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May 11, 2025 • 36 mins

The Song of Solomon might seem like an unlikely text for Mother's Day, yet it reveals profound truths about God's perfect timing that speak to our deepest relationships and longings. Through ancient wedding customs, we discover a beautiful picture of Christ's pursuit of His people.

When the bridegroom comes "leaping over mountains" to claim his bride, we glimpse the eagerness of a lover who has prepared everything for their future together. In biblical times, betrothal was followed by a waiting period while the groom prepared rooms in his father's house - a powerful parallel to Jesus' promise: "In my Father's house are many rooms... I go to prepare a place for you."

The seasonal imagery throughout this passage reminds us that God orchestrates our lives through different chapters - sometimes winter's waiting, sometimes spring's renewal. For those experiencing Mother's Day with complicated emotions - whether celebrating motherhood or carrying the weight of unfulfilled longings - the message rings clear: "God's timing is never late and always loving." Your times are truly in His hands.

We explore four relationship seasons: summer drought (when love feels dry and nourishment lacking), fall harvest (enjoying blessings but sensing coldness approaching), winter death (when relationships feel lifeless), and spring renewal (fresh growth and excitement). Each season requires different spiritual responses, yet all can be navigated with faith.

Perhaps most powerful is the bride's request to "catch the foxes... that spoil the vineyards" - a recognition that even in seasons of blessing, vigilant protection is needed. This metaphor speaks to our inability to fully guard what matters most through our own efforts, pointing us to Christ who offers to do what we cannot.

The passage culminates in beautiful covenant language: "My beloved is mine and I am his." This mutual self-giving relationship represents God's ultimate desire for His people, available only when we "arise and come away" from self-sufficiency into His perfect love. Where are you in your season today? Will you trust the One who is bringing you safely home?

If you want to learn more about the MidTree story or connect with us, go to our website HERE or text us at 812-MID-TREE.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:01):
When I was looking at the text that we had for this
week, one of the things that Iimmediately thought was Mother's
Day in Song of Solomon.
Challenge accepted, we aregoing to be in Song of Solomon.
But the kicker of it is, themore I spent time in the text
that I felt like the Lord hadcalled us to look at a number of

(00:22):
months ago, the more I realizedthis isn't really going to be
too much of a challenge topreach, quite honestly, and one
of the reasons is a lot of thishas to do with timing God's
perfect timing in all things.
If you're in your Bibles, goahead and begin turning in them
to Song of Solomon or Song ofSongs.
We will be in chapter two,starting in verse eight.

(00:44):
You'll see it up on the screenin just a minute, but, as you do
, can I just tell you I'm notjust dressed up for Mother's Day
, I am dressed up for Mother'sDay, but I had to go and get a
new suit for a wedding yesterday, also had a wedding last
Saturday.
In the event that you don'tknow, this spring is wedding
season in pastor land, and thisis kind of what we end up doing,

(01:05):
and so I hung it up after lastnight's wedding and I looked at
my wife and I was like I don'tknow, what do you think?
She was like, yeah, go for it,why not?
So pulled it right back off therack.
This will be maybe the onlytime in mid-tree history past
seven years, nor in the nextseven, that I have worn a jacket
two times in a row.
So if you are old school andBaptist, just eat it up right

(01:27):
now, because you shouldn't bankon it for a long time.
I'm not even convinced I'mgoing to make it all the way
through, but as I'm standing atthese two weddings last week and
this week the best part of thewedding the best part of the
wedding I know you guys love itwhen the doors open and the
bride walks down To me the bestpart of the wedding is the kiss

(01:48):
and then the release, because inthat moment everyone in the
bridal party is breathing in thesigh of like.
Nobody passed out, nobody fellover.
The flowers made it, the ringbearer didn't run off with the
rings and us like we did it, wemade it.
We have finally arrived, andthere is a piece of that reality

(02:09):
in the text that we are goingto look at together.
So this is the text for thismorning and we're going to take
it a little bit of a piece at atime.
Now, what I want you to know Issort of remember how we got
here.
The woman has spoken.
She shared all of these reasonsthat she loves the man.

(02:30):
They've got incrediblechemistry.
He's a man of character.
Their community loves thisrelationship.
He, as of last week, has nowresponded to her and we find
ourselves here In verse 8.
The voice of my beloved.
Behold, remember, when you seethat in the Bible, the Bible is
saying sort of like lean in,look closely.

(02:53):
Behold, he comes leaping overthe mountains, bounding over the
hills.
She did not marry Clark Kent.
This guy is not actuallyleaping over mountains, but when
she sees him coming, he's notwalking down the aisle like a
guy who had to be there.
He has longed for this moment.
His eyes are filled with tearswhile a smile is on his face.

(03:16):
Leaping over mountains,bounding over the hills, my
beloved is like a gazelle or ayoung stag.
Behold again, the Bible sayslook closely.
There he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows,
looking through the lattice.
What is happening here?
I've already told you he's aman of character.
He's not a peeping Tom.
He has not snuck up on her topeek through the window.

(03:39):
A better illustration of thiswould be he has been running
toward her house, picking uppebbles on the way to throw
against her window so that shewould come to it and he could
say I'm here and more than that.
It is time.
It is time for our love to turnfrom this youthful infatuation

(04:04):
into an eternal covenant that weare going to make together.
There's a reason that he ishere, that he is excited, but to
appreciate it, you have tounderstand they didn't do
weddings like we do weddings.
If you're the kind of personwho doesn't consider a sermon as
good unless you learn somethingnew, this may be your moment to

(04:27):
lean in.
Okay, I know you people.
Okay, it's fine, I grew up asone of them.
When you look at this, it'sgoing to be hard to appreciate.
If you think about this mancoming to her in our construct
of love and marriage, the waythat it worked back then was
that you would get engaged.
They used the word betrothed,but an engagement was hardier.

(04:50):
It meant more, which is why, ifyou look in the New Testament
at the birth of Christ, whenJoseph finds out Mary is
pregnant, even though she is hisbetrothed, scripture goes so
far as to say he wascontemplating divorcing her
quietly.
How do you divorce somebodyyou're engaged to?
You haven't been married yet?
In their culture, to bebetrothed was a commitment while

(05:15):
you were waiting for thecelebration.
Everybody got that so far.
Okay.
So then what would happen isthis Land wasn't plentiful,
resources were not abundant.
It was unlikely that the youngguy at 17, 18, 20 years old was
going to be able to provide ahouse, run a business the way

(05:35):
that we sort of expect our youngadults to do.
So what he would do is he wouldfind this woman, fall in love
with her, meet with her familyand they would get betrothed.
He would then disappear.
The reason he would disappearis because the only person he
knew that had land where hecould start a family was dad.

(05:56):
So he would go to his father'shouse and usually he would begin
a construction project.
He would start adding on to thehouse he grew up in, or adding
on to the property, and thebride didn't know how long it
was gonna take for him tocomplete the project.
Which is why, when it talksabout the return of Christ, it

(06:17):
talks about virgins who arewaiting with their lamps burning
.
They didn't know when the guywas going to come, leaping over
the mountains and bounding overthe hills to say the house is
ready, our life is prepared, weare committed to one another.
Your family's on board, myfamily's on board.
Let us enter into this lovetogether.

(06:41):
No, in this day and age, it wasa little different.
He would come and she didn'tlike.
This is the most mind-blowingthing.
She didn't know what herwedding day was, she couldn't
send out the invitations, shedidn't get to pick all of that
stuff.
She just knew.
I love this guy.
He's putting a life togetherfor us and I hope he shows up

(07:02):
soon, which is why Jesus says tohis church the bride be ready,
you do not know when I'm goingto come leaping over the
mountains and bounding over thehills.
But in the event that you onlyknow this verse from a song in
the 90s Big, big House with lotsand lots of room.
Who sang that?
Who was it?

(07:24):
Audio Journal and did that one?
Okay, I want you to think aboutthis verse in that context.
Jesus looks at his followers andhe says in my father's house
are many rooms.
If it were not so, would I havetold you that I go to prepare a
place to you.
Why is Christ always referredto as the groom and the church

(07:46):
is the bride?
This is what Jesus was saying.
If I'm going to go and preparea place for you, bank on it.
I am going to come again and Iwill take you to myself that,
where I am, you may be.
Also.
This isn't just saying heaven'sbig enough and it's got space
for you.
This is Jesus saying.
I am going to come to you likeone leaping over the mountains,

(08:10):
bounding over the hills.
Are you looking for me?
Are you ready for my return?
The church is the bride ofChrist.
He chose her, he pursued her,paid for her, adorns her and one
day he will come to take herhome.

(08:32):
This is the hope of everybeliever.
And, by the way, if you're nota Christian in the room, this is
what Christ offers that hewould choose you when you are
not lovely, when you are runningaround in his house like a
little terror, making all kindsof problems for the people
around you.
He still loves you, that he isthe one who pursues you, that he

(08:53):
pays for you on the cross andhe doesn't leave you there.
He makes you like himself.
He adorns you with himself.
So when we come back to thistext, he comes and he says my
beloved speaks and says to mearise, my love, my beautiful one

(09:16):
, and come away.
He has come to her house.
This is what she has beenlonging for.
And he says I have great newsfor you.
The time has come.
We're walking down the aisleand back again, life is about to
begin, but one of the thingsthat we can pick up from this

(09:38):
man is that he understandstiming.
Let me teach you something aboutthe Bible very quickly.
This is called bracketing or aninclusio.
It's when you see the samething arise, my love, my
beautiful one.
Arise, my love, my beautifulone, and come away.
This is called a bracket.
And when scripture keep in mind, the Bible was written before

(10:00):
digital media was around.
We weren't highlighting things,we didn't have a printing press
to italicize.
So the Bible has to conveythings to you using means that
we don't typically do.
Repetition is one of those Holy,holy, holy.
That's the Bible putting thingsin bold or underlying.
When it wants you to realizetwo things being held together

(10:20):
and what joins them together.
It uses bracketing or what'scalled an inclusio.
Arise, my love, my beautifulone, and come away, all the way
down to the bottom of 13.
Arise, my love, my beautifulone, and come away.
I have come to bring you home,but what does the Bible want you
to realize?
Before this can happen, thetime must be right.
Behold, the winter is past, therain is over and gone.

(10:48):
If you want to close your eyes,this is a poetic section You're
not going to offend me.
I want you to picture thetiming of this.
As this young man says, it'stime.
The winter is past, the rain isover and gone is past.

(11:08):
The rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come
and the voice of the turtle doveis heard.
In our land, the fig treeripens its figs and the vines
are in blossom.
They give forth fragrance.
How is it that this young womancan feel the freedom to leave
her old life behind?
And if you haven't noticed ityet, that's exactly what he's

(11:31):
asking her to do.
My love, arise, leave behindthe house you have known, leave
behind the life that you havelived.
Follow me into a land you havenot yet seen, on a journey you

(11:51):
have not yet made.
Trust me, it is better.
That's what this young man issaying.
And when Christ speaks to us,when the spirit of God speaks to
us, do you realize?
The message is much the sameGet up, stop living life the way
that you have been living it.

(12:12):
You have made a home in thisplace that you aren't satisfied
with, and you know you're notsatisfied with it.
My love, the one that I havepursued, come with me.
I promise you there is a betterlife.
You keep looking at grass thatis greener.
I can actually take you to theplace where grass is actually

(12:32):
greener.
In my father's house there aremany rooms.
If it were not so, would I havetold you that I've gone to
prepare a place for you, and theplace that I have prepared for
you is literally perfect.
And now it is time.
How can she trust this man withthe days ahead?

(12:52):
What assurances does she have?
She has this assurance, when welook at the timing, that God's
timing is never late and it isalways loving.
Timing for love and all thingsis in God's hands.

(13:13):
And this little text that we'rereading is the Bible saying.
Let me get your eyes for just amoment when we look at this
little section.
My beloved come away.
When we look at this littlesection, my beloved come away in
that specific moment on theplanet at that time.
It was their time for the thingthat she had longed for.

(13:38):
Let's be honest Mother's Day isa wonderful day.
Child dedication is a reallyfun thing.
But there are many in this roomfor whom Mother's Day is not
easy.
Mother's Day is attended withgreat longing and striving.
People who walk into a Mother'sDay and this may be the first
Mother's Day since you lost yourmother.
You may be a mother in thisroom who has lost a child.

(14:01):
You may be somebody in thisroom who is saying well, will,
if timing is so important to God, why is it that timing hasn't
worked out for me?
What if it isn't my time forlove, even though I want it?
What if it isn't my time forchildren?
And I would tell you this theBible can handle longing, and

(14:21):
the Bible does handle longing.
Oh so well, god's timing isnever late and it is always
loving.
This is Psalm 31, 3, 14, and 15.
At eight o'clock this morning, anumber of us got together in a
room that I'm looking throughthe window of right now, in the
back corner of the church and weopened up a time for people who

(14:41):
knew that Mother's Day wasgonna be hard for them.
They'd wanted to have childrenand they haven't yet.
They have lost children alongthe way and they enter today
with mourning Some of you inthis room just saying, hey, I
just thought I'd be dating a guyby now.
Honestly, I thought I'd bedating somebody, and that hasn't
panned out either.
Please listen to this passageout of Psalm 31, which we have

(15:02):
already prayed together as achurch, for you are my rock and
my fortress.
For your name's sake, you leadme and guide me.
Christians, don't miss this.
It's okay for the world to notunderstand it, but it's not okay
for you to not understand it.
When God comes and he receivesyou on your journey home as you

(15:24):
are leaving behind the house ofyour sin and brokenness but we
have not yet arrived at thehouse that he has prepared for
us as we are on this pilgrim,progress.
John Bunyan, you're welcome,greg, looking to you as we are
on this journey, pleaseunderstand this.
You are not on the journey foryour own.
You have been bought at a price.
Your life is about you livingfor the namesake of God, and he

(15:49):
will always be for your good.
But many times it may look likeyou saying this, but I trust in
you, o Lord, I say you are myGod, and when I look at my times
, my God, and when I look at mytimes, they are in your hand.

(16:14):
God's timing is never late.
It is always loving.
If you are not a mom, it is nota lack of love from God.
If you are not married, it isnot a lack of love from God.
If you are not dating today, itis not a lack of love from God.
Elizabeth Elliot puts it thisway.
I do know that waiting on Godrequires the willingness to bear

(16:35):
uncertainty and to carry withinoneself the unanswered question
, lifting the heart to God aboutit whenever it intrudes upon
one's thoughts.
It is easy to talk oneself intoa decision that has no
permanence, easier sometimesthan to wait patiently.
It's so easy to just cast ourlongings away.

(16:57):
It's harder to long forsomething, and long for
something and tell yourself thatGod is good and loving in the
midst of that.
Christian, you were built tobear uncertainty through faith.
Christian, you were built tocarry within yourself a question
that to this moment remainsunanswered.

(17:18):
It is what you were built for,and when we look at this passage
, god's timing for you is notbad.
It is good and great andglorious, and if you could just
see it from the days ahead, youwould begin celebrating it even
now.
The question is, where are eachof us in our season?

(17:42):
Just a quick question for howyour relationships are looking
Now.
You can apply this to whateveryou want.
You can apply this to romanticrelationships.
You can apply this to a spousalrelationship.
Certainly out of this text.
I just want to give you fourcategories to kind of help you
think through and pray in ameaningful way.

(18:03):
Is your relationship in a bit ofa summer drought?
The temperature is high.
Your relationship is dry,suffering from a lack of vital
nourishment.
Do you feel like you'restriving rather than thriving?
Maybe there's nourishment thathas been lacking.
Where can you go to restore it?

(18:23):
Well, I would recommend thatyou go here If it feels like the
temperature is high and you aredried out relationally.
Jeremiah reminds us my peoplehave committed two evils they
have forsaken me, the fountainof living water.
Is there a chance that yourrelationships are dry because
you're trying to find in arelationship what only God can

(18:46):
provide as satisfying.
He is the fount of living water, christ would say.
Instead, have you hewed outcisterns that can hold no water?
Have you tried to findsomething that will satisfy you?
And yet it hadn't.
Because here is the promise ofGod, isaiah 51.
The Lord will guide youcontinually and satisfy your

(19:07):
desires, even in scorched places.
For those of you who are in asummer difficulty, what about
those of us who may be more inthe fall?
Guys, I'm so upset I can't getmy slides to do what I want them
to do right now.
Okay, there we go A fallharvest.
You're reaping some rewards inyour relationship, but you can
feel the coldness coming on.

(19:28):
You're not going to say thatthere's nothing good going on,
but you can feel cold days andcold nights seem to be on the
horizon.
Maybe you're enjoying someblessings, but feeling distant
or mechanical.
What would it look like for youto return to your first love?
Well, it might look like thisDo not grow weary of doing good.

(19:55):
When you begin to see theblossom of the fruit of
faithfulness, do not give up,for in due season we will reap
if we do not give up.
Perhaps you're in the room andyou're like Will.
If I'm honest, I don't feel likethere's much life in my
relationships at all.
You might be married and feelthis way.

(20:16):
You might be so upset thatwe're doing the Song of Solomon
and you're like, are you kiddingme?
Like I just spent all of thisquiet and now we've got to spend
seven weeks talking about loveand romance and the God who
pursues.
Maybe you look and you're like,how can timing be right?
I'm longing for something andthere is no life in this longing

(20:38):
.
Maybe something's died in yourrelationship, maybe you're
missing trust or joy oraffection.
But what would it look liketoday for you to ask God to
breathe new life into that?
Maybe it would look likeEzekiel 37.
When Ezekiel looks at thedeadest of things bones that are
dried out and God says to him,son of man, can something that

(21:02):
seems dead and lifeless live?
And he answered oh Lord, god,only you know.
And then God says I will put myspirit within you and you shall
live.
Christians, please hear me onthis.
If you are going through aseason that feels lifeless, god
is not wasting his time and hehas not forgotten you.

(21:23):
It is his desire that you wouldlive, that he will place you in
your own land, that you wouldknow that he is the Lord, that
you are not able to providemeaningful life yourself, but he
is the one who is able to do it.
And then finally, and I do hopefor many of you, here you're in
springtime.
We look outside and things arewet and they're growing and it's

(21:47):
beautiful.
Life is everywhere.
Things are blooming and freshand exciting.
If that's you right now, don'twaste the season.
What habits, what spiritualrhythms have helped you to grow
and bloom?
Have you thanked God for thesethings?
Have you celebrated thesethings with others?
But what I would tell you asyou consider all of these things

(22:10):
Hosea 6.3,.
Let us know, let us press on toknow the Lord.
His going out is sure as thedawn.
He will come to us as theshowers, as the spring that
rains, that waters the earth.
But when you look at this andyou kind of pick where you are
and some of you may be in oneplace in your marriage and

(22:30):
another place with your parents,you may be in one place with
your kids and a completelydifferent place with your spouse
or something else what I needyou to realize as we work
through this passage of Song ofSongs is this life in all of its
aspects, is seasonal, and ifyou wanna know how to navigate
life as a Christian, you mustknow this.

(22:51):
You must know this there is nopromise that it is always going
to be springtime, but there isalso no promise that it is
always going to be dry andparched.
There is a promise that you'regoing to go through winter, but
there is also a promise that youwill reap a harvest if you do
not give up.
And so, as you look at yourrelationships, as you think
about the timing of God, whereare you and can you trust him?

(23:14):
That life, in all of itsaspects, is seasonal.
When we look at this, I do wantto be cautious, though for them,
this is an awesome time of life.
Everything is going well.
We've got doves cooing in thebackground.
You got grapes growing on thevine.

(23:34):
What could possibly go wrong?
The pastor says, with a slightcliffhanger, until he slides and
reads the next two verses whatcould possibly go wrong?
Oh, my dove in the clefts ofthe rock, in the crannies of the
cliff.
Let me see your face, let mehear your voice.
Quit throwing pebbles at mefrom down below.
I just wanna be close.
I just wanna be near to you.

(23:56):
Your voice is sweet, your faceis lovely, and then we hit verse
15.
Let me be honest with you.
It's a bit of a handbrake inthe poem.
Everything's beautiful, it'sthe smell of honeysuckle and
butterflies in the air, untilyou get to verse 15.
You get to verse 15 and shelooks at the guy and she gives
him a job.

(24:16):
This is how you know they're ina committed relationship.
Okay, she looks at the guy andshe's like yes, you're lovely,
your face, all of the.
Okay, there's something I needyou to do for me.
I left my pills downstairs andif you would go and get those
for me, I would appreciate it,or whatever it is in your
iteration.
Here's what she asks of him.

(24:37):
By the way, guys, when you feellike your spouse has asked for
something difficult, just beglad she didn't ask for this.
Go catch some foxes, okay, timeout.
What?
In the midst of this beauty, ina season where everything for
them is going well, she looks athim and she says, hey, go catch

(25:00):
the foxes for us, the littlefoxes that spoil the vineyards,
for our vineyards are in blossom.
What could go wrong?
I'll tell you what could gowrong.
Everything could go wrong.
Every possible thing could gowrong.
Her sin could go wrong.
I'll tell you what could gowrong.
Everything could go wrong.
Every possible thing could gowrong.
Her sin could go wrong.
His sin could go wrong.
The sin of the people aroundthem could go wrong.
The sin of the world thatthey're in could go wrong.
So she looks at him and shesays my beloved, you got to kill

(25:21):
her face and I love it.
I love the fact that you canleap over hills, but I need you
to do this thing.
Don't let something ruin thislove that we have.
Now.
To appreciate this, you need toremember something.
You need to remember what herjob was.
Her job was not an easy job.

(25:44):
The Bible tells us in a fewchapters before that her mean
half-brothers had made her workthe vineyard.
She knows what it's like to gocatch foxes.
I've never caught a fox in mylife.
Closest thing I can come upwith is a raccoon.
All right, raccoons are likefoxes.
They're cute, they wear littlemasks everywhere they go and
they have these awesome littlepaws.

(26:05):
They're amazing littlecreatures.
There was a little likejuvenile one running up a tree a
couple of months ago when I wasdriving by, threw the car in
part, hopped out, pet the thingas it was running up.
I've washed my hands since.
I just think they're awesome.
All right, until you have babychickens, until you have a
garden.
And then you read this andyou're like go catch that

(26:27):
doggone fox.
If I have to go to TractorSupply one more time and replace
this $9 chicken that is chick,that is never going to produce
enough eggs to repay theinvestment that I put in.
This is what she's saying.
There are things that want toruin the season of goodness that
I am in and I don't want tomiss it.

(26:47):
In a sense, she's looking atthe man, looking all the way
back in time and saying this youdidn't handle a snake really
well, let's see how you handle afox.
That's kind of what this iscoming across as.
Are you going to step in wherethe world would attack us
Parents?
The greatest gift that you cangive to your children has

(27:08):
nothing to do with money.
It has nothing to do with thehouse that you can put them in.
It has nothing to do with howmany sports you can support them
in.
None of that matters.
It doesn't matter what schoolyou've gotten them in.
Can I tell you what you cangive them.
If you're a mom and a dad, ifyou're in a single parent home,
whatever it is, give them.
If you're a mom and a dad, ifyou're in a single parent home,

(27:28):
whatever it is, this is thegreatest gift that you can give
them.
Hey, kids, I want you to knowI'm never going to stop chasing
off the foxes that want to ruinthis thing.
I'm never going to quit.
I'm not going to quit trying tokeep away the things that want
to ruin the good things that Godhas done.
And when I fail, you're goingto see me repent over and over
again.
But better yet.
I'm going to go to the one whohas never failed in this.

(27:51):
I'm going to go to the one whocan absolutely handle this,
because here is the deal she hasalready tried.
Song of Solomon 1.6.
My mother's sons were angrywith me.
They made me keeper of thevineyards, but my own vineyard I
haven't kept.

(28:12):
This used to be my job.
Will you be the kind of guy whodoes the job I wasn't able to
do?
That's what she's saying Now.
Move out of the romantic loveto the pursuit of Christ to his
children.
This is a Christian sayingChrist, the groom who has come

(28:32):
to rescue me and take me to myforever home.
Will you handle this life?
Because I keep screwing it up.
It doesn't matter how hard Itry, I keep failing.
Can you actually do thiskeeping for me?
Because guess who wants to stepin and do the job that we keep
failing at, christ?
Christ wants to step into thegarden of your own making.

(28:55):
You've been working in thisgarden that you were never able
to keep.
You have been building thislife that you were never able to
manage, and foxes keep wreakinghavoc in the garden of the life
that you are trying to create.
But praise be to God.
Romans 3.20.
He promises us this by works ofthe law, by your best efforts,

(29:18):
you will never be justified inthe sight of God.
You will never make the gardenthe way it was supposed to be.
You can never undo all of themesses.
You can never shoo off all ofthe foxes.
You can't do what God wants foryou.
However, by works of the law,no human being will be justified
in his sight, since through thelaw comes knowledge of sin.
All you're going to do isrealize how far you come short,

(29:44):
but that is not the end of thestory.
You come short.
But that is not the end of thestory.
Our attempts at removing foxesin the garden fail, but God
pursues us.
And here is what he says to usarise and come away.
This is the last thing that Iwant to point to you.
This passage ends like this mybeloved is mine and I am his.

(30:08):
That's marriage language,that's covenant language.
That's put the ring on and thenwalk out.
Stokesy, if you're in here, youcan go ahead and come up.
This is where Christ is tryingto get all of his children to.
But did you see what happenedfirst Before?
There is this mutualself-giving love and, by the way
, in every Christianrelationship the expectation is

(30:29):
that it's mutually self-giving.
I'm going to outdo you whileyou're trying to outdo me in
showing love and grace and peaceand kindness, but before we can
get here, we must arise andcome away.
We must realize that if we wantto get to this relationship,
god is going to move first.

(30:50):
Can I tell you, this happenedlong before you ever got here
and even as Adam and Eve sinnedfirst Genesis 3.15, this promise
was made that one was going tocome who was going to fix this
garden that they ruined.
Arise and come away.
He has already done thisdifficult thing.

(31:12):
I've asked you to do one hardthing today and I'm going to ask
you to do one more as we close.
The hard thing that I've askedyou to do is trust God's timing.
For some of you, that is anexceedingly difficult thing.
Now, for all of you, I wouldask for one more hard thing.
But if you would do this, Iwould ask for one more hard
thing.
But if you would do this, itwill be worth it.
I promise you.
Not only do we trust God'stiming singles who are looking

(31:34):
for love, marriages, looking foran oasis in the midst of their
desert, people who are desiringto celebrate Mother's Day as a
mother but it's not the timingthat God has but now we find
that this girl looks at the manand she says are you going to do
what the other men in my lifewere not able to do?
Are you equipped?
Do you have that kind ofability, love care, do you have

(31:57):
that kind of a desire for me?
I'm tired of trying to do itand I don't have the ability.
This is how we should all belooking at our own lives, the
garden that we would build forourselves, the best life that we
would build for ourselves isinsufficient for what God wants
for you.

(32:17):
There are just too many foxes,too many things that go wrong
too many times, and even if wehave a good relationship, these
foxes aren't going anywherewhile we're on this side of
eternity.
But Jesus is sufficient.
He is able to do the work.

(32:38):
He was the one who was intendedto do it from the very
beginning.
So he offers to do what wecouldn't.
Ready and waiting, christ looksat us and he says my beloved,
come to me, arise.
Where the grass really isgreener, where the foxes are

(33:00):
kept at bay, where love can growand flourish.
In the garden that I ambuilding and that I myself tend
In my father's house, there aremany rooms, but will you leave
behind the garden that you havebeen making?
I know that it's scary and Iknow that it feels like a risk,

(33:22):
but when we do arise and comeaway, what we find is this
perfect, promised, covenantrelationship.
I am yours, god says, and youare mine.
This is covenantal language.

(33:42):
This is God saying in themoment you choose to leave your
old life behind.
You are mine forever and I willcarry you all the way home,
regardless of what that journeylooks like.
I don't know what timing lookslike in your life, I don't know

(34:03):
what difficulties you havewalked through, I don't know
what season you are in, but Iwill tell you this we have been
justified, for those of us whoare in Christ, by faith, so we
get to have peace with Godthrough our Lord, jesus Christ.
Through him, we have obtainedaccess by faith into the grace
in which we stand and we rejoicein the hope of the glory of God

(34:27):
.
And it doesn't matter which ofthe four seasons you are in.
Arise, my beloved, and come tome.
Stop working yourself.
So let us respond to God's wordtoday.
A couple of ways that we dothat every week Feel free to go
in the back and pray, wanderaround in the grass, listen to

(34:48):
the singing of God's people, orremain in the back and pray.
Wander around in the grass,listen to the singing of God's
people, or remain in the room,stand, sing, kneel, pray.
And if you want to talk, if youwant to celebrate, if you want
to receive prayer from a pastor,we will have some of them down
front and we will go on thefront porch.
Let us be a people who cantrust in God's good timing as we

(35:08):
celebrate his goodness over ustoday.
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