APPRECIATION AND ENJOYMENT
The Lord today is going to recover His living Person. In the Song of Songs, we see one who sought the Lord, and by her seeking, she found Him. Having found Him, she began to have sweet fellowship with Him. All of this is in the first two chapters. In her fellowship, first of all, the seeking one had a real appreciation of the Lord. She appreciated the Lord as a bundle of myrrh within and as a cluster of henna flowers without. She sought the Lord, she found the Lord, and in her fellowship with the Lord, she began to appreciate Him. Following this appreciation, there was the enjoyment—she said that her beloved was like an apple tree. An apple tree is not only for appreciation, but also for enjoyment. First of all, she had the appreciation, and then she came into the enjoyment of eating the fruit of the apple tree under its shadow. She enjoyed both the fruit and the shadow. After this, she was brought into the banqueting house, which means the house of wine. For her enjoyment, she had something to eat and something to drink. By enjoying the Lord, she began to partake of the Lord.
A PERMEATING WORK
When we eat anything, it becomes a part of us. Whatever we eat enters into us; it is digested and assimilated into our blood stream. Then it becomes our cells and even our organic tissues. Suppose you eat some chicken for lunch. By your eating of the chicken, it gets into you. It is digested and assimilated to become cells in your blood; these cells then become your organic tissue and even your very element. It just becomes you. As we appreciate and enjoy the Lord, something of the element of the Lord is taken into us and eventually becomes us.
The Lord Jesus said, “I am the bread of life…he that eateth me, even he shall live by me” (John 6:35, 57b). To enjoy the Lord is to eat the Lord, which means that we take something of the Lord into our being. Then, there will not only be the appreciation and the enjoyment, but also the perfuming. To be perfumed means to be permeated with the Lord. This is why we must appreciate the Lord and begin to enjoy Him. By enjoying Him, something of the Lord will get into us to permeate us. This inworking of Jesus is the working of Himself into our being. Eventually we will be mingled with Him. The Lord is recovering His living Person to us that He may be wrought into our being. This living Person is nothing less than God Himself in incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. All of these elements are included in His Person.
Such a Person is going to be wrought into us. He is not just for our appreciation and enjoyment; He must be wrought into us. Then, when the question is asked, “Who is this?” the answer will be that this is Solomon with the crown. We eventually become one with Christ.
DEALING WITH EMOTION, MIND, AND WILL
To perfume or permeate any object without any life or personality is quite easy. A ball of cotton put into a bottle of red ink will soon be permeated with the red ink. This is simple. But suppose someone tries to put you as a living person into red ink. Surely you will fight against it. This is why the Lord has a hard time trying to permeate us with Himself. We have our own personality, our own will, and we do not want to lose them.
Therefore, we see in this book that the Lord first touched the emotions of the seeking one. “Let Him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. Draw me, we will run after thee.” The Lord touched her emotions, and she began to love Him, even though she was as strong as horses. Then, as she came into the presence of the Lord and began to appreciate the Lord’s sweetness and beauty, she was transformed by the renewing of her mind. Her perceptions and her concepts were changed. The Lord first touched her emotions; then He renewed her mind. But this is not all. She still had a strong will. Her emotions were touched, and her mind had been transformed, but her will was still strong. It took a much longer time for the Lord to deal with her will. But eventually her will became the locks as a flock of goats feeding on Mount Gilead. This was the complete subduing of her will by the cross. Then, in resurrection, her will became as strong as the tower of David to be the arsenal for God.
It was by dealing with the emotion, the mind, and the will, that the Lord was able to work Himself into His seeking one. If we take this merely as a teaching, it will mean nothing to us. By His mercy we must realize that the Lord is speaking to us today. We must begin to love Him with our emotions. Then we will seek Him, find Him, and have sweet fellowship with Him. In the fellowship we will have the appreciation and the enjoyment of Him. Then, something of the Lord will get into us to permeate us. This permeating work will transform us and subdue our will. Then we will be willing to let the Lord do whatever He wants. He will put us into the “red ink,” and we will be permeated and perfumed. We will be saturated until we have lost our character, our personality, and our will in Him. Then we will really have Him as our Person.
A horse has an exceedingly strong personality, but the palanquin does not have any personality of its own, though it does have a personality. Its personality is just the living Person it carries. This is why the Lord Jesus wants to work Himself into us to such an extent.
NO SELF EFFORT
After reading these things, we must not try to work them out ourselves. We should not attempt to change our mind or subdue our will. We simply cannot do it. There is only one way to change our mind: by appreciating the Lord. The more we appreciate Him, the more our concept will be changed. Formerly the movies and all the worldly things seemed attractive to us. Though they have not changed, yet we simply are not attracted to them any more. They have not changed, but we have changed. Our concepts have been changed by our appreciation of Jesus. The sweetness and beauty of Jesus have changed our insight. The more we appreciate Him, the more our mind will be changed.
From appreciating the Lord, we must go on to enjoy the Lord. The more we take Him in, the more He will be the permeating element within us. In Him is the myrrh, the frankincense, the cleft of the rock, and the secret of the steep places. All these elements are in His Person, and they will be wrought into us until we are transformed and our stubborn will is subdued. The more we feed upon Him and take Him in, the more He will saturate us until our will is completely subdued. This is why the Lord appraised her hair as a flock of goats “that lie along the side of mount Gilead.” Gilead is a place for feeding the flock. “Feed thy people…the flock of thine heritage…let them feed in…Gilead, as in the days of old” (Micah 7:14). “And I will bring Israel again to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied…in Gilead” (Jer. 50:19). There is no other way that our will can be subdued except by feeding on the Lord.
We must not try to subdue our will by ourselves. We must simply learn to feed upon Christ. We must pray-read His Word in a living way, and we must tell Him, “O Lord Jesus, I love You! I take Your very element into me. I feed upon You as the living Word.” If we will do this, spontaneously the Lord will permeate our being and subdue our will. Our emotion will be touched, our mind will be transformed, and our will subdued. Then, the Lord will have full freedom to saturate us with Himself. We will no longer be a horse, but a palanquin and a crown. When anyone asks concerning us, the answer will be that we are simply Christ with the crown. We have been wrought into Jesus, and He has been wrought into us. We are fully one with Him for His move on the earth.
(Life and Building as Portrayed in the Song of Songs, Chapter 7, by Witness Lee)
