Beloved's

Song of Solomon 6:3 says, “I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine.” While you may become ever more enraptured with Him as you come to know Him more, He already perfectly knows you and is already fully enthralled by you. Psalm 45 even tells us, “The King is enthralled by your beauty.” We are being romanced by God Himself. He is and always has been present and passionately pursuing a relationship with each of us individually.

God is passionately for us and has come for our rescue. Take a look at Psalm 18.

Verses 1 through 6 are as follows:

I love you, Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and I have been saved from my enemies.
The cords of death entangled me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
The cords of the grave coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me.
In my distress I called to the Lord;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.

You’ve heard of the amplified version of the Bible? Well, the Rachael’s simplified version says, “Then God when he heard my cries turned in my direction and said, ‘Oh no they di’int!” Because look what happens next. Just look at how God’s heart responds to the cry of his child.

Verses 7 through 19 say:

The earth trembled and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains shook;
they trembled because he was angry.
Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.
He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.
He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind.
He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
the dark rain clouds of the sky.
Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
The Lord thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded.
He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,
with great bolts of lightning he routed them.
The valleys of the sea were exposed
and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, Lord,
at the blast of breath from your nostrils.
He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the Lord was my support.
He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.

Verse 19 fascinates me. “He brought me out into a spacious place. He rescued me because________.” Well, here is how I’ve filled in that blank from time to time in my life:

• I prioritize tasks and execute them with the greatest precision
• My house is immaculate & Martha Stewart is filming here next week
• I tithe every week & will be highlighted in Dave Ramsey’s next video
• I can perfectly resolve the most complicated of business ledgers
• I never yell at my kids & Super Nanny came in just yesterday to interview me on my discipline strategies
• I am a proficient and sometimes even distinguished TESS teacher
• I embody the Proverbs 31 woman and not only attend to the needs of my household during the day, but I have plenty of energy left over to care for the needs of my husband each night

But that is a far cry from how God himself finished that sentence. No, God says that “He rescued me because He delights in me.”

That’s it. No conditions or pre-qualifiers. So, if you need to make something really complicated, come see me. But if you need something super simple and even soothing, go see Jesus.

And when a woman is well loved, she absolutely comes to life! She doesn’t stop doing all those things above, but she begins doing them from an overflowing heart of abundant life. She is poured into and can’t help but now pour into others. She is driven to acts of passion from a heart that must respond. Can you think of some examples of this? Do you know women who are full of life and can’t help but pour into the lives of others?

When I think of women from the Bible who knew they were deeply loved and couldn’t help but be moved to passion I am reminded of Mary Magdalene and the perfume she used to anoint the feet of Jesus the night before his trial and crucifixion. The jar of perfume, or the “nard oil” from the flowering plant, Valerian, is estimated to have been somewhere between 10-16 ounces. Today’s value of Mary’s gift was $3,000 per ounce. So, in today’s dollar amounts the total value is somewhere between $30,000 and $48,000.  

Now, in my mind, to picture 10 – 16 ounces, I see an entire 12 ounce soda can of that oil being poured onto Jesus. Primarily his feet are mentioned, but his head is also mentioned in one passage (this scene is portrayed in all four gospels). Imagine the aroma of so much perfume! We choke and say, “Did you bathe in it?” to anyone who violates our nasal space with an overabundance of aroma, but I dare say even they hadn’t actually used an entire jar of oil as Mary did on Jesus that evening! Why yes, he did bathe in it. Or rather, he allowed her to bathe him in it, and it was even mixed with her very own tears. She ministered to him in reckless abandon. We observe through her actions that the only place we are safe to live in reckless abandon is in His presence. And when we are passionately loved, we have the potential to live our entire lives in this excitement. Notice that Jesus didn’t shame her, “Not here. Not now. Why are you doing this?” No, just the opposite is actually true. He defended her, “Leave her alone.” You see, reckless abandon itself is protected when it is fully expressed through alignment with His Spirit and in His presence. Her act of passion is described in all four of the gospels as she gave an extravagant gift and Jesus modeled how to receive an extravagant gift. Isn’t it just like God to demonstrate for us how to receive an extravagant gift just 24 hours before He Himself would give the most extravagant of gifts?

What about the woman who has no flow of abundant life pooling in her heart? She, too, is driven. But often these become not acts of passion, but CRIMES of passion. Can you think of some examples of this? Do you know women who are absolutely empty and act upon that? 

I’ve seen this outcome in my own life and the lives of some of my dear friends. Some of these crimes of passion take the form of crimes against others; biting sarcasm, bitterness, snarly surly attitudes, and divisiveness. But even those crimes flow from a deeper, unfilled place made up of crimes against ourselves; self-loathing, self-punishment, or perhaps even self-injury.

Time with Jesus isn’t just the remedy for these diseases, time with Jesus is a vaccination from them all together! Salvation isn’t just to heal, it is to restore and even inoculate. A relationship with Christ offers us depths we have yet begun to explore!

God has gently challenged me in my “singleness” that I am not alone. During this past holiday season I was struggling as I saw couples and even families together because I wasn’t “with” anyone. One morning during my quiet time God gave me a vision of walking down the aisle at my church, it was almost like a wedding day, I was walking closely beside God, my hand securely tucked into the crook of His arm. I could feel that He was proud of me, and, to be honest, I was quite overwhelmed to have Him as my escort. I felt very unworthy, but he radiated acceptance and filled my spirit with it. I even found myself getting a little cheeky as I turned to someone nearby and said, “I’m with Him.” I even felt Him smile over my cheekiness. As we turned to sit I felt Him telling me that this was where I needed to be right now; with Him, walking closely, feeling accepted and valued. He even conveyed to me that if I was ever going to be “with” someone else, it would only be healthy and I would only be ready if I had stayed right here by God Himself and until God Himself “gave me away” as a bride. He alone knows the true heart of another person; even who is safe, who can value me and my, um… uniqueness, who is also on a journey of spiritual health and wholeness. Only He knows. Now, I don’t believe He was assuring me of a future earthly marriage, but He was asserting that this is the safest place to wait for His perfect plans for me to unfold.

About 2 weeks later, I had been desperately clinging to His arm and counting on Him to be my provider as in addition to the costs of Christmas I had the battery… and then the alternator die in my car. And I only have one car, so this is a big issue. I was rejoicing at how God had provided for me, but was also scrambling to finish getting gifts wrapped and under the tree, trying to prep food for Christmas day, and just in the thick of the flurry of getting things done while listening to a playlist that I had found on YouTube. Through my flurry of activity I began to hear a few lyrics from the song that was playing. It was like he was tapping on the glass, trying to get my attention because I was so focused on the task at hand. *tink, tink, tink* Pssst! Rachael! Psst-pssst! And then the lyrics began to come through to me. You see it’s not just that “I’m with Him.” But also, as the lyrics finally made it into my conscious and I thought, “Did it really just say that?” only to have them echo again, “I’m with you.”

I think one of the seeds that I’m pulling up is the lie that I am a “single woman” or even a “single mom.” Is there anything that feels more empty than those words? My heart can’t even bear it. But God has highlighted for me that these are lies from the enemy of my soul! I am NOT single! I’m with Him! And wonder upon wonder, He is pleased to say to me, “I’m with you.”

God delights in us simply because we are His and created in His image. While His love for us doesn’t change, He does offer us rewards as we choose to act righteously. Look next at Psalm 18 verses 20-27.

The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
I am not guilty of turning from my God.
All his laws are before me;
I have not turned away from his decrees.
I have been blameless before him
and have kept myself from sin.
The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.
You save the humble
but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.

We can’t be loved more. His passion is pouring in your direction! But you have choices to make. Will you receive this suitor and begin to live a life of excitement and adventure as He simply overflows from you in personal acts of passion? Or will you keep your heart from Him and participate in crimes of passion instead? Perhaps you’ve never considered these choices available. You know, something I teach my kids at school is, “An error doesn’t become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.” Is He affirming you? Is He gently pointing out some errors to you? Open your heart to Him and respond, “Yes, Jesus.” Choose to put yourself in total agreement with how He sees things so your passion can safely flow with absolutely reckless abandon.