"Let us lodge in the villages." "Villages" is plural. She has fully taken on the sojourning nature of the Lord. Her desire is no longer for a home, but for sojourning, a sojourning that is not confined to one place, but that is from one village to another. She follows the Lord and seeks after lost sheep and wounded ones. A person who works together with the Lord should not only have a world view, but should have the nature of a sojourner and bear the mark of a sojourner.

Verse 12 says, "Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves." Her focus is no longer on her own vineyard, but on the vineyards. Actually, she can only focus on the vineyards. At the beginning of a believer's work, he has to be delivered from the temptation of the vineyards, and he has to concentrate on the care of his own vineyard. But when a believer is delivered from the self, though he still needs to be responsible for the little part that God has entrusted to him, his heart is liberated from the work to care for the vineyards. Now the Lord's work is the maiden's work; it is not the same as when her work was the Lord's work. Everything that is for the Lord is part of her work. I do not say that she has lost her individuality, but she is more for the edification of others. These words are given to those who are already capable of guarding their own vineyards.

"Early." This shows her diligence. In the Lord's work, the work in the early morning is indispensable. Laziness is not a characteristic of the Lord's life. Only those who are spiritual can be diligent. There is a kind of movement and activity which is of the flesh. There is also a kind of passivity that is of the old creation. We should reject the extreme of being active in the flesh and also reject the other extreme of being passive, which is another name for laziness. Both are of the old creation. The difference between diligence and laziness lies in the use of time. This is why the apostle charged us to redeem the time (Eph. 5:16; Col. 4:5).

The maiden goes down with the Lord to the vineyards to "see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth." She is looking at the signs of life together with the Lord and considering together the areas that have the promise of fruit. She is liberated, and the affairs of every saint have become her interest. Even the most immature believer becomes an object of her concern as long as he has a little sign of life and a hope of fruit-bearing. The matter is not who these are begotten of and whether or not they are in our meetings, but what they can render to the Lord. This kind of fellowship with the Lord in the work is a consequence of an absolute union with the Lord in life.

"There will I give thee my loves." What does "there" mean? It means the fields, villages, and vineyards, that is, the Lord's work. In the midst of the Lord's work, "I give thee my loves." In the midst of the Lord's work, we give to Him our loves. How wonderful this is! In the past, work was something that was a distraction. Because of much serving, the maiden would lose the fellowship at His feet. To an immature believer, work does not improve his love to the Lord. On the contrary, it puts a barrier between him and the Lord. This is a sign of an imperfect union. But by this time, her experience has reached the stage of perfection, and she is able to relate the Lord's work to the Lord Himself and able to relate even the world to the Lord. She is able to relate the Lord's brother to the Lord Himself. Now she can express her loves to the Lord at the place of His work. She can make her work an expression of her love to Him. She has no condemnation after she works, and she is no longer afraid of losing something of the Lord through her work.

Verse 13 says, "The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved." The mandrake is a plant of love (Gen. 30:14); it signifies the union between husband and wife. In the midst of this scene, when the union has consummated to such a height, how can we say that the mandrakes are not giving their smell?

"Our gates." This is a convenient place. Although she sojourns from village to village, it does not mean that she has to go to a far place to search for fruit. The "gates" are the place that God has assigned for us, and we will find fruit there. The maiden is not concentrating on just one kind of fruit, but on all manner of fruits. Before she was delivered from herself, she would not acknowledge the fruit in anyone who did not display signs that she recognized. Now she realizes that there are more than one kind of pleasant fruits; in fact, there are all kinds of fruits. There are new fruits and old fruits. She realizes that different people bear different fruits. She realizes that there is only one Lord Jesus and only one new creation, but not everyone bears the same kind of fruit. Indeed, the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth. The harvest of all these fruits is for the Lord's glory. The result of the work is not for one's own boasting. We work together with the Lord in His work, but all the glory goes to the Lord.