Discover His heart: He satisfies all our longings
“Are the stars out tonight? I don’t know if it’s cloudy or bright, ‘cause I’ve only got eyes for you…” This old love song comes to mind every time I read the love story of the couple in Song of Solomon. What a delightful portrayal of the passion and purity of love between a man and a woman! Solomon tested our obedience with the Proverbs, he challenged our minds with the philosophy and questioning of Ecclesiastes and now he delights our hearts in Song of Solomon. This book is not only an intimate love story about the covenant between man and wife, but it’s also a beautiful portrayal of God’s eternal covenant with mankind and Christ’s commitment to His bride.
“Kiss me and kiss me again, for your love is sweeter than wine. How fragrant your cologne; your name is like its spreading fragrance,” (1:2-3) said the Shulamite woman. From the very beginning, we understand that the Song includes the passion of love. In fact, at one time or another, it expresses three of the four meanings of love recently discussed (December 3 @ I John 4-5). God intends for us to enjoy all forms of love, and here the young woman spoke of eros or the pleasure of love. We can’t separate ourselves from the desire of this love because it is God’s gift to us to enjoy, but through the Song, the young woman delivered a challenge to the chorus of women around her.
“Promise me, O women of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and wild deer, not to awaken love until the time is right.” (2:7) Throughout scripture, especially the writings of Solomon, men are confronted with the challenge to remain pure, but now the gauntlet is passed to the women. This love is reserved for permanent, monogamous marriage, and what a challenge for women today who are confronted at every turn with the enticement of premarital or extramarital sex. For men and women alike, we will never experience the excited passion of Song of Solomon that God intends for us by diluting its intensity with lustful substitutions of any kind. They only cause us to crave more and more and never satisfy what only God can give when He divinely blesses our marriage bed.
“I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots,” responds the King. (1:9,KJV) I must admit that being compared to a company of horses is not really the love language I would want to hear at this point; but in fact, it is one of the greatest endearments a husband can express, outside of his wife’s ravishing beauty, of course. With the term love in this verse, the King declared that his beloved was his friend and companion, the one he was familiar with, a love that was phileo. Along with all the other joys of marriage, my husband and I are best friends, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
“He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.” (2:4) For the first time in the Song, the Hebrew equivalent to agape is used for love, the selfless, pure love from God. The King’s banner represented a covering, a protection, an intimacy for the one he possessed and who possessed him, and God’s love for us is all this and more. Be still my heart…
In response to our reading today, my heart is full of love for my husband and for my God who has divinely blessed our marriage covenant. I can’t help but thank Him for the fulfillment of His love covenant with mankind in the coming of His Son to redeem us. The joys of love while here on earth are but a foretaste of the perfect love we will share with Him through all eternity. I can only imagine.
Moving Forward: I’m thankful for my husband – thrilled and protected by his love and selfless commitment.
Tomorrow @ Revelation 1-6
Phyllis Benigas 