Variations on a Song of Songs, which is Solomon's

I am my Beloved's and He is mine
His banner over Me is love
I am my Beloved's and He is mine
His banner over Me is love

He spreads His presence over me
He holds my head and embraces me

I hear my Beloved, He looks for me
He comes to me with love
My Beloved speaks and He calls to me
come with me my love

Rise up my love and come away
Rise up my love, this is the day

Winter is past and the rain is done
The sun is warm, His voice is heard
The time has come
The flowers appear, the time for song is here
'Til the day breaks and the shadows flee away!

I am my Beloved's and He is mine
His banner over me is love
I am my Beloved's and He is mine
His banner over me is love
It is love. It is love.

Hear My Heart

A Psalm of Casey

I was your friend, and I thought you were mine.
I wanted to be your friend, and I wanted you to be mine.
If a man wants friends he must show himself friendly,
And from the first day we met that is the only way I ever tried to be.
We embraced as brothers at every occasion.
We ate at table together, you in my house and me in yours.
We traveled the same road together from time to time.
We never had a disagreeable moment, nor a disagreement, and yet

When you chose a different path, I wondered.
But you left me in doubt.
When you spoke with different words, I questioned.
But you left me unanswered.
When you sat with different friends, I tried.
But you left me to sit alone.
When you abandoned me, I prayed.
And you never knew the intercessions I made, the tears I cried.

I hungered and thirsted for the same things as you.
I wished to hear and understand your heart.
I wanted to know where you were going.
I longed to catch sight of what you sought.
I desired to give you my help and my strength.
I yearned to offer my wisdom and my gifts.
I hoped to lend my heart to your cause.
I tried to come along side, but you left me behind without a backward glance.

When I was in need, I asked for your help.
You abused me instead and took the side of my enemy against me,
You surprised me, until I found you had done it before to better men than me.
When I looked for ways to support you,
To strengthen you and hold up your arms,
I found what I was not looking for and learned what I did not wish to know.
I carried the burden, I shouldered the load,
And you never knew, nor did you need to. It was mine to bear, and I was glad.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
And deceitful the kisses of an enemy.
To me I am the one and you the other; to you I am one and you the other.
What I offered you did not want. What I gave you rejected as naught.
You did not heed me, nor did you care to inquire of me.
You heard the words, but not the heart,
And now you think I have launched the firebrands and arrows of death.
But I have not.

Now fellowship is broken and relationship is gone.
I hear what you say, but your silence is deafening.
I see how you stiffen when I am around.
I feel the looks even when you’re not looking.
You don’t have to pretend with me anymore, I know exactly how you feel.
You feel betrayed by your friend, who became your enemy,
And you don’t even know why.
I feel the same way, and don’t even know why.

You listened to those who did not know me,

and accused me without cause.

You threatened me and demanded of me,

and never asked what you needed to know.

You were brutal and harsh when you needn't have been.

I would have told you everything, had you just been my friend.

Even now, I think you would isolate and deprive me,

but the walls that you build confine only you.

A brother offended is harder to win than any strong city.
What you want me to say would be a lie upon my lips.
But this I say: You heard my words, but not my heart.
What you thought you heard was not what was truly said.
You listened to deceitful kisses and honeyed lies,
You followed sedition and seduction where I could not go.
You did not see me for who I really was, but rather saw me as what you feared.
You did not know it, but you needed me, and yet I call to you from here.

You are my friend; let me be yours again.

No Tiger in Me

The following is the opening paragraph to an article found at crosswalk.com (http://www.crosswalk.com/11623365/) entitled "The Tiger (Woods) in You".

Prior to this recent series of revelations, there wasn't a man on the planet who in some sense didn't want to be Tiger Woods. Tiger is good looking. He's physically fit. He's a world-class athlete. He has a beautiful wife and two beautiful kids. He's rich beyond anyone's wildest imagination. He had a father who loved him—not just in words, but in action, pouring himself into his son, building a love that survives to this day, in many ways making Tiger the man he became.

I would like to state, for the record, that I am one man on the planet who never wanted, in any sense, to be Tiger Woods...even before this recent series of revelations. He may be good-looking, physically fit, and a world-class athlete. He may have a beautiful wife and two beautiful kids. He may be rich by the world's standards. He apparently had a father who loved him, who poured himself into his son to make Tiger into the man he became. But I still never wanted to be anything like Tiger Woods, and I'll tell you why.

I don't know if I'm good looking or not. I'm not physically fit, I'm certainly no kind of an athlete. I don't have a beautiful family. And I'm almost as poor as the proverbial church mouse. Tiger and I share one thing, though...I also had a father who loved me, who poured himself into me to make me into the man I have become. But what really differentiates me from Tiger is not what he has that I don't, but what I have that he doesn't.

Tiger is a self-professed Buddhist, the religion of his mother. He says it has made himself aware, and helped him realize he was stubborn and impatient, but has taught him that he has to work on the things in his life that he wants to be perfect. His entire life, all thirty-four years of it, has been about his career as a golfer--his swing, his stance, his concentration. The most important thing in Tiger's life, the thing that got him international fame, wealth beyond compare, a beautiful wife and beautiful children (along with no less than 11 beautiful mistresses) is the ability to hit a little white ball into a little black hole. That is the most important thing to Tiger Woods...that is what Tiger's dad apparently poured into him. And now, his whole world is crashing down.

My dad never played ball with me. He never taught me to work on a car. He never took me hunting, never showed me how to clean a fish or butcher a deer. In fact, I'd say that in terms of "practical" things, my Dad taught me very little. It wasn't that he didn't love me; my Dad loved me without reservation; he told me; he showed me. But Dad wasn't concerned about me being a success by the measure of the world. I'll tell you what Dad poured into me.

My Dad poured Jesus into me. As much as he received, he gave. If he learned it in the Word, I learned it. If he heard it in the Spirit, I heard it in my own ears. Dad taught me how to pray, how to worship, how to preach, how to minister to people. Dad showed me how to be strong and how to take a stand when I was right, even if it meant everyone else was standing against me. Dad showed me how to be honest, and how to have integrity, and how to keep seeking God's grace to overcome my weaknesses. Dad never condemned me for my failures, he loved me in spite of them, showing me the immeasurable love that our Heavenly Father has for us. He encouraged me to do better, but never rejected me for falling short.

He was not a perfect man, my father. There were some failures on his part, some shortcomings. I knew some of them; those did not diminish his stature one iota in my eyes. He was a great man of God. There were probably issues he dealt with, weaknesses, failures, sins, of which I had no knowledge. But he was a man who lived by grace, through faith, in the Lord Jesus Christ. He showed me the way to perfection was through forgiveness, and gave me hope...not in a worldly fortune or a measure of success. He gave me hope in the eternal. After all, a man can gain the whole world and lose his soul.

I never wanted to be like Tiger, because he doesn't have Jesus. He has the whole world, but give me Jesus!

A Biblical Worldview of Sex

The following is a response that I made to a friend's blog, located here:

http://theholyapostate.blogspot.com/

The article is entitled: Sex!

The views expressed there are from his own worldview, which I do not endorse, but I try to carry on a healthy dialogue with him because he has been my friend for a very long time. I don't recommend that you go there, but if you do, be prepared. And if you feel the need to respond to anything he says, please be kind.

----------

I agree with you that "Christianity" and "the church" have not historically had a healthy perspective on sex. I even have to laugh at your invocation of Augustine, later sainted, who kept a mistress until the day she died, even while he was developing Christian theology. But the Bible has a very healthy perspective on sex, devoting, as you noted, an entire book to the subject.

I have often questioned the wisdom of telling our young people, "You can't have sex with someone you're not married to," and then telling them, "Don't get married, you're too young." As you pointed out, Biblical girls were usually married off at puberty, and boys not much later. That's not even legal today! Nevertheless, it was Biblical. And marrying for "love" has been a development of the industrial world. Most Biblical marriages were arranged, though with the involvement of the couples. The young man could make his choice, under the guidance of his father. And the young woman had the right to refuse. So even though they were arranged, they weren't forced.

I have a solution, but our culture (especially our church culture) is not going to like it. We need to quit "raising" kids until they are 30 and older. We need to raise our kids to be more mature and independent by the time they are teenagers than we are currently doing. They need to get their educations, and then get jobs and earn livings, a lot faster than they are currently doing. They need to be given more responsibilities earlier in life, more training for the issues that really matter in life, and more preparation for the realities of commitment and faithfulness in all areas of life. Including marriage. (and I could open a whole 'nother can of worms here, but I won't) I think we need to be raising our sons to be husbands and fathers, and our daughters to be wives and mothers. But for some reason, we're not.

Now for my disagreement: the Bible has plenty to say about pre-marital sex. It's called fornication, and it's as big a sin as adultery. In fact, fornication literally means "uncovering the nakedness of". Biblical marriage is centered around the Biblical covenant (another lost concept), which involves a separating of flesh and consummation through blood. We spend too much time preaching against sex, because it's sin, rather than promoting the sacredness of the act! The Bible never defines women as property (although some have misused the Bible to treat women as such); I think the Bible is probably the only sacred text that truly upholds the rights and liberties of ALL people.

God is the One who created sex, and He gave it to Adam and Eve for several purposes, only one of which was procreation. Sex forges a physical, emotional, and spiritual bond between those who engage in it together, which contributes to healthy bodies, healthy minds, and healthy relationships. Sex brings two people closer together than any other act between individuals, making them, Biblically speaking, one flesh. Every time a married couple has sex, it should have the same effect on their relationship as taking communion has on our spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ...it is a reminder of covenant, of commitment, of faithfulness, and of love.

And regarding Song of Solomon, which is practically my favorite book of the Bible, it truly is a book about intimacy, but it has so many layers it cannot JUST be a book about sex. But I think you are mistaken when you say the passion described is between two people who are not married; Solomon and his bride were married at the end of Chapter 3 and celebrated their consummation at the beginning of Chapter 5. As a betrothed couple, they may have shared certain intimacies that were allowable under those ancient marital arrangements, but when Solomon entered his "garden", he found it a garden enclosed, pure, fragrant, and waiting only for him.

Prophetic Voice

for ruminations on the Scriptures and other Spiritual issues, please check out my other blog:

http://onepropheticvoice.blogspot.com/

Casey's Soap Box will, in the future, be dedicated to mostly personal items.

A Church Divided

The church was divided.

They were divided over their favorite preachers.

They were divided about who was in charge.

They were divided about who was more spiritual.

They were divided over who had the most to contribute.

They were divided because of open and obvious sin, and the lack of correction.

They were divided by petty arguments and lawsuits against each other.

They were divided over matters of morality, and they were divided over matters of conscience.

They were divided over questions about marriage, and they were divided over questions about celibacy.

They were divided over diets.

They were divided over giving to missions and ministries.

They were divided over hats in church and hairstyles on heads.

They were divided by fellowship dinners and the Lord's supper.

They were divided by the exercise of Spiritual gifts, especially tongues and prophecy.

They were divided by arguments over the nature of the resurrection.

They were divided over who should be taking up the offerings, and who should be delivering it to where it was supposed to go.

In all that division, there were some issues that just weren't worth talking about. There were others that necessitated division, getting on one side of the issue or the other. There were some divisions that needed exploration and discussion so that understanding could bring unity. There were other divisions that just needed action.

That Corinthian Church was one messed up congregation of carefree charismaniacs, a hundred people going in a hundred different directions, but all of them apparently lacking in the one thing that is supposed to knit a body together. It is not about being alike that makes us a church; it is about being in love. We must love the Savior first of all, and we must love each other. Actions are going to necessitate reactions, but love keeps all things in perspective. Disagreements are going to happen, but love keeps the disagreement from becoming divisive. Love is that which endeavors to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

For we are one body. We have one Spirit. And there is one hope in which we are called. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Everybody Wants to be Daniel

So, I've been leading my congregation through a study of Daniel, particularly the visions and revelations that God gave him concerning the future history of the Jewish people and the world. For me, Daniel is the book that makes me believe that the prophecies of the Bible can be trusted, and that the ones which haven't been fulfilled yet will certainly be fulfilled before the end of days.

Did you know that Daniel prophesied that there would be four empires that would try to rule the world as it was then known--namely, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome?

Did you know that Daniel prophesied the succession of Persian kings and their defeat by the Greeks at Thermopylae at least 60 years before it happened?

Did you know that Daniel prophesied the rise and conquests of Alexander the Great, and also prophesied his death without an heir...nearly 200 years before Alexander was born?

Did you know that Daniel prophesied the division of Alexander's kingdom into four regional kingdoms, the most important of which would be the kingdoms of Syria and Egypt?

Did you know that Daniel prophesied, in minute detail, the wars of the kings of Syria and Egypt that would continue for 200 years after the death of Alexander until Rome began to exert its power?

Did you know that before there was ever a temple rebuilt in Jerusalem, Daniel prophesied that the Romans would destroy it?

Did you know that Daniel prophesied TO THE DAY when Jesus would enter Jerusalem as King only to be rejected by the ones who should have known He was coming?

One of the things the Bible tells us is that in the last days, many prophets and teachers would arise in the world, claiming to be of God, but their messages would actually lead people astray. I live with a church culture that believes in prophecy, in the prophetic word, in the ability of God to speak through one individual to address the heart of another. I believe God can and does reveal matters of the heart, matters of history, and matters of destiny. An anointed prophet of God can speak to what has happened, what is happening now, and what will happen in the future.

But being a prophet wasn't always about seeing the future. Everybody these days seems to want to be a Daniel, but I don't find many self-proclaimed prophets trying to be a Jeremiah or a Malachi. We live in a culture, even in the church, that wants to be gratified and satisfied with predictions of health, wealth, blessing, and prosperity, in which everything is put right and nothing will ever be wrong. People are anxious to hear a prophet speak good things over their lives about all the good things that God wants to do and that God is going to do. But very seldom do you hear a prophet get on TV or behind a church pulpit and pronounce gloom and doom and judgment and disaster because of the sins of our nation or the sins of a people. Seldom do you hear the call for repentance, the challenge to change the way you've been living. No one wants to here that. Certainly not many are willing to pay for it. Give us the good news, the multitudes demand, but keep the bad news to yourself. We're just fine the way we are; just tell us what God is going to do for us next!

I've got a feeling Jeremiah wasn't well liked by hardly anybody. Daniel just kept getting promotions and accolades, and God kept giving him glorious visions of a triumphant future for the Kingdom of Christ who hadn't even come yet! But Jeremiah's message was one of sudden defeat and certain destruction for the people who wouldn't repent--from the king in his palace to the slave in the field. If they didn't repent, God was going to bring judgment. Forty years he preached his sad-mad message: Repent or die! And what thanks did he get? He got slapped around, imprisoned, locked in stocks and bonds. He was falsely accused of being a trouble maker and a divider. He was forced into house arrest and thrown down a dried up well with nothing to eat. When everything he had prophesied came true, nobody stood around applauding him. Under threats to his life, he was exiled to Egypt where he supposedly died.

Daniel was popular with kings. Jeremiah was popular with nobody. Of course, maybe the reason Daniel was so loved and accepted is because his ministry was never to his own people. He was always preaching to foreign kings and their kingdoms. Jeremiah's message was proclaimed to his own, his neighbors and kinsmen and folks of like precious faith. In the end, both prophets were proven true in what they had said, but Daniel got rich and Jeremiah got bupkis.

Everybody wants to be a Daniel, having visions, seeing the future. They forget that Daniel also prayed three times a day and never had a bad word written against him But nobody wants to be a Jeremiah.