“Tell me, O Thou whom my soul loves, where Thou feedest, where Thou makest Thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turns aside by the flocks of Thy companions?” (Song of Solomon 1:7).
“Rest at noon”! How inviting it sounds! The song we have culled the expression from is rich in Oriental images. To gain some idea of the simile we must transport ourselves in imagination, to Eastern lands. It is noon, and the rays of the scorching sun are beating upon the parched and wearied earth. There is no escape from its pitiless glare. But there is One in our passage who is skilful in finding rest even at noon for His flock, He is addressed as the One “whom my soul loves.”
Dear troubled, anxious Christian, let me apply the simile to what you know something of. Has it been noon with you? Have the scorching rays of tribulation, of trial, of weakness of body, of shattered hopes and broken spirit reached you, till you have felt you could not bear more? What you need is REST.
There is One, whom thy soul loves, who can give it. That One loves you well, and He it is who has given you the tribulation, the weakness of body, the broken spirit in order that parched and weary you might at length turn to Him and find “rest at noon.” There is a spot even then of perfect rest. What a rest it is! To lie perfectly passive in His hands, knowing that THE LOVE, the perfect divine love, which has planned out your pathway, has measured in its omniscience the weight of your sorrow. He is engaged in working out the purposes of His love in you for His own glory first and then for your exceeding gain. In the knowledge of that love your heart may rest—“REST AT NOON.”
I knew a Christian who was dying. One would have thought that he could not stand any greater pressure and further weakening, but the fiercer the rays the more beautiful was the rest that he enjoyed. There is no possible combination of circumstances in which this rest may not be known.
“A MAN shall be … as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land” (Isa. 32:2). “
Come to ME, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).
The same truth is put in different ways. In all our weariness we know mm, who knew weariness and thirst—A MAN, verily “God over all, blessed for ever,” yet truly MAN, now glorified, the Succourer of His people, their great High Priest, “touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” Surely we can find rest in Him, as under “the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” Ay, and He gives the invitation, “Come UNTO ME, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”—an invitation most blessedly falling from the lips of the gospel preacher; and no weary sinner who comes to Him but will find rest, yet not confined to that but an invitation to you that labour and are heavy laden to rest.
Blessed Jesus! The One whom our souls love is He who can give rest to His flock at noon. “Rest at noon”! Do you know anything of it?