"My beloved raised his voice and said to me, 'Arise, my beloved, my fair one, and come away. For behold, the winter has passed; the rain is over and gone. The blossoms have appeared in the land, the time of singing has arrived, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land."—Song of Solomon 2:10-12 (The Complete Jewish Bible with Rashi)

As I sit here writing this, I look out the window and see two feet of snow with a forecast of eight more inches on the way. Winter is not close to passing in the natural...but the Lord is declaring that it has passed in the supernatural. Hallelujah.

In the Bible, seasons signify an appointed or appropriate time for something. Summer, which is hot and dry, is the time of harvesting crops, whereas winter is typically rainy and a time of unpleasant stormy weather. This is a time of dormancy compared to summer's splendor. In ancient days, people regarded themselves as vulnerable during this season because traveling in the winter is a difficult thing (see Matthew 24:20). The roads are bad, rivers are impassable, and on top of all that, it's cold.

With that said, there is something very interesting about the word used in our key passage for winter. It occurs only once in the Old Testament...here, in this passage from Solomon's song. Even more interesting is the meaning of the root word. In Hebrew, the word is setav (pronounced seth-awv'; Strong's #5638). Setav means winter or rainy season, however, it comes from an unused root word which means to hide. Therefore, spiritually speaking, we could read this as "Behold, the season of hiding is over."

Looking at the portion of Scripture just prior to these verses might shed some light on this understanding. The bride appears to be hiding behind a wall and the Beloved is gazing at her through the lattice. The Shulamite says, "The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he stands behind our wall; He is looking through the windows, gazing through the lattice" (Song of Solomon 2:8-9).

On the one hand, this entire event is simply an expression of enticement – the beloved is appealing to his lover to follow him. On the other hand, as we look past the simple meaning of the passage, it appears that although Love is powerful enough to leap over mountains and skip on the hills, it will not leap over our personal walls. Hmm...that's something to ponder, eh?

I remember not too long ago my husband surprised me and booked a spontaneous vacation for our 20th anniversary. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I didn't have the response you would expect. I didn't have time to go away, we didn't have extra money to spend, I didn't have clothes that fit, I didn't have help lined up to take care of the household, etc. the list went on and on. I was convinced that it was just easier to stay home (stay behind the wall, so to speak), and as a result of all this I was becoming quite negative about this incredible invitation extended to me by my beloved husband.

Can you identify? How many excuses can you come up with to not go away with your Beloved? Maybe you are experiencing tragic trials and hardships and going away with God may seem impossible or worse, like a complete waste of time. Please don't misunderstand me, going away with God does not guarantee everything is going to come up smelling like roses. Nor does it mean you have your head in the clouds and are ignoring the very real struggles in life.

However, I believe with everything inside of me that while we are in His presence He will show us things. "Come up here, and I will show you things..." (Revelation 4:1). Maybe He will show you a creative idea, maybe He will show you steps to take towards your destiny, or maybe He will show you that His grace is enough and calm your screaming soul with the knowledge of His never-ending love. Either way, it all begins when we respond to His invitation to come away.

Hear His Voice – He is Seeking You Out

"The blossoms have appeared in the land, the time of singing has arrived, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land."

Today, if you hear the voice of the Turtledove...come away. He is seeking out those that are in hiding and announcing that the winter season is over.

The image of the Holy Spirit as a dove has become a standard Christian icon thanks to the testimony of the disciples in all of the four Gospels (see Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; and John 1:32). In our passage, the Hebrew the word for turtledove is t'owr (Strong's #8449). In its straightforward meaning, we can understand this as referring to birds. After all, it's not uncommon to hear the chirping and singing of birds in the springtime. It's interesting to note, however, the same three Hebrew letters have yet another meaning.

The Hebrew word t'uwr (Strong's #8446) means to seek, to search out, spy out, explore. We see this word in Numbers 10:33 speaking of the great Guide that sought out a resting place for the Israelites while wandering through the wilderness:

"So they departed from the mountain of the Lord on a journey of three days; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them for the three days' journey, to search [l'tuwr] out a resting place for them."

This reminds me of the Spirit of Truth which Jesus said would "guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come" (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit, our great Guide, is seeking, guiding and speaking to us. He is calling us to come out from behind our walls, to come out of hiding. We build the walls to hide our heart so we won't be hurt again. You see, sometimes it's easier to build walls than to trust again. But the Holy Spirit desires to bring us to a resting place through every trial, through every day.

Perhaps you have tried it before, yet nothing has changed. I know it's painful, but the winter is over and the voice of the Turtledove is singing in the land. It's time for revival. Flowers appear on the earth and the season of singing has come. God is calling us out of hiding, He is enticing us to come away to live again, love again, believe again, and to bring our relationship with Him to new heights.

Behold, it's time to stop hiding behind walls of fear (What if such and such happens?); it's time to stop hiding behind walls of doubt (It'll never happen); it's time to stop hiding behind walls of disappointment (It didn't happen). Winter has passed. Rise up and come away! Amen and Amen.

Tiffany Ann Lewis
Dancing with the Flame of the Lord Ministries
Email: mailto:tiffanyann@tiffanyannlewis.com?subject=Inquiry%20from %20Elijah%20List%20Subscriber - tiffanyann@tiffanyannlewis.com