1Q84
I read a book called 1Q84, written by the Japanese author, Harumi Murakami. It’s a fantasy novel about two protagonists who stumble in a world with two moons. The story is long, and it gets convoluted, but through three books, remain interesting, much like how life works I guess. But there was one scene that stood out to me, or rather, the quote from that scene.
Let me set it up: Tengo’s life is in danger because of Aomame’s actions, Ushikawa, the private detective, is in pursuit of Aomame, but figures to get to Tengo to capture Aomame, and while he, Ushikawa, is stalking Tengo, Aomame is following closely behind. It’s this weird 3-way chase scene but Aomame says this: “The pursuer’s blind spot is that he never thinks he’s being pursued.”
Song of Solomon
My daily devotionals took me to Song of Solomon one morning. And I asked God to really give me a mature mind to be able to handle that book. The maturity was brief. It took roughly 2 seconds until I giggled like a 5th grader. “While the king was on his couch, my nard gave off its fragrance – Song of Solomon 1:12”
That’s what she said.
God doesn’t give profoundness in life everyday. Sometimes the things He’s saying or teaching me seems mundane. Sometimes, it’s just funny. But sometimes, I just need to look closer.
Verse 5 says, “I am very dark, but lovely”. Verse 6 explains, “Do not gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has looked upon me.”
Darkness in these verses indicates outside work. And in Biblical times, outside work isn’t the most glamorous of trades. The woman in the chapter is telling the man who is courting her to look past the dirty job, to look past the lack of self-care because of what her family has required of her. “I am lovely”, she says. Look past what you see visibly and find my heart.
The Pursuit
I’ve been guilty of putting up my walls of insecurity. “I am this, I am that, I may not be good enough sometimes, but I am lovely. Do not gaze at me because the world has looked upon me”. I’ve made excuses about myself, I’ve made justifications almost settling for good enough. But when we look closely at Song of Solomon, and see this love story as the same love story we have for God, we’ll realize, “My beloved is mine, and I am his. – Song of Solomon 2:16”
God is looking at us with the same kind of love, the same kind of beauty that the man in the story looks at the woman. But we tend to just put walls of insecurity up. In our pursuit of God we fail to realize, that not only does he love us, He also pursues us.
This is our blind spot isn’t it? That we could never imagine God pursuing us? Seeing us as beautiful? That he could love us this much to take on the form of man, take as much physical pain more than any average body can handle, to take on sins that I’m currently committing and spare me from an eternity without him.
“The pursuer’s blind spot is that he never thinks he’s being pursued.”
