“I Am Sick of Love”

I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. I sat...: Heb. I delighted and sat down, etc taste...: Heb. palate He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. banqueting...: Heb. house of wine Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love. comfort...: Heb. straw me with apples His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please. I charge...: Heb. I adjure you - Song of Solomon 2:1-7

    "I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.) He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please."

    Have you ever experienced love-sickness? Love-sickness is that sickness you get when someone dear and precious to you, someone you love is absent. It is that sick feeling you get when the one you love is absent from you and worse, there is a wedge between you. That is what is set before us in these verses. Only, the love-sickness before us here is altogether spiritual. It is a love-sickness between the believer’s soul and Christ, our Well-Beloved, a sickness caused by our sin.

    In this chapter we have another picture of that intimate love which exist between Christ and his church and the blessedness of our fellowship of love with our Redeemer. That which we most highly value and most greatly desire as the church of Christ is the constant fellowship of his manifest love.

    When I can say, “My God is mine;”

    When I can feel Thy glories shine;

    I tread the world beneath my feet,

    And all the world calls good or great.

    Assured security

    We know and rejoice in the fact that Christ is the omnipresent God (Psa. 139:7-12). We know that Christ is always present with his people (Isa. 43:1-2; Matt. 28:20; Rev. 1:13, 1 6, 20). We know that Christ always meets with his people, as often as we gather in his name (Matt. 18:20; 1 Cor. 3:16, 17). We know that Christ is always with each of his people (1 Cor. 6:19). We know that Christ always loves his people (John 13:1). We know that Christ always does what is best for his people (Eph. 1:22). And we know that Christ will ultimately bring all of his people to be with him in heaven. He will present us faultless, blameless, unreprovable, and perfect in heavenly glory (Eph. 5:25-27).

    Without question, our souls are secure in Christ. All that concerns the eternal welfare of God’s elect is safe. The Lord Jesus Christ will keep his church, which he purchased with his own blood, in perfect safety. Truly, at all times, it is well with my soul.

    When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

    When sorrows, like sea billows roll,

    Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,

    It is well, it is well with my soul.

    All of these things are true. They are a source of comfort and joy to believing hearts at all times. Still, there are times when our Lord withdraws his manifest presence from us. There are times when we are unable to sense and perceive the reality of his presence with us (Song of Sol. 5:6). This is the thing we greatly fear. We have no fear of Christ ever leaving us entirely. That he will not do. But we do fear losing the manifest presence of our beloved Lord. We do fear losing the blessedness of his fellowship.

    Sometimes he withdraws himself from us, because of our sin, our unbelief, or our neglect, as we shall see when we get to chapter five. Sometimes he withdraws himself in order to increase in us the awareness that we do truly need him. Whenever he is pleased to withdraw his manifest presence from us, it is for our own good. He intends to awaken us. He intends to draw out our hearts love for him. He intends to return unto us. He promises, “If I go away, I will come again...I will not leave you comfortless.” Yet, for us it is a sad, sad time when Christ withdraws the sweet manifestation of himself. When he does, our worship is empty, our usefulness is diminished, and our joy is gone. We are compelled to sing with Newton, in low, bass tones…

    “How tedious and tasteless the hours,

    When Jesus no longer I see;

    Sweet prospects, sweet birds, and sweet flowers

    Have all lost their sweetness to me.

    The mid-summer sun shines but dim;

    The fields strive in vain to look gay.”

    Then, our very hearts cry, “I am sick of love.” There is a heavenly love-sickness in our souls for Christ. We want him. There are five things in this passage which will help to show you what I mean when I say - This is one sickness which I hope you will catch. “I am sick of love.”

    A Loving Comparison

    It is common with lovers to use poetic comparisons to describe one another. And in the first three verses of this chapter both Christ and his bride use poetic comparisons to describe their love and esteem for one another.

    Christ, our Beloved Redeemer, speaks first (vv. 1-2). "I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters." He describes himself. Then, he describes those people whom he has loved, chosen, redeemed, and called unto himself. Our beloved Savior is to all of his people “The Rose of Sharon and The Lily of the valleys.”

    “The Rose of Sharon”—This speaks of his redeeming blood. Though in the eyes of the world it is obnoxious, to us it is precious. The Rose of Sharon gives off the sweet smelling nectar of redeeming love, pardoning grace, and complete atonement.

    “The Lily of the Valleys”—Through the righteousness of Christ, we have been made pure and white as a lily. The word translated “lily” is from a root word that means “whiteness”. The lily is in the shape of an umbrella, and Christ’s righteousness, like an umbrella, covers us. In our many valleys, Christ is our Lily, both to cover and to cheer us.

    Then the Lord Jesus tells us that we who are united to him by faith and love are “as the lily among thorns.” By the mighty operation of free grace, the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to us in justification and imparted to us in sanctification, so that we bear a likeness to our Lord, even here upon this earth. The church of God in this world is “A lily among thorns.” The cares of this world, unbelieving rebels, and our own vile lusts are thorns, things that contribute nothing but pain. Yet, among these thorns, God’s people stand by his grace in Christ as lilies.

    In verse three the Bride speaks of her Beloved. Here is a tender comparison of Christ, our beloved Savior, to a fruitful apple tree. He is the Tree of Life in the Paradise of God. "As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste."

    Christ is a fruitful Tree. He declares, “From me is thy fruit found” (Hos. 14:8). He is a shade Tree.” H“I sat down under his shadow with great delight!is fruit is sweet, oh, how sweet and refreshing to us! The fruit of this tree is eternal life, free forgiveness, complete justification, all the fullness of grace here, and all the fullness of glory hereafter!

    A loving remembrance

    "He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love" (v. 4). Here the Bride lovingly remembers and gratefully acknowledges that she has all the blessings of the King’s house only because of the King’s grace. She remembers the first time she came to know his love to her. Can you not recall those first revelations of the Savior’s love to your heart? “He brought me into the banqueting house.” “His house of wines,” or “His place of feasting.”

    Christ’s banqueting house is the church of the living God. The table of feasting is spread with the truths of the gospel:—Covenant Mercy—Unconditional Election—Substitutionary Redemption—Irresistible Grace—Final Perseverance—Everlasting Glory. He took us by the hand and led us into his house. The wine of that house is the fellowship and communion of Christ himself. “His banner over me was love.”—Eternal love!—Special, distinguishing, electing love!—Redeeming love!—Persevering love!—Irresistible love!

    A loving sickness

    Remembering that which we have experienced and known of our Savior and his grace, realizing that which is lost when our Lord withdraws himself, knowing something of the bliss and joy of his presence, when he hides his face our souls faint with a heavenly love-sickness. "Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love" (v. 5).

    “I am sick of love!” More than anything in this world, we want him. We long for his presence. We want to know him. Our hearts cry, "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death!" We want to know Christ in the fullness of his love. We want to know him in the fellowship of his suffering. We want to know him in the power of his resurrection. (Eph. 3:19; Phil. 3:10). We long for his return. We long to be with him, and to know his manifest presence with us. So long as we remain in the body of flesh, so long as we must live here, among all the thorns of this sin-cursed earth, let us ever have the refreshing comfort of his grace.

    “Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples.” The flagons of wine represent the love of Christ. The apples represent the promises of the gospel. The promises of the gospel are as apples of gold in pictures of silver (Pro. 25:11).

    A Loving Comforter

    "His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me" (v. 6). Our beloved Lord knows how to comfort our troubled and distressed hearts. John Gill wrote, “The church, having desired to be stayed, supported, strengthened, and comforted, presently found her beloved with her, who with both hands sustained her.”

    These words are expressive of many things. Surely, they speak of his tender love and care for us. They reflect the believer’s intimate union and communion with Christ. And they display our safety and security in the arms of Christ. Is this now true? Has our beloved Lord and Redeemer come to us once again? Does he again hold and embrace us? If truly we are made to enjoy the fellowship of Christ, let us heed the admonition of verse seven.

    A loving admonition

    "I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please." Having experienced the sweetness of Christ’s communion and the manifestation of his love, we greatly desire that they continue so long as we are upon the earth (Matt. 17:4). Yes, our Lord will come to us and withdraw himself from us according to his own wisdom and pleasure. We recognize those words, “Till he please.” We bow to his will, even here. Yet, we must be careful that we do nothing to provoke him to leave us (Eph. 4:30). We must not neglect him and his love. We must take care not to grieve him (Eph. 4:23-32).