Rise Up

Listen, I hear the voice of my beloved. He speaks to me. The weather of spring is shining upon the earth, and He would not have me spiritually asleep while nature is awaking all around me from her winter’s hibernation. He encourages me to “Rise up”, and I’m thankful that a He does, because I had been asleep for a long time while making my bed with that temptress, worldliness. But my beloved, He is risen,  and I am now risen with Him, so why should I still cling to the death and the grave and the filth of the great whore of this world? From the depths of worldly love,  desires, pursuits,  and ambitions, I will rise towards Him.

He calls out to me with the sweet name of “My Love” and He values and cherishes me, which is more than enough encouragement to explain my waking from my sleep. If He has honored me with His favor, and has chosen me as His, how can I remain walking the streets of darkness, playing the part of an unfaithful bride, making friends with the sons of men? He calls to me,  “Come away!”

Further and further from everything worldly,  lowly,  selfish,  sinful, He calls me away. Yes, from the outwardly religious that do not know Him at all, and who have no compassion for the mystery of the higher life, He calls me.

“Come away” isn’t a sharp or harsh awakening call,  but is gentle and pleasing to my ear. What could keep me in this wilderness of vanity and sin?

Oh, my Lord,  I wish that I could come away, but I am entangled in the briars and thorns and I cannot escape them, even though I want to. I wish that it was possible for my eyes to be blind to, and my ears to be deaf to, and my heart to be immune to sin. You call me to you,  saying “Come away”, and the words are wonderful and beautiful and glorious to my ears. To come home to you is to return from exile, to find safe harbor from the raging storm, to rest after a hard day’s labor, to arrive at the goal of my desires and the mountaintop of my wishes.

But Lord, how can a stone rise up to the heavens,  how can a lump of clay find its way out of the horrible pit? Oh,raise me,  Lord. Draw me to you,  Lord. Your grace can do it. Send your Holy Spirit to kindle your sacred flames of love in my heart, and I will continue to rise until I have left life and time behind me,  and I will come away to You.

[Personally Adapted from Charles Spurgeon – Morning and Evening – April 25 Morning]