Come Away

"Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away."   Song of Solomon 2:10

I hear the voice of my Beloved! He speaks to me! Fair weather is smiling upon the face of the earth, and He does not want me to be spiritually asleep while nature is all around me awaking from her winter’s rest. He bids me “Rise up,” and well he may; for I have long enough been lying among the pots of worldliness. He is risen, I am risen in him, why then should I cleave unto the dust? (Psalm119:25) From lower loves, desires, pursuits, and aspirations, I would rise towards him. He calls me by the sweet title of “My love,” and counts me fair; this is a good argument for my rising. If he has exalted me, and thinks me comely, how can I linger in the tents of Kedar (see Psalm 120:5-7) and find congenial associates among the sons of men? He bids me “Come away.” Further and further from everything selfish, grovelling, worldly, sinful, he calls me; yes, from the outwardly religious world which does not knows him, and has no sympathy with the mystery of the higher life, he calls me. “Come away” has no harsh sound in it to my ear, for what is there to hold me in this wilderness of vanity and sin? O my Lord, would that I could come away, but I am taken among the thorns, and cannot escape from them as I wish. I would, if it were possible, have neither eyes, nor ears, nor heart for sin. You call me to yourself by saying “Come away,” and this is a melodious call indeed. To come to You is to come home from exile, to come to shore out of the raging storm, to come to rest after long labour, to come to the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes. But Lord, how can a stone rise, how can a lump of clay come away from the horrible pit? Please raise me, draw me by Your Grace. Send Your Holy Spirit to kindle sacred flames of love in my heart, and I will continue to rise until one day I  will leave life and time behind me, and come away indeed . 

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Morning Devotions, C.H. Spurgeon