Richard Allan Hamm. He was my favorite Uncle. I adored him. Maybe it was the fact that he was quite handsome when he was young. He stood over six feet tall, had a head full of black hair, and a trimmed mustache. He was somewhere a cross between Tom Selleck and the Marlboro Man. And, he had a brooding personality to match his fierce looks.
I remember many things about him such as the smell of his shirt after work (he was a bread delivery man for Mrs. Bairds) and him picking me up and carrying me often – he was tall, I was small – I loved the vantage point! I also remember clearly the sound of his lighter. He had an old metal, gasoline type lighter that would make a ‘clink’ sound when he opened it – I don’t know how to describe it, the sound it made as metal tapped against metal – but I remember him sitting on the couch at my grandparents house flipping it open and closed, open and closed. Open, clink. Closed, clink. Looking back on it now, it was like a bell of sorts. It was a familiar sound and though I hadn’t heard it in years, it is one I could easily recognize.
Last Monday, at exactly 4:52am, I woke up hearing the “clink, clink, clink” sound. I heard it twice before I was up and awake – sitting, trying to identify the sound – then I asked – Lord, what was that? And He replied, “fan into flame.”
On Tuesday, I woke up at 4:52am again – no clink – but again I heard “fan into flame.”
Two days in a row, the exact same time, the exact phrase – I knew God was speaking and I needed to pay attention.
In the season in which we live – 2021, religious and personal freedom at risk, I hear the Lord awakening His Bride from Her slumber. I believe the “clink clink clink” sound that woke me up is an alarm to awaken from my slumber and stir up the gifts of God in me and my household (2 Timothy 1:6).
I’ve told my KY Bestie and my family what I want on my tombstone – it’s a verse that describes how I long to live: “Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved?” Song of Solomon 8:5
The Hebrew word for “leaning” in this verse is “raphaq” which means to recline, to support oneself, or to rest upon. Interestingly enough, it is used only once in the Old Testament. The picture here is of the Shulamite completely dependent upon the Bridegroom. She has just come out of the wilderness and she is broken. Imagine you see someone on the horizon walking towards you. They are quite a distance away and all you can see is the outline. Their gait is slow but strong and confident. There is something that captivates you so you keep watching and as the figure comes closer, you realize it’s not one person, but two – one is carrying the other. They are so melded together that they look like one person. That is the picture of this verse.
We know from Songs 5:7-8 that the Shulamite was physically wounded by the faithful people – they struck her, they beat her, and the took her veil. Suffice it to say, she’d had a bad night.
I remember the first time I heard a teaching on the Song of Solomon by Gary Weins at a worship night at Shady Grove Church. The message wrecked my heart and my heart cry became the verse above – that I would be so dependent on God that it would be Him you saw first.
Brokenness has been a familiar friend for years. Depression, suicide attempts, an abusive marriage, divorce, 3 miscarriages, financial difficulties, and false accusations lodged against me just to name a few. It was easy to see myself in this verse – leaned over, reclined, resting on the Bridegroom.
But the thing is, the Shulamite’s story doesn’t stop there –
In Songs 8:6, the Shulamite asked that the fierce, unrelenting fire be set over her – the kind of fire that cannot and will not be extinguished by persecution or pain.
Then, in v. 8-10, she says this: “But now I have grown and become a bride, and my love for him has made me a tower of passion and contentment for my beloved. I am now a firm wall of protection for others, guarding them from harm. This is how he sees me—I am the one who brings him bliss, finding favor in his eyes.”
In this season, “Sunday” Christianity will not suffice. If we only worship on Sunday or only feast on what is fed to us during a 60 minute message – we will not have enough to sustain us.
Persecution will come. It is a guarantee. The question then is this: how will we respond?
I believe it is critical that I prepare now for what is to come. I want the fire to burn so hot in me and in my family that nothing we encounter can extinguish it.
Father – fan the flame in me today. Fan the flame in Vance, Randal, and Alathia today. Fan the flame in the generations to follow us. Blow upon the embers of our heart until the flame is all-consuming and burns up all of the chaff. Awaken us to the truth of who You are! Perfect Your love in us and cast out all fear so there is room for only You.
Song of Solomon 8:5-10:
Who is this one? Look at her now!
She arises out of her desert, clinging to her beloved….
Fasten me upon your heart as a seal of fire forevermore.
This living, consuming flame
will seal you as my prisoner of love.
My passion is stronger
than the chains of death and the grave,
all consuming as the very flashes of fire
from the burning heart of God.
Place this fierce, unrelenting fire over your entire being.
Rivers of pain and persecution
will never extinguish this flame.
Endless floods will be unable
to quench this raging fire that burns within you.
Everything will be consumed.
It will stop at nothing
as you yield everything to this furious fire
until it won’t even seem to you like a sacrifice anymore.
My brothers said to me when I was young,
“Our sister is so immature.
What will we do to guard her for her wedding day?”
We will build a tower of redemption to protect her.
Since she is vulnerable,
we will enclose her with a wall of cedar boards.
But now I have grown and become a bride,
and my love for him has made me
a tower of passion and contentment for my beloved.
I am now a firm wall of protection for others,
guarding them from harm.
This is how he sees me—I am the one who brings him bliss,
finding favor in his eyes.
