Lo, the flowery month is come
“His cheeks are as
a bed of spices, as sweet flowers”
(Song of Solomon
5:13)
Lo, the flowery month is come! March winds and April
showers have done their work, and the earth is all bedecked with beauty.
Come my soul, put on thine holiday attire and go forth
to gather garlands of heavenly thoughts. Thou knowest whither to betakethyself,
for to thee "the beds of spices" are well known, andthou hast so
often smelt the perfume of "the sweet flowers," that thou wilt go at
once to thy well-beloved and find allloveliness, all joy in him.
That cheek once so rudely smitten with a rod, oft
bedewed with tears of sympathy and then defiledwith spittle-that cheek as it
smiles with mercy is as fragrant aromatic to my heart.
Thou didst not hide thy face from shame and spitting,
O Lord Jesus, and therefore I will find my dearest delight in praising thee.
Those cheeks were furrowed by the plough of grief, and
crimsoned with red lines of blood from thythorn-crowned temples; such marks of
love unbounded cannot but charm my soul far more than "pillars of
perfume."
If I may not see the whole of his face I would behold
his cheeks, for the least glimpse of him is exceedingly refreshing to my
spiritual sense and yields a variety of delights.
In Jesus I find not only fragrance, but a bed of
spices; not one flower, but all manner of sweet flowers. He is to me my rose
and my lily, my heart's-ease and my cluster camphire.
When he is with me it is May all the year round, and
my soul goes forth to wash her happy face in the morning-dew of his grace, and
to solace herself with the singing of the birds of his promises.
Precious Lord Jesus, let me in very deed know the
blessedness which dwells in abiding, unbroken fellowship with thee. I am a poor
worthless one, whose cheek thou hast deigned to kiss! O let me kiss thee in
return with the kisses of my lips.
C. H.
Spurgeon