AWAKEN Devotional, Day 2: Sick with Love

By Pam Cowart

Yesterday we heard Jesus calling us to AWAKEN to the reality of His deep, healing, powerful love for us. Take a moment to read this insight from Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon was a preacher in the 1800s, so you may need to slog through some of the less than modern language, but the beauty of Spurgeon’s perspective on what it means to love and be loved by Jesus is worth it. 

"I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of [with] love" (Song of Solomon 5:8).

Such is the language of the believer panting after present fellowship with Jesus, he is sick for his Lord. Gracious souls are never perfectly at ease except they are in a state of nearness to Christ; for when they are away from him they lose their peace. The nearer to him, the nearer to the perfect calm of heaven; the nearer to him, the fuller the heart is, not only of peace, but of life, and vigor, and joy, for these all depend on constant intercourse with Jesus. What the sun is to the day, what the moon is to the night, what the dew is to the flower, such is Jesus Christ to us. What bread is to the hungry, clothing to the naked, the shadow of a great rock to the traveler in a weary land, such is Jesus Christ to us; and, therefore, if we are not consciously one with him, little marvel if our spirit cries in the words of the Song, "I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, tell him that I am sick of [with] love." This earnest longing after Jesus has a blessing attending it: "Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness"; and therefore, supremely blessed are they who thirst after the Righteous One. Blessed is that hunger, since it comes from God: if I may not have the full-blown blessedness of being filled, I would seek the same blessedness in its sweet bud-pining in emptiness and eagerness till I am filled with Christ. If I may not feed on Jesus, it shall be next door to heaven to hunger and thirst after him. There is a hallowedness about that hunger, since it sparkles among the beatitudes of our Lord. But the blessing involves a promise. Such hungry ones "shall be filled" with what they are desiring. If Christ thus causes us to long after himself, he will certainly satisfy those longings; and when he does come to us, as come he will, oh, how sweet it will be!
 
Response

1. The hunger in your soul was designed to be filled with the love of Jesus for you. Take a moment to confess any attempt to fill the hunger of your soul with things other than Jesus. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This moment you can transfer your position with Jesus from far to near.
2. Take a moment to recognize the nearness of Jesus. Receive the “perfect calm of heaven” that comes along with his nearness.
3. Take a moment to recognize where you are “hungry” and what you are hungry for. Would you be so brave and bold to release any illegitimate hunger to Jesus and ask him to increase your hunger for himself?
4. We have cried out COME ON! Spurgeon assures us He is coming. He is coming to satisfy your longings. Take a moment to hear his knock ... his invitation to open the door and let him come in. Open the door. Let Jesus come in.