“Draw me, we will run after thee...” Song 1:4
Someone once said that every man before salvation has an empty place in their heart that is the size and shape of Jesus Christ. Because God Almighty created us for his own pleasure (Rev. 4:11) and designed us with the need to love and serve Him, man is utterly miserable when he tries to live apart from God. Like a flame to a moth, there is something about Jesus that tugs on the heart of every human. But with the gift of a free will, many refuse to submit to the Creator, resisting all attempts to be drawn to God. They choose rebellion over love and earn the same fate as the first rebel in Scripture, Lucifer.
This term “draw” is sometimes reserved to refer to salvation – compare John 6:44 & 12:32. In the context of chapter one however, the Bride is clearly already one with her King – so salvation cannot be in view. The only option left is that the term must refer to fellowship. One of the strongest lessons to be gleaned from the Song of Solomon is that we often take our fellowship with Christ far too casually. Few believers are actually in as close a relationship with Jesus Christ this side of heaven as they could be. Here the Bride is expressing her desire for that deeper communion with her King. She asks that the King draw her close to him and she promises that she will then run after him.
The spiritual war is a contest of two suitors for our affections. On one side is the Lord Jesus Christ and on the other side is the world, the devil and our inbuilt traitor, the flesh. Which suitor will “draw” us to their side? Make no choice and the flesh will always win by default. James 1:14 reminds us, “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” With a force from two different spiritual directions tugging on our hearts,, we must carefully consider where we allow ourselves to be pulled!
The Godly aspect of this drawing or pulling however is not a one way street. To complement the Bride’s request for the King to draw her to himself is the obligation that we have by direct command to do our part and move closer to God. James 4:8 commands, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.”
Like an ever tighter embrace, the believer and Christ have the possibility of being drawn ever closer to one another in closer fellowship. The desire on the part of our Lord is always there and never diminishes – the question is what does our heart want?
