His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers.
--Song of Solomon
5:13
The
flowery month is here! March winds and April showers have done their work, and
the earth is all adorned in beauty. Come, my soul, and put on your holiday
attire; go forth to gather garlands of heavenly thoughts. You know where to go,
for you know well the “bed of spices.” You have often smelled the perfume of “sweet
flowers.” You will go at once to your Well Beloved and find all loveliness
and all joy in Him.
That cheek—once so rudely smitten with a rod, often wet
with tears of sympathy and then defiled with spit—that cheek, as it smiles with
mercy, is a fragrant aroma to my heart. You did not hide Your face from shame
and spit, O Lord Jesus; therefore, I will find my dearest delight in praising
You. Those cheeks were furrowed by the plow of grief and crimsoned with red
lines of blood from Your thorn-crowned temples. Such marks of limitless love
cannot but charm my soul far more than great quantities of perfume.
If I may
not see the whole of His face, I would behold His cheeks, for the least glimpse
of Him is exceedingly refreshing to my spiritual sense and yields a variety of
delights. In Jesus I find not only fragrance, but a “a bed of spices”; not one flower, but all manner of “sweet flowers.” He is to me my Rose and
My Lily, my heart’s comfort and my healing balm. When He is with me, it is May
all year round. My soul goes forth to wash its happy face in the morning dew of
His grace and to comfort itself with the singing of the birds of His promises.
Precious Lord Jesus, let me truly know the blessedness that dwells in abiding,
unbroken fellowship with You. I am a poor worthless one, whose cheek You have
deigned to kiss! Oh, let me kiss You in return with the kisses of my lips.
--Charles Spurgeon
Jesus, move me to action. I have been changed by Your love; Your beautiful love. Send me out in that love. Break my heart Jesus, break my heart for the very people who turn against You. Break my heart over my sin, and continue to heal my past, and pour Your grace out on me daily. I NEED YOU.
