I’m Looking for Robins!
Song of Solomon 2:10-13
10 My beloved spoke, and said to me:“Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away.
11 For lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone.
12 The flowers appear on the earth; The time of singing has come, And the voice of the turtledove
Is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree puts forth her green figs, And the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell.
Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away!
I really really get depressed this time of the year. I love the cool days and the beautiful trees, but I know winter is coming. I know that for many of you that means ice skating and skiing and ice fishing and hot chocolate and all the things that “sting the toes and bite the nose.” But for me it means short days, shoveling snow, driving in white-outs, and worrying about frozen pipes. Winter wouldn’t be so bad if the snow would come on Wednesday and be gone by Saturday when I usually travel. It wouldn’t be so bad if the below zero weather didn’t come with a strong northwest wind for two weeks in January. But the beauty of winter is that spring is coming. The wind will swing to the south, the snow will melt, the tulips will pop though the ground and those nice April showers that bring May flowers will bless the land. Oh I know there will be a tornado or two but somehow those don’t count when I begin to bask in those longer warmer days. I have noticed that if you can get away from city “smells” there even seems to be a freshness in the way the air smells in the spring. Now I may be a bit sentimental, but spring is my season; and I just can’t wait for spring to come when we are in the middle of winter.
Spring reminds me of resurrection (not of reincarnation). It speaks of renewal and of new life. And in this passage, the man who has captivated the heart of the gal that is being courted is coming in the spring. To me, it is a nice picture of the Lord coming for His bride. I realize that the Lord could come at any time; but even if He doesn’t come in the spring, it will seem like spring. Actually the winter seems to be a picture of what life is like today when the bridegroom is gone: while the bride-to-be is awaiting His coming to take her back to the Father’s house for the wedding feast. Spring is associated with the blessings of His coming. It will be a new day: and yes, I do believe that the Lord is coming.
According to Titus 2:13 we who are believers are looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. We don’t hope to be saved, but we who are saved have a spring-time in our future. We have hope. We have something to which we can look forward. We don’t live as though winter is going to last forever. We live as though spring is coming. Because it is. We need to have our affairs in order because when the Lord comes, we are going to leave everything behind. He says He is coming so that where He is, there His disciples can be also (John 14:3).
I think that from the standpoint of the seasons of life, spring is just around the corner. I can almost smell the lily of the valley, the lilacs and I can almost see the tulips. I’m looking for robins.
Who gets to take part in this spring time blessing? Only those who are “born again (John 3:7).” Believers in the Lord Jesus have their places reserved. You can tell these people by their compassion, by the way they live for eternity and not for time, by the way they have set their sights on heavenly blessing rather than earthly blessing and by the way they treat one another. These people can honestly say, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so!”
Spring is coming, it really is!
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of October 20, 2013