My lover spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me.” (Song of Songs 2:10, NIV)
Late night Golf Channel is a lot like late night television on any network. You’ll find a parade of gadgets that all evoke the same first-glance question: “What am I supposed to do with this?”
Honestly, that’s the way a lot of folks respond to the Old Testament book of Song of Songs (or, in some translations, Song of Solomon). Just for fun, if you ever meet someone who tells you they read and follow the Bible literally, ask them what they make of the Beloved’s description of her man: “His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold” (Song of Songs 5:15) or his response, “Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath Rabbim” (Song of Songs 7:4).
Here is a book to make you blush or make you queasy. And it’s in the Bible!
You might be interested to know, however, that “the prince of preachers,” Charles Spurgeon, chose an inordinate number of Song of Songs passages when he built his classic devotional, Morning and Evening. It kept him going back to the love of God.
Suppose the book is allegorical, as Spurgeon did. It points to expressions of tremendous love, using the familiar scene of marital commitment. And today’s passage is a perfect example: endearing words and a desire to share the best life has to offer with the one we love.
This is what God offers to us. He calls us with endearment. To be called the “darling” of God, or his “beautiful one,” may be uncomfortably romantic for you. But do not push aside the idea that God sees you as his child and he will call you in a way that warms your heart to him. And God calls us unto his best. The beloved in Song of Songs was saying to her lover, “The best days of the year are here—come have a look with me!” Likewise, when God calls us, he wants to show us his spring, what he is doing next in his flourishing kingdom.
Now consider the book as autobiographical, a poem indicative of a real love in the writer’s life. How good it is to know that God’s providence saw this book go through the course of canonization, for it is a work of unbridled expression of romantic and sexual love. That’s right, God wants us to enjoy the fullness of his design for lovers. Within the bounds of marriage, sex is purely—and enjoyably—right, landing well within God’s framework.
However you read the Song of Songs, God has delivered to us through it a vibrant, full look at how deeply he loves us and how deeply he enables us to love one another.
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Jeff Hopper
January 23, 2013
Copyright 2013 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.