The Bride: Part Four
I chuckle when I remember Elvis singing that song Burning Love; read a few of the lower story lyrics.
Lord Almighty, I feel my temperature rising; higher and higher it’s burning through my soul. Lord, have mercy …
The writer of this song, not Elvis, was obviously thinking of human erotic love but notice the God-language? I think when we lift up our thinking from that lower story to the upper story of our union with Jesus we begin to understand what David was thinking when he penned:
I love you, O LORD, my strength. … Smoke went up from His nostrils, and devouring fire from His mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from Him. Psalms 18:1, 8 ESV
David declared His love to God and God responded with fire? Let’s think about that.
The Brazen Altar of the Tabernacle and Temple was a visual reminder that God is a consuming fire of judgment, true, but also of burning love. Moses was instructed that the flames were never to go out, consequently, that passionate fire still burns today … yet in a different way. Jesus’ Bride has partially come forth, Jew and Gentile, she’s already here, already but not yet. That means that the Bride will be reunited to her Bridegroom when He reappears on the scene: the Second Coming.
Until then we devote time in developing our relationship with Him. Read what other Psalmists wrote describing their emerging passion for God.
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?Psalms 42:1-2 ESV
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me. Psalms 63:1, 8 ESV
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalms 91:1 NKJV
That secret place is anywhere you choose to be with Jesus; maybe in your favorite chair, a quiet walk, or even when you drive to work. No music, no texting, no reading: just you and God. Choosing to put yourself in that solitary place of rest and fellowship with Him, alone with the Alone, sets the tone for your whole day. His passionate love begins to burn in your heart when you express yourself to Him. That’s intensely personal but also intensely intimate. His burning love will drive you to that secret place every day and the Spirit will fill you with all you need. Devote time to Him and you’ll begin to experience His bridal love.
For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. Isaiah 62:5 ESV
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