Page 227 - Radical Love by Linda Robinson

RADICAL LOVE

“Although He was a Son, He learned (active, special) obedience

through what He suffered. And His completed experience, making Him
perfectly (equipped), He became the Author and Source of eternal

salvation to all those who give heed and obey Him.”

Suffering also equips us to fulfil our God-designated calling in the

world. How can we ever identify with a messed-up, suffering world

unless we are willing to bear our share of it?

When a newborn baby dies—God suffers.

When the lame can’t walk, the dumb don’t talk, the blind don’t see, the
deaf don’t hear, and cancer patients die—God suffers.

When wives are battered, husbands rejected, children abused and

abandoned—God suffers.

Here, in this section of Song of Songs, the Shulamite is being invited to

a deeper level of identification with suffering. Has it made her lose her
faith and turn from the way of the cross? No—not at all.

In the final verse of this section, her only concern is that He realises
and knows that she has endured it all for love of Him alone. She insists

that the Brides-to-be promise to tell Him this, should they encounter

Him before she does.

She has come through the other side, and He is the one who has brought

her there—by melting her with His love and affection, as described in
verse 4.

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