. The wilderness becomes a garden of delights.

The saddest fact of all is that He had become as a wilderness to many of His redeemed ones. Israel stood in that relationship. Not only had they in Egypt passed under the blood for safety, but through the Red Sea for deliverance. He had given them the land flowing with milk and honey for an inheritance. What more could He have done? Though punctilious in the performance of their religious duties, they had become empty formalists, missing and losing the Lord even in His own sanctuary.

Neglect is the parent of desert lives. Only too well do we know that the less we pray, the less inclined we become to pray; the less we read the Bible, the less we desire it; and the more we neglect the Holy Book and prayer, the less we desire the Lord, and the further we drift away. Neglecting the daily and devotional study of the Scriptures, and spending less and less time in private prayer, the Lord becomes as a wilderness to us—nothing but a dry, unattractive, and thirsty land where no water is.

But wilderness places can blossom again. The wilderness and the solitary place can become places of gladness, and the desert can rejoice and blossom as the rose. One stanza old Dr. Tauler wrote, and it would be well for us to offer it as a prayer to our Lord and Saviour, as follows:

As the rose amid the briars

Fresh and fair is found,

Heedless of the tangled thicket,

And the thorns around;

As the sunflower ever turning

To the mighty sun,

With the faithfulness of fealty

Following only One—

SO MAKE ME, LORD, TO THEE!

In this way we will practically enjoy these two blessed realities: “That in all things He might have the pre-eminence.” “That Christ may be all in all.”

Robert Lee (From “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” edited by J. B. Nicholson.) Copyright protected by Uplook Magazine. Used by Permission.

The World Has
a Bitter Taste to the Redeemed
Right from the beginning of their new life they found the world a
wilderness and its waters bitter. Freedom from slavery is surely better than
bondage with sweetness, but those who experience salvation can be brought into
severe testings which challenge faith. The joy of deliverance soon gave way to
murmuring. The many and great benefits bestowed on them suddenly seemed to
vanish away, and so did their praises.

Such trials touch vital matters. It would not have been too bad if the
problem had been no milk or no wine. Believers can manage without luxuries. But
to find no drinkable water was to imperil the preservation of life itself.
Marah waters came out of an accursed earth, and this should surely teach us,
and be illustrative of the fact, that this earth has nothing at all with which
to refresh the souls of a redeemed people. When they most need succor, the
world can provide none.

The spirit and temper of the world cannot in any way contribute to
Christian life. What springs up from it is gall and wormwood. The motives which
govern the world of men no longer appeal to the believer: the lust for money
making, the seeking of worldly honor, the attendance at worldly amusements. Nor
do true believers find their happiness in worldly company. Among them we have
to labor for the bread that perisheth, but their company is not our delight.
Most of all, we cannot follow their principles and practices. All these things
are now bitter to a man in Christ.

The Flesh has
Bitter Enmity toward God
“The people murmured against Moses” ({{Ex 15:24}}), which was actually
murmuring against the Lord. There are times when the Lord’s people, having
found the emptiness of the world, seek their refreshment from natural causes
and fellow mortals. The barrenness of the desert and the bitterness of Marah’s
waters brought out this deep enmity of the flesh against all that is of God. “Murmur”
is an infantile sound, and in days of spiritual childhood it seems natural to
murmur against the arrangements and dispensations of God’s providence.

In such dire circumstances doubts arise. These were the early days of Israel’s
deliverance. Instead of a carpet of roses, they found themselves in a
wilderness, and instead of the wine of good cheer, they found bitter waters.
Perhaps the disappointment is natural since all of the old life is cut off, and
murmuring arises from the ground of that disappointment. The new life never
becomes a cup of blessing until we have entered more fully into the Lord’s
inheritance. The trouble with Israel
was that they spent forty years in the wilderness when God had made it only an
eleven-day experience.

The new life of the redeemed has different tastes and delights and hopes
and joys. But it has its trials, simply because it has to exist now in a
hostile and not a friendly world. The remains of the flesh in us, not yet
crucified, can bring torment and challenge. We may wonder and question why God
allows us sickness, sorrow, and bereavement. We perhaps did not expect the
failure of our children to walk with us in the heavenward way. The reproach and
reviling of those with whom we work can vex the righteous soul! It makes us
wonder to see older Christians lose their love for Christ, their conscience
blunted in business dealings, their fires of witness burnt out to dry ash, and
with no more enjoyment in heavenly things. These are all bitter experiences for
newborn souls in Christ.

The Cross has
a Sweet Influence to the Saint
“The Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters,
the waters were made sweet” ({{Ex. 15:25}}). This was not a tree with which the
Bedouins were acquainted, nor would the dwellers in the desert have the
slightest idea how to make the bitter waters of the desert sweet with such
vegetation. This power is not inherent in any tree. It was something especially
imparted by the Spirit of of God to teach a spiritual principle.

The tree symbolizes the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The tree was to
be cut down, and thus was our blessed Lord on the cross of Calvary. But
the man of God, God’s representative, Moses, cast that cut-down tree into the
bitter waters. This immediately had a transforming effect: the bitter waters
were suddenly made sweet by it.

The Lord Jesus is the Tree of Life in Scripture. It was He who was
symbolized by a tree in Eden’s
garden in the beginning of God’s Book. He was figured in the burning bush,
which Moses saw in the desert
of Midian—the bush that
burned, but was not consumed. He was the tree David the psalmist wrote about in
Psalm 1: “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that
bringeth forth His fruit in His season; His leaf also shall not wither”
({{Ps. 1:3}}). He is pictured in the Tree of Life found at the end of the Book in
the midst of the heavenly Jerusalem,
“which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and
the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” ({{Rev. 22:2}}).

It is this blessed Lord Jesus who is the antidote for all our cares. The
tree flung into the bitter waters made them sweet and drinkable and
life-giving. Oh, wondrous cross! Glorious cross! Blessed interpreter of the
love of God to us. Let it soak into all our trials, vexations, sorrows,
bereavements, discontent, and disappointments. It was Marah that taught Israel the
sweetness of the tree, and it is only the cross of the Lord Jesus which can
sweeten our life here below.

How sweet the
name of Jesus sounds
In a
believer’s ear;

It soothes
his sorrows, heals his wounds,

And drives
away his fear.

It makes the
wounded spirit whole

And calms the
troubled breast;

‘Tis manna to
the hungry soul,

And to the
weary rest.

Weak is the
effort of our heart,

And cold our
warmest thought;

But when we
see Thee as Thou art,

We’ll praise
Thee as we ought.

Till then we
would Thy love proclaim

With every
fleeting breath;

And triumph
in that blessed name

Which quells
the power of death.

—John Newton

From “Worship & Remembrance” by Daniel Smith
Published by Gospel Folio Press

Abraham Offering Isaac
“And Abraham said unto his
young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and
worship” (Gen. 22:5). The Lord God was
taking Abraham into His own heart to know the fellowship of His sufferings.
God’s passion was derived from the sacrifice He was to make of His own beloved
Son. Abraham therefore was asked for the sacrifice of his only son, and in
responding to this, Abraham performed one of the most extraordinary acts of
obedience that was ever known from the foundation of the world. The most
amazing thing in this record—and there are things of the heart over which the
Divine Recorder has cast a veil—is that Abraham calls this tremendous sacrifice
an act of worship: “I and the lad will go yonder and worship.” Abraham esteemed
God worthy of the surrender of his dearest possession.

Eliezer Finding a Bride
“And the man [Eliezer] bowed down his head, and worshiped the
Lord” (Gen. 24:26). Abraham had sent his faithful servant to find a bride for
his beloved son, Isaac. It was a long, arduous journey through hundreds of
miles of desert, since the bride was to come from Abraham’s native land, from
among his own kindred. It is a lovely picture of God sending His Spirit to choose
out and bring home a bride for Christ, that bride being the great company of
the redeemed (Rev. 21:9). The faithful servant was divinely led to Rebekah, who
was endowed even before she received the message concerning Isaac, but who, on
hearing the testimony, fully responded, and left all that was represented by
her relatives to go on that long journey, at the end of which she would meet
her Isaac. The point to remember is that the faithful servant was so led by
God—“I being in the way, the Lord led me” (Gen. 24:27)—that “he bowed…his head,
and worshiped the Lord” for such unerring guidance.

Israel
Hearing of God’s Concern for Them
“And the people believed: and when they heard that the Lord had
visited the children of Israel,
and that He had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and
worshiped” (Ex. 4:31). Moses, after being on the mount with God, brought them
the good news of God’s visitation and His purpose to deliver them. It was a
word of salvation. They were no longer to be vassals of a cruel taskmaster, but
subjects of the Lord’s own kingdom, and forged into a people for His using. The
presence of Israel in Egypt was due
to failure, but God was to redeem them from all the consequences of that
failure and bring them out. When the people heard from Moses that God was to be
the God of their salvation and that He would “come down to deliver”—a word
which pointed forward to the incarnation of the Son of God—“they bowed their
heads and worshiped.”

Joshua’s Entrance into the Promised Land
“Art Thou for us, or for our adversaries? And He said, Nay; but
as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face
to the earth, and did worship” (Josh. 5:13-14). Moses had laid down his
leadership. Though he had strong and holy desires to enter the land, yet God
had forbidden it. In a public demonstration of anger he had dishonored God, and
since he personified the law, which he and all others had broken, it was not
possible for him to lead Israel
into the Lord’s inheritance. Joshua (meaning Saviour) fittingly took over.
Before any battle was joined to gain possession, he was confronted by One who
turned out to be a divine personage. Not knowing at first who He was, Joshua
challenged His presence, but when the Lord explained that He had come to take
over as Captain in order to ensure victory in their battles and the right of
possession, Joshua “fell on his face to the earth, and did worship.”

Gideon Hearing God’s Word through a Dream
“And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and
the interpretation thereof, that he worshiped” (Judg. 7:15). Israel was now confronted with a
Midianite threat which had developed because of their own lapse back into
idolatry. Gideon, called by God, had broken down the images and idols of vanity
and cut down the groves. No deliverance could possibly come through such
religious falsity. But God had come through in Gideon. To strengthen his
confidence against such an enemy power, the Lord sent him and his servant into
the camp of the Midianites. There they heard a man telling a dream about a cake
of barley bread tumbling into the camp and wrecking it. Whereupon his fellow
interpreted the barley cake as “nothing else save the sword of Gideon.” This
gave Gideon the assurance of victory, inspired courage, and drew forth worship.

Samuel In His Infancy
“And he worshiped the Lord there” (1 Sam. 1:28). In the
background there is a husband with two wives, Peninnah and Hannah. Peninnah was
fruitful after the flesh, but Hannah was barren. Peninnah is spoken of as
Hannah’s “adversary,” who by her ridicule caused her to “fret” so that Hannah
was brought into “bitterness of soul.” Hannah means “grace” and grace was not
content with barren love. But the age was one of spiritual declension and
Hannah was exercised for a child, not to glory in the flesh, nor for her own
pleasure, but that the Lord might have an instrument for His using. In a most
noble passage, which manifests Hannah’s whole and complete consecration, she
says: “For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I
asked of Him: therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth
he shall be lent to the Lord.” That was Hannah. Then follows, “And he [not
she]1 worshiped the Lord there”—which means even the heart of old Eli was moved
to worship the Lord.

A Congregation for the Offering
“And David said to all the congregation, Now bless the Lord
your God. And all the congregation blessed the Lord God of their fathers, and
bowed down their heads, and worshiped the Lord” (1 Chron. 29:20). David had
been denied the building of God’s house in favor of his son, Solomon. This may
have been a blow to David’s desires, since the house was connected with the
glory of God, and in it God’s glory would be manifested. David, however, did
not pout at God’s denial, but with great affection for the testimony, gathered
the materials for the building, himself contributing a great deal of the
costliest and weightiest of metals—gold and silver. Following David’s noble
example, the whole congregation “offered willingly,” and after David had led
them in thanksgiving, they spontaneously “bowed their heads, and worshiped the
Lord.”

A Remnant at the Reading of God’s Word
“And Ezra the priest brought the law…And he read therein…from
the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could
understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the
law…And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people…bowed their
heads, and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground” (Neh. 8:2-3, 6).
Here we see how the Word of God quickens the soul and energizes it to worship.
Ezra’s day was toward the end of that dispensation. Only a remnant had returned
from the Babylonian captivity and did so with purpose of heart to raise again
the Lord’s testimony in a new temple. Ezra’s strategy to inspire them to do
this was to read the living Word of God to them, and the effect was so great
that “they bowed their heads, and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.”

Job in the Loss of all Things
“Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and
fell down upon the ground, and worshiped” (Job 1:20). Satan had challenged
God’s attestation of Job’s good character. His allegation was that self-interest
lay behind the allegiance. The trial of Job was therefore consented to by the
Lord, and the trial turned to the honor of Job.
At a second challenge, to meet Satan’s taunt that Job’s continued loyalty was
because nothing had touched the man himself, God permitted Satan to afflict
Job’s body, which he did with “sore boils.” Added to this was the loss of
respect, through his friends misinterpreting his sufferings, and also through
the loss of his wife’s fellowship in faith. Job, however, had such love towards
God’s holy name, and such moderation with respect to his losses and crosses,
and was of such fine resolution still to think well of God, that he “fell down
upon the ground, and worshiped.”

These are all acts of worship which God has regarded as worthy of permanent
record in His Scriptures.

Father, Thy name our souls would bless,
As children taught by grace,
Lift up our hearts in righteousness
And joy before Thy face.

Sweet is the confidence Thou giv’st,
Though high above our praise,
Our hearts resort to where Thou liv’st
In heaven’s unclouded rays.

O Holy Father, keep us here
In that blest name of love,
Walking before Thee without fear
Till all be joy above.
—J. N. Darby

From “Worship & Remembrance” by Daniel Smith
Published by Gospel Folio Press

The Wise Men at the Birth of Christ
“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod
the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews?” ({{Mt. 2:1-2}})
These wise men had doubtless been given divine revelation concerning
the exalted person who had become incarnate. It is quite probable that
they came from the land where Daniel had been president for so many
long years, and that they had received the light of revelation through
his inspired writings. The wise men were Gentiles, and were led over a
trackless wilderness by the Spirit of God, to the very house where the
Lord was to be found.1 They had come to Bethlehem, as Micah had
declared that this little village would be His birthplace ({{Micah
5:2}}). “And when they were come into the house, they…worshiped Him.”
The revelation of Him through the Divine Word ever issues in worship
before Him.

Mariners at the Stilling of the Sea
“Then they that were in the ship came and worshiped Him, saying, Of
a truth Thou art the Son of God” ({{Mt. 14:33}}). The Lord had sent His
disciples on this journey, so they were moving in His will and by His
direction. Nevertheless, they were brought into an extremely difficult
circumstance with high waves tossing the ship and a contrary wind that
made progress impossible. It became dark, and through that darkness
they saw what appeared to them an apparition or phantom.

Anything in that mysterious realm frightens mortal men. It was not a
ghost but, seeing they thought it was, it terrified them. It happened
to be the Lord Himself, mastering all elements in His approach to them,
and perhaps coming to them in this extraordinary way because He could
not get through to them in the ordinary. His assuring word was: “Be of
good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” Jesus mildly rebuked Peter for his
“little faith.” In attempting to walk on the water, Peter took his eyes
off the Lord and, putting them on surrounding waves, began to sink. As
the storm immediately ceased by our Lord’s direct command, they that
were in the ship, seeing His absolute control over the elements,
“worshiped Him.”

A Woman at the Healing of Her Daughter
“Then came she and worshiped Him, saying, Lord, help me” ({{Mt.
15:25}}). She was a woman of Canaan, a Syrophenician, who first
addressed the Lord as “Thou Son of David.” Had He opened His mouth to
her as the Son of David, this would have spelled out her doom because
of the decree in Zechariah 14:21. After further entreaty, He seemed to
raise barrier after barrier, seemingly impossible for any to overcome.
But this woman’s faith leaped over every hurdle. As one who had no
goodness to plead and no claim to advance, yet acknowledging Him as
Lord of all, “she came and worshiped Him.” That wonderful worshipful
spirit was to take her through every testing until the Lord said, “O
woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.”

The Women on Resurrection Morn
“And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them,
saying, All hail. And they came and held Him by the feet, and worshiped
Him” ({{Mt. 28:9}}). The two Marys had been to the graveyard looking
for a Christ whom they assumed to be still in the tomb. But they were
met by angels who assured them, “He is not here: for He is risen, as He
said” (v. 6). They were then instructed to “go quickly, and tell His
disciples that He is risen from the dead.” Immediately they ran to do
so. How glad they must have been! With what excitement they must have
run! But now, as they ran, the Lord Jesus met them in the way, and
greeted them in the power of His resurrection life. Knowing Him now as
the risen Lord, “They…held Him by the feet, and worshiped Him.”

The Disciples in View of Bethany
“And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy”
({{Lk. 24:52}}). The last thing the risen Lord did before His ascension
was to lead His disciples until they were opposite Bethany. He brought
Bethany into view and, in this, seemed to be giving them a picture of
what He intended His Church to be. There was no elaborate structure
over there, but a home He loved to visit and with whose members He had
the most tender association. There were, in that house, Mary, who
expressed perfect love; Martha, who expressed faithful service; and
Lazarus, who expressed resurrection life. These were to be the
essential elements in every true believer and the three phases of
testimony which were to be the mark of their new life in Him. When
Bethany therefore came into view, “He lifted up His hands, and blessed
them. And…was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.” With that
completion of their preparation for the future, and the vision of the
Church He was to build, “they worshiped Him.”

The Blind Man on Receiving His Sight
“And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped Him” ({{Jn.
9:38}}). This was a man blind from birth, so representative of the
spiritual condition of all men. The Lord did one thing for this man and
that one thing transformed his whole life. It gave him the faculty of
sight which up to this time he did not have, and on being restored, he
no longer needed to beg. The pharisaical rulers of Jewry were envious
and inflamed because their man-made traditions had been breached by our
Lord restoring a man’s sight on the Sabbath day. When they examined the
man, they heard a testimony of simple fact, though the man as yet did
not know who had healed him. “Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not:
one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”

For presuming to have more spiritual wisdom than they, which now he
did have, “they cast him out” ({{Jn. 9:34}}). The synagogue which had
not been able to restore his sight through many long years, now
excommunicated the man because another had done what they could not do.
The Lord, however, did not leave the restored one in any perplexity.
Jesus found him, and said to him, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
He answered and said, Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him? And
Jesus said unto Him, Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh
with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped Him.”

The Redeemed in Heaven
“And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshiped Him that
liveth for ever and ever” ({{Rev. 5:14}}). The scene is a heavenly
one—“a door was opened in heaven” (4:1). John wept at man’s inability
to open the book of title deeds that was in the hands of the Lord God
sitting on the throne of haven. But he was commanded to “weep not”
because “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David [David's
Lord], hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals
thereof” (5:5). When John turned to see the Lion, he saw “a Lamb as it
had been slain.” The Lion had prevailed as a sacrificial Lamb. And the
twenty-four elders (representing the complete company of the redeemed)
sang a new song, saying, “Thou art worthy”—and all the multitude in
heaven gave the Lord Jesus a sevenfold ascription of praise, saying
with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power,
and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and
blessing.” And with that praise, “[they] worshiped Him that liveth for
ever and ever.”

Jesus, our Lord, with what joy we adore Thee,
Chanting our praise to Thyself on the Throne;
Blest in Thy presence, we worship before Thee,
Own Thou art worthy, and worthy alone.

Lord, Thou art worthy:
Lord, Thou art worthy;
Lord, Thou art worthy; and worthy alone!
Blest in Thy presence, we worship before Thee,
Own Thou art worthy, and worthy alone!
—H. D’A. Champney

1. He being now between one and two years of age, the family had moved into a more permanent dwelling.

From “Worship & Remembrance” by Daniel Smith
Published by Gospel Folio Press

As to the latter, we must remember that as in the Far East today,
men and women sat separately, and greeted one another separately, so
that this kiss was no doubt confined to members of the same gender. It
was a “kiss of charity” ({{1 Pet. 5:14}}) and had the same effect as a
love feast in India—it abolished all social distinctions and any spirit
of discrimination and partiality among the Lord’s people.

The Kiss of Judas
“Now he that betrayed Him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall
kiss, that same is He: hold Him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus,
and said, Hail, Master—and kissed Him” ({{Mt. 26:48-49}}). The word
used here means fervently. This betrayal kiss was more demonstrative
than the ordinary kiss of a formal greeting. Never in all the years of
His association with the intimate band of disciples did Judas ever call
Jesus, “Lord”! His discipleship had been play acting, the very essence
of hypocrisy.

Judas had privileges few men ever had. He companied with our Lord
and belonged to a band of men who were to attend Him in His impeccable
walk on earth, to hear His purpose to undergo the uttermost of God’s
wrath and to drink the very dregs of anguish for man’s redemption. He
must have seen the signs of coming distress on our Lord’s face as He
approached the mysterious depths of His substitutionary sacrifice and
the shameful cross.

Was Judas so perverse and hardened that he never at any time read
the language of the Saviour’s heart, interpreted His incessant prayers,
the meaning of His mighty pleadings, the appeal of His outstretched
hands? Yet Judas betrayed Him, and did so with the sweetest symbol of
love. It is the only time we read of anyone kissing the Saviour’s face,
and it was with the filthy lips of this betrayer, whose very name has
become a symbol of infamy.

The Kisses of Love by a Woman
“Seest thou this woman?” said our Lord in a gentle but stinging rebuke
to Simon the Pharisee, who had given Him no water to wash His feet, no
kiss of greeting, no oil for His refreshing. “This woman since the time
I came in hath not ceased to kiss My feet” ({{Lk. 7:45}}). It is not
likely that the woman was Mary Magdalene, nor Mary of Bethany, though
the latter did much the same in anointing the Lord. This woman was a
woman of sin, and our Lord’s forgiveness had brought forth this act of
pure devotion. She had tasted that the Lord is gracious and expressed
her love of Him in this lowly and loving act of covering His feet with
her kisses, the beautiful feet of the One who brought news from a very
far country.

This act of complete devotion brought from the Saviour an assurance
to Simon of her sins forgiven, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven:
for she loved much” (v. 47). That word must have dropped in her
guilt-ridden soul like “sweet smelling myrrh” and carried its own
blessing and refreshing. Her kisses upon His feet expressed her deep
sense of unworthiness, but also demonstrated a soul now filled with
love of Him. She had no doubt heard His public utterances of good news
and sought Him out. What passion of affection! How much her heart was
set on God’s beloved Son! How desirous she was of His word of
forgiveness! Her kisses on His feet were out of the abundance of her
heart and must have given a great deal of satisfaction to our Lord.

The Kiss Desired by His Bride
“Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth” ({{Song of Sol. 1:2}}).
This book is “the song of songs”—that is, unexcelled by any other song;
and unsurpassed by any other song, whether of divine or human origin.
There is no adequate interpretation of this song except that which
relates it to the love union between Christ and His people. He is the
Bridegroom-lover; she the bride.

Here she desires a new discovery of His affection, a new touch of
His love upon her life. Here the kiss has spiritual significance since
in this book we are in the realm of heavenly things. She seeks
something more intimate and real than mere form and ceremony. Rather,
she seeks “the kisses of His mouth.” The love of Christ is a believer’s
true desire. It is the purest desire of the human soul to long after
some special demonstration of it, which has the effect of raising our
affections toward Him.

To have such a touch of His love on our lives is a believer’s heaven
on earth, and the beginning of glory. A believer prefers this to the
most excellent things of earth. It is a surprising and astonishing
grace that the blessed Lord of glory would stoop to kiss such wretches
as we are, and to receive us into His loving embrace.

When we gather to Him, we should do so with this fond desire. True,
we are here at the remembrance feast to express our devotion to Him,
but the best incentive to do that will be to feel His touch of love
upon our own lives. It would not be inappropriate at all to come to
this feast of love with this desire: “Let Him kiss me with the kisses
of His mouth.”

Longing for the Bride, Lord Jesus,
Of Thy heart,
To be with Thee in the glory,
Where Thou art:
Love so groundless, grace so boundless,
Wins my heart.

When Thy blood-bought Church, Lord Jesus,
Is complete;
When each soul is safely landed
At Thy feet;
What a story in the glory
She’ll repeat!

Then Thy Church will be, Lord Jesus,
The display
Of Thy richest grace and kindness
In that day;
Marking pages, wondrous stages,
O’er earth’s way.
—Miss C. A. Wellesley

From “Worship & Remembrance” by Daniel Smith
Published by Gospel Folio Press