Sweet Fruit of Intimacy with God
Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest…
I delight to sit in his shade,
and his fruit is sweet to my taste. (So 2:3).
Solomon compares love to a surprise apple tree in the forest being a delightful sweet treat. He speaks of sitting in the shade as a metaphor for God’s protection.
The word taste in this verse expresses a knowledge of someone through intimate personal experience. “Taste and see that the Lord is good” Ps. 34:8.
A person who knows God has an intimate personal relationship with Him. Where intimacy abounds fruit will abound.
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3
The word know is often used in the Septuagint and sometimes in the Greek to describe the intimacy between husband and wife.
Intimate Relationship
My husband protects me and expresses love toward me. He makes me feel secure and gives me a sense of worth. He provides for me, takes care of me, and seeks to know me earnestly. We have a special private and personal relationship that grows deeper over time. Intimacy comes from baring one’s total self to another. The act of love is recurring as commitment is constantly reaffirmed. As trust grows, we become one. Our relationship grows—not because of a physical relationship—but because of the caring and commitment expressed by physical relationship.
The mutual submission of the husband/wife relationship is expressed in Corinthians: “Let the husband fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does” (Cor 7:3–4). They belong to each other.
Experience the Intimacy of God though God the Holy Spirit
Jesus said he would send “another” Comforter. God’s Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ ministering to us while we are apart from Christ’s physical presence.
Life in the Spirit is relational. The Holy Spirit will meet us where we are. God seeks us out. He wants to be intimate with us. As our intimacy with God grows, we develop wisdom and skills as we desire and seek to know Him, His plans and His ways. Prayer and spending time in His Word are the ways we show desire and passion for Him. It is building a relationship, not religious discipline.
The Circle of Love in the Trinity
“Our Father” speaks of the nearness of God, the intimacy of the relationship between the Son and the Father, the intimate circle of love that exists within the Trinity as they interact together in unity. Christ came to earth (the incarnation) to share this intimacy with us. God took on a human body and nature and became both man and God.
Colossians 1:19 sums this up: “For in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form,” The Father, Son and Spirit sharing all things in intimate, face to face fellowship.
This relationship, this camaraderie of love and mutual delight is where God wants us to be. Being rooted and grounded in His love means our hearts are beating with the very heart of the Father.
God’s love never changes. Seek this life of love as if your life depended on it. God understands you the way no one else does. Seek the sweet fruit of intimacy with Him and everything that is expressed in us and through us will be a sweet reflection of Him.
