Winter Past

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My beloved speaks and says to me:

Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away:

For lo, the winter is past,

the rain is over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth,

the time of singing has come,

and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

The fig tree puts forth it figs,

and the vines are in blossom;

they give forth fragrance.

Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

Song of Solomon 2:10-11

Winter is a time of rest for God’s creation. In many parts of the earth there is a cold silence that accompanies winter. If a door is slammed the sound will echo throughout the cold air and the noise of it’s shutting is amplified. So too is the winter of one’s soul. It is a time of silence from God, when the Lord’s presence is no longer felt. Just as the winter snow blankets the ground, one knows that God is still the underpinning of one’s life, but His silence amplifies the darkness.

This is not the silence of sin. David experienced that when he had relations with Bathsheba and then had her husband murdered. That is a separation caused by sin. David in Psalms 51 poured out his heart in repentance to the Lord and pleaded with God, “cast me not away from thy presence. Silence such as this does happen to all believers. Thank goodness that we have a Saviour that paid the price for our sins and puts us in right standing before God so that we may be in his presence. We can stand in the grace of our Saviour and still live in silence.

It is God’s design for our lives to move us beyond the first blush of love that is displayed by an exchange of favors and is motivated by feelings. He wants to take us beyond courtship and constant wooing into a deep-felt relationship not predicated on actions.

He wants to be our friend. Solomon puts it this way in Proverbs 18:24 “There are friends who pretend to be friends, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” The Lord is just such a friend. When our sin prevented us from approaching a Holy God, he sent his sinless Son to die for us, to provide a way for access to him. Jesus the Son of God then sent the Holy Spirit to live in us so we could communicate with God.

Why then would God doll this and then be silent? God wants to produce in us a frankness with him. God never abandoned David even when he was a fugitive from Saul, but there were times of silence. Here was a man whom the Lord had anointed to be the next King of Israel while King Saul was still on the throne. The Lord allowed David to be chased and falsely accused by Saul, who refused to recognize that his disobedience had cost him his throne. Why? After the victories God gave David in his youth it was time to deepen their relationship. It was time to add a frankness to his faith.

“My soul is sorely troubled. But thou, Oh Lord- how long?” Ps 6:3

“Why dost thousand afar off, O Lord?” Ps 10:1

“How long, O Lord ? Wilt thou forget me forever?” Ps 13:1

These are the words of David, and he spoke so many more like them. This was a man after God’s own heart, the apple of his eye and an ancestor of Jesus. David worshiped God not only with his lyre but also with his being. He was a friend of God yet there were times of silence. David experienced the winter of one’s heart.

Job, God’s friend, described his ordeal as follows:

“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there: and backward, but I cannot perceive him: on the left hand I seek him, but I cannot behold him; I turn to the right hand, but I cannot see him.

“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job 23:8-10

Job had his friends who did not perceive what God was doing and became his accusers.

There are times like that in our lives where people close to us offer up suggestions as towhee we no longer hear God. Their intent is help, but quite frankly, God has not spoken to them. The Lord required from Job’s friends a burnt offering and Job offered a prayer on their behalf. When Job prayed the Lord restored his fortunes twofold. When the spring comes, and it will, please forgive those loving but misguided friends who tried to help.

Be not discouraged if you are going through the silence of winter. The frost will bring forth sap from the cedars and the roots that have grown deep in the cold will shoot forth in life when the winter is past.

D. Clifton 12-16-2003

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“Winter Past”
Copyright Dec-2003 Debra L. Clifton

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