Song of Solomon 8:5—Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved?
Standing on the mountainous plateau with which Judea passes into the desert, the daughters of Jerusalem behold the Spouse, coming slowly up from the wilderness, leaning hard upon her Beloved; and in this we have an emblem of the Church, and of each faithful soul. The wilderness can well be taken as an emblem of the experience of believers, who are suffered to hunger and thirst, exposed to be smitten by the sun of temptation, and pacing wearily over the lowlands of a somewhat arduous and monotonous existence.
But the wilderness-life is not destined to be our perpetual experience. We are bidden to come up from it. Life is meant to be an unceasing ascent from strength to strength until we stand in Zion before God. Is your path trying and perilous? Does it seem as though you will never gain the heights that rear themselves before your gaze? Do you feel prepared, like Hagar, to yield to despair and death? See, there is One that goes beside. Turn to regard Him. His hands are as though they had been pierced. He is your Beloved; lean on Him. He gives you his arm to rest upon, and He will sustain you when heart and flesh fail. The wilderness will bring out a tenderness, an all-sufficiency, a readiness of resource, on his part, which you would never have guessed unless your exigencies had become imperative. Be sure of this, lean hard, and believe that:
"He will bring thee where the fountains
Fresh and full spring forth above,
Still throughout the endless ages
Serving Him with perfect love."