The Bridegroom cries out to His beloved Bride in verse 4:8 of The Song of Songs, “Come from Lebanon, my promised bride, come from Lebanon, come on your way.”
Three times He exhorts her to “come”. Why such eagerness and persistence from the Bridegroom? And what is Christ saying to you and me?
Lebanon is a symbol for anything that allures us or tempts us and keeps us from following Jesus. Lebanon is a beautiful land and it was so in Biblical times but it was also a foreign land to the Israelites. It was not their home, not the Promised Land God had given to His chosen people. There were dangers there, “the haunt of lions, the mountains of leopards.” (4:8) The Bridegroom entreats His beloved to arise and run back to the safety of His presence.
Jesus is awaiting our return home to heaven from this foreign land, this land of exile. He knows well the dangers and temptations that surround and threaten us and our salvation. He reminds us in verse 4:8 that this earth is not our true home. Although we do not yet live in the “Promised Land”, our good and loving Father has filled the earth with beauty and blessings. He desires for us to “taste and see His goodness” now. We can say with the psalmist, “I believe I shall see the LORD’s goodness in the land of the living.” (Psalm 27:13) We see the goodness of the Lord in the beauty of all He has created, “the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.” (Psalm 33:5). St. Paul wrote in Romans 1:20:
“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.”
This is the sacramentality of creation, seeing in all of creation the beauty, truth, and goodness of God and recognizing that everything is gift from the hands of our loving Father. God wants us to delight in all the gifts he has given us in this world, but He does not want us to cling to them, not to become attached to them. We must love the goods of this earth, even the gift of the people He has entrusted to us, for His sake.
We, too, can go astray and commit spiritual adultery just as the Israelites did if we make idols of the gifts that are meant to lead us to God. His gifts are icons of His love and the ultimate good and happiness that await us in heaven. The beauty and joys of creation are guideposts on our way home to Him Who is Beauty and foretastes of the delight and the sweetness that waits for us in heaven.
But if we cling to the beautiful things of this world, the beautiful things here in our Lebanon, it will be difficult and painful for us to arise and come when our Bridegroom calls us. Our hands will be full.
Our load will be heavy. Our hearts will be tied and attached to things other than Him. As St. John of the Cross teaches, “The soul that is attached to anything however much good there may be in it will not arrive at the liberty of divine union. For whether it be a strong wire rope or a slender and delicate thread that holds the bird, it matters not, if it really holds it fast; for until the cord be broken the bird cannot fly.”
The Bridegroom desires for us to fly to Him! He calls to us, “Come from Lebanon, my promised bride, come from Lebanon, come on your way.” (Song of Songs 4:8) What must we do in order to be able to soar to our Beloved?
Love God first with all our hearts, minds, and souls. Love His gifts with disinterested love; seeking to love the Giver more than the gift. Surrender to His efforts to rightly order our loves. Be willing to let go. Be willing to detach from created goods and cling to the One Who is the Creator of all and the Lover of humankind. And when we have found the One Whom our souls love, we must do as the Bride of The Song of Songs and hold Him fast, never letting Him go.