![Oh, you are beautiful, my love! / Oh, you are beautiful! Your eyes are [like] doves. S.S. 1:15](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Oh-you-are-beautiful-my-love-Oh-you-are-beautiful-Your-eyes-are-like-doves-1024x576.webp?resize=800%2C450&ssl=1 "Oh, you are beautiful, my love! / Oh, you are beautiful! Your eyes are [like] doves. S.S. 1:15")
In the book of Song of Songs, we see the relationship between the experience of the divine dispensing and living in the divine romance; if we really love the Lord, we will surely have the growth and transformation in life, and we experience the divine dispensing to have a continual change in our growth in life.
Our God is a God of love; He created us not merely to have people who serve Him and worship Him but to have someone who loves Him and enters into a romantic relationship with Him.
Satan, however, accuses God before us and wants us to think that He is upset with us and wants to hurt us.
Even when He gave His people the law, the Ten Commandments, He didn’t do it so that they try their best to keep it; rather, He wanted to show them who He is so that they love Him and appreciate Him.
He introduced Himself to them as a God of love, light, holiness, and righteousness; His standard is very high, and only He can meet His standard.
So He simply wants His people to love Him and open to Him. God loves man so much that He Himself became a man to court man and woo man so that man would respond to Him in love.
Actually, even if we don’t know God or what He wants, once He appears to us, once He reveals Himself to us, we are simply drawn to Him.
As we read the Bible, we realize that God wants to be not only our Creator and Redeemer but even more, He wants to be our Lover.
He is a loving God. He not only loves us but also courts us, draws us to Himself, woos us, and comes to us in love to dispense His love into us.
He knows we don’t have love in ourselves, so He pours out His love into our heart.
He knows us and He knows what we need; we think we know ourselves and we think we love Him, but actually only He knows us and He pours out His love into our heart so that we may love Him in return.
From the time that God made man, He began to court man. He woos us and draws us to Himself.
Out of His love for us, He became a man, He died for us, and He became a life-giving Spirit to dispense what He is into our being.
Now all those who believe into the Lord are in a love relationship with Him; we pursue Him for satisfaction, we are drawn to Him, and we just love Him.
The whole Bible is God’s courting word, and as we read the Bible with a heart that is turned toward Him, we have a responsive, affectionate love for Him.
This affectionate, responsive love toward the Lord is depicted in the Song of Songs, where we see a portrait of the love between the Beloved and His love.
When we see the Lord’s love toward us and receive Him as our Savior, Lord, and life, we simply love Him back, and we live in a divine-human love relationship, a divine romance, with the Lord.
All this is happening as we live the Christian life in our human life; we are mysterious people, for we have a love relationship with the divine and mystical God and we love Him whom we have not seen.
If we Really Love the Lord, we will have the Growth and Transformation in Life
In Song of Songs, we see the relationship between our experience of the divine dispensing and our living in the divine romance; these two are closely related, even intertwined.
When we live under the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity day by day, we live in the divine romance.
If we live in the divine romance, loving the Lord and seeking Him in love, we live in the divine dispensing.
The truth is that, the more we love the Lord, the more we are inwardly changed and transformed.
If we really love the Lord, we will surely have the growth and transformation in life (2 Cor. 5:14-15; 3:18).
The way for us to enjoy and experience Christ as life is found in the Song of Songs.
In this book, we see many types and pictures that show us how we progress in our growth and transformation in life.
The loving seeker of Christ progressed from being like a mare pulling Pharaoh’s chariots to being like pillars of smoke and a crown on Solomon’s head, even to becoming the Shulammite, the feminine form of Solomon, to be his counterpart.
The way for us to grow and be transformed in life is simply to love the Lord Jesus.
The way for us to enjoy Christ as life is simply to love Him as a wonderful person.
He is the most wonderful person. As we read the Gospels, for example, what we see is not merely what the Lord did and said but even more, who He is.
The Lord Jesus is not merely someone who does great things for God and heals man, doing works of power and speaking many positive and ethical things. He is the most wonderful Person. He is the most lovable One.
The Lord Jesus is altogether lovely. When we see Him, we just love Him. As we love Him, we take Him as our life within and our living without.
It is not by us trying and doing things that we grow in life and are transformed; it is by our loving the Lord that we grow and are transformed. He truly is the most lovely One.
May we be those who spend time to behold Him and be infused with Him. May we take Him as our life and our person.
And may we simply allow Him to infuse us with Himself, with His love, and with all that He is.
As we take the Lord Jesus as our life within and our living without, loving Him and opening to Him, He will become our everything, and we will grow and be transformed in life. He is such a wonderful Person!
As we enjoy Him in love by living in the divine romance, He will become our walk, our talk, our attitude, our expression, and our everything!
And we will progress in our growth in life little by little, day by day, until we are transformed and conformed to His image.
The more we love the Lord, the more we will grow in life.
We cannot say that we love the Lord but we still pull the world with us, we still conduct ourselves in a natural way, and we are more and more selfish.
If we genuinely love the Lord, we will grow in life and be transformed.
The more we love the Lord, the more we are constrained by His love to no longer live to ourselves but to live to Him who died for us and rose again.
As the Lord’s love constrains us, we will have a living that is not to ourselves but to Him.
This is the result of our loving the Lord; we grow in life and we are transformed.
2 Cor. 3:18 says that, as we behold the Lord face to face, we will be transformed into His image from glory to glory.
Transformation requires the addition of a new element into our being, even as food is added to our being day by day and is metabolically processed as we are daily transformed in our human life.
The more we love the Lord, the more we grow in life and are transformed until we become spiritually mature.
May we give ourselves to love the Lord as the most wonderful One.
May we let Him infuse us with Himself and transform us into His image until we fully match Him as His bride.
Lord Jesus, we love You. We really love You. You are our first love. You are our best love. We pursue after YOu because we love You. Grow in us, Lord, and transform us in Your life. We just want to behold You face to face so that You may infuse Yourself into us. Fill us with Yourself and transform us in Your image. Oh Lord Jesus, we really love You! We are open to You. We are willing to advance with You in our growth and transformation in life until we become the same as You are in Your image. Your love constrains us, Lord, and we no longer want to live to ourselves but to You.
Loving the Lord and Experiencing the Divine DIspensing to have a Continual Change in our Growth in Life
![I compare you, my love, / To a mare among Pharaoh's chariots. S.S. 1:9 Oh, you are beautiful, my love! / Oh, you are beautiful! Your eyes are [like] doves. S.S. 1:15 As a lily among thorns, / So is my love among the daughters. S.S. 2:2 My dove, in the clefts of the rock, / In the covert of the precipice, / Let me see your countenance, / Let me hear your voice; / For your voice is sweet, / And your countenance is lovely. S.S. 2:14 Who is she who comes up from the wilderness / Like pillars of smoke, / Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, / With all the fragrant powders of the merchant? There is Solomon's bed; / Sixty mighty men surround it, / Of the mighty men of Israel. S.S. 3:6-7](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/I-compare-you-my-love-To-a-mare-among-Pharaohs-chariots-683x1024.webp?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "I compare you, my love, / To a mare among Pharaoh's chariots. S.S. 1:9 Oh, you are beautiful, my love! / Oh, you are beautiful! Your eyes are [like] doves. S.S. 1:15 As a lily among thorns, / So is my love among the daughters. S.S. 2:2 My dove, in the clefts of the rock, / In the covert of the precipice, / Let me see your countenance, / Let me hear your voice; / For your voice is sweet, / And your countenance is lovely. S.S. 2:14 Who is she who comes up from the wilderness / Like pillars of smoke, / Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, / With all the fragrant powders of the merchant? There is Solomon's bed; / Sixty mighty men surround it, / Of the mighty men of Israel. S.S. 3:6-7")
Song of Songs, a love story between God and man, shows us a continual change in the loving seeker of Christ until she becomes the same as Him to fully match Him.
Because the seeking one in Song of Songs loves her beloved so much, she experiences the divine dispensing and there’s a continual change in her growth in life (Song of Songs 1:2-3, 4b, 9, 12, 15; 2:2, 14; 3:6-7; 4:7, 12-15; 6:4, 10, 13a).
She starts by being a mare pulling the chariots of Pharaoh and ends up becoming the Shulammite, the duplication and reproduction of Solomon.
We start by being a strong, stubborn, wild, and unbridled person being filled with the worldly elements (Song of Songs 1:9), and as we remain in the divine romance under the divine dispensing, we become the same as Christ in life and nature.
As we continue to pursue the Lord, we become one who has eyes like a dove; our concept is changed and our mind is renewed.
Then, as we love the Lord and experience the divine dispensing, there’s a continual change in our growth in life.
We become like a lily, very simple, trusting in the Lord. We then become like a dove, very simple and single for the Lord (Song of Songs 1:15).
As we remain under the divine dispensing, we experience a continual change in our growth in life and become a pillar of smoke, stretching from earth to heaven.
In Exodus God Himself was a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night; now we become a pillar of smoke.
As we love the Lord and experience the divine dispensing more, we become a bed for the Lord to rest in; it used to be all about ourselves, but now it is for the Lord, for Him to rest and be satisfied (Song of Songs 3:6-7).
We then become a palanquin for the Lord to move during the daytime, and then we become a crown on the head of Solomon.
After this, we become a garden growing all kinds of fruits and spices for the Lord to enjoy.
Formerly, we appreciated our beloved as a bundle of myrrh and henna flower, and now we as a garden grow the henna flower and produce myrrh.
This is the result of our growth and transformation in life.
And this process continues, for our transformation will issue into becoming a building – Tirzah and Jerusalem (Song of Songs 6:4).
We become a city for the Lord to dwell in and a building for His habitation.
This is what the Bible talks about from beginning to end: our growth and transformation in life until we become the same as the Lord to match Him as His Shulammite (Song of Songs 6:13).
If we love the Lord, if we really remain in the divine romance with Him in our Christian life, there will be a real change in us as years go by.
We will not just be adjusted a little here and there; we will be transformed in life.
The Lord is not merely changing us outwardly to look better by means of adding some cosmetics to improve our appearance.
He is working Himself into us inwardly to cause us to grow and be transformed in life.
And He does this not by teaching nor by gifts but by our loving the Lord and seeking Him in love.
As we love and seek after the Lord Himself, there will be the growth and transformation in life until we become the same as Christ to match Him as His counterpart.
He advances in us until we become the same as He is in life, nature, expression, and function, so that we match Him for our wedding and live an eternal marriage life together in love.
May we be those who love the Lord and experience the divine dispensing to have a continual change in our growth in life unto maturity until we become the same as He is!
Lord Jesus, keep us in the divine romance day by day, loving You and experiencing the divine romance. May our whole inner being be open to You day by day. Go on in us, Lord, stage by stage and step by step until we become the same as You are. We love You, dear Lord Jesus, and we pursue after You in love. Renew our mind and change our concept until we are single and pure toward You. We trust in You, Lord, and we desire nothing and no one on earth besides You. Make us the same as You are in every possible way. May You be pleased to dwell in us, live in us, and move in us and with us. Transform us into Your image. Build us up to be the dwelling place of God and the city of God. Amen, Lord, keep us loving You and enjoying Your divine dispensing so that there would be a continual change in life until we become Your duplication, Your bride!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee in the message, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1972, vol. 1, “Life and Building as Portrayed in the Song of Songs,” pp. 257-258, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity for the Divine Economy (2022 Thanksgiving Weekend Conference), week 2, entitled, Experiencing the Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity by Living in the Divine Romance.
- Further reading on this topic:
– The first way to grow being to love the Lord, portion from, Practical Lessons on the Experience of Life, by Witness Lee.
– What Is Transformation in the Bible? Article via Bibles for America blog. - Hymns on this topic:
– God’s life and building can be seen / Within the Song of Songs; / He shows by types His seeking ones, / The Bride for whom Christ longs! / She, as a team of horses shows / A love, so swift and strong! / But this is love that’s natural— / It pulls the world along! / As time goes by, her concepts change, / With dove’s eyes she can see / That naught can with her love compare— / There’s none so dear as He! (Hymns #1241 stanzas 1-3)
– Oh, my Beloved’s mine, and I am His; / I am a lily and my Shepherd He; / May daybreak come, the shadows flee away, / Him on the mountains as a hart I’d see. / Myrrh of the death with Him and frankincense, / The resurrection, permeate my heart; / North wind awake, and let the south wind blow, / Make my heart’s garden pleasure to His heart. (Hymns #556 stanzas 4-5)
– From the garden comes the city, / All materials thus supplied; / God is satisfied completely, / And the foe is terrified. / “Thou art fair, my love, as Tirzah, / Comely as Jerusalem.” / O Lord Jesus, Hallelujah, / Thou wilt do it all! Amen! (Hymns #1161 stanzas 5-6)
About aGodMan
The way to enjoy and experience Christ as life is found in the Song of Songs…The way to enjoy Christ as life is simply to love Him as a wonderful person. The Gospel of John is not a book of doctrines, gifts, or power; it is a presentation of a wonderful person. The Song of Songs is exactly the same…These eight chapters reveal to us a lovable person. He is altogether lovely!… In the Song of Songs, this lovely One is just the life and the living of His seeker. The seeking one takes this lovely One as her life within and her living without by loving Him. Oh, we must love such a wonderful person!…He will become our talk, our walk, our attitude, our expression, our everything! He will become not only our life within but also our living without. “To me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). This is the Song of Songs. This book not only presents a picture of this wonderful, loving person, but it also gives a clear picture of the seeking one who loves Him so much. This is why there is a continual change in her growth in life. We cannot help growing in life and having the transformation of life if we really love the Lord Jesus. If you say that you love the Lord Jesus, yet year after year you remain the same, I do not believe you. If a person really loves the Lord, there will be a continual growth and change in life. It is not by teaching, instruction, correction, or adjustment. I do not have confidence in these things. They can only adjust a little in an outward way, just as the morticians do who work on a corpse. They make some changes, but they are all outward; not one bit comes out of life. There is no growth, no transformation, no improvement, no change, and no living progress. Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1972, vol. 1, “Life and Building as Portrayed in the Song of Songs,” pp. 257-258
If we really love the Lord, we will surely have the growth and transformation in life.
The more we love the Lord, the more we experience the divine dispensing, and there will be a continual change in our growth in life until we become the duplication of Christ, His counterpart.
We need to know the way to take the Lord’s life and the way to experience Him as life.
We must simply love Him as a wonderful person.
If we truly, madly & deeply love Jesus, we will enjoy continual growth & change in life.
We cannot grow by doctrines & gifts. Growth in life & transformation is what we need to be Jesus’ counterpart, His lovely bride.
Song of Songs shows us that the only way to grow in life and be transformed is to love the Lord Jesus.
If we remain the same year and after year then our professed love for the Lord is not real.
We cannot depend on teaching, gifts or any form of outward adjustment.
2 Cor. 4:6 …[God] shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2 Cor. 3:18 But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.
The word face here refers to the Lord’s countenance, to His presence.
How we need to have the presence of the Lord Jesus within us! His presence is the very glory of God, for the glory of God is in the face of Christ.
When we are in the presence of Christ and before His countenance, we are in glory.
Christ’s working Himself into us is not a matter of behavior or self-improvement.
It is a matter of our being inwardly saturated with the Shekinah glory of God. Lord keep us beholding you today!!!!
Aaaaameeen! The way to enjoy Christ as life is simply to love His wonderful person!
No one can resist Christ’s cheering love and His charming person (cf. Matt. 4:18-20).
Yes Lord we are those who really love you.
Continue to grow in our life until we become the duplication of Christ, His counterpart.
Cause us to grow and be transformed in life until we match you as your bride.
Amen brother!
O Lord we love you and enjoy your presence. In your presence there is fullness of joy and as we drink from the rivers of your pleasure we are growing and transformed in your image!
Hallelujah!
amen brother ,if we love the lord we need to give him the first and best love and love him with our whole being if we love him with our whole being
we need to have a personal, intimate and affectionate time with the Lord
the more time we spend with him the more with the Lord
the more we are transformed and grow in life this will cause to become the Shulammite the same as God in life and nature
Amen Lord Jesus! We want to really love You! Grace us each day to really love You by enjoying You and be continually transformed to become Your counterpart, matching You as Your bride!
Aaaaameeeen Lord Jesus, we love You!
Dear brother, So many Christians talk about Christ as life, but very few know how to experience Him as life.
But Hallelujah, the way to enjoy Christ as life is simply to love Him as a wonderful person.
Oh, we must love such a wonderful person! Just by loving this One, He will become our talk, our walk, our attitude, our expression, our everything! He will become not only our life within but also our living without.
Those who love and seek after the Lord Himself will have the growth in life and the transformation of life.
Amen, Lord, thank You!