Love (Song of Solomon 2:8-4:16)

Love (Song of Solomon 2:8-4:16)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Song+of+Songs+2%3A8-4%3A16&version=NIV

What is striking in this passage – and is really striking throughout this book – is the utter delight expressed in the love of a man and a woman.  The lover and the beloved are overjoyed with each other, and the opportunity to express that love with each other in their bedchamber.

Over the centuries this has made some people uncomfortable.  How can this be in the Bible?  Surely there must be some deeper more “spiritual” meaning to this book, many have claimed.  There have been numerous allegorical explanations; all working to avoid the plain point of this book that is unmistakable to anyone who reads it.

Marriage is the high point of God’s creation.  It is the last part of the creation in Genesis 1 and the high point of the depiction of the creation of man and woman in Genesis 2.  The expression of that love through physical intimacy is the means by which God invites his people, man and woman in marriage, to partner with Him in the creation of new life.  But it is so much more than that.  God invites us to praise Him for the gift of marriage, for the gift of romantic love, and for the gift of the joy of the expression of love within marriage.  Far from being something shameful, or dirty, or unspiritual, it is a precious gift of God, a reflection of His love, and therefore a sacred gift and a sacred act.

So my prayer today is for the marriages of our St. John’s community, as well as those who are preparing to get married. I am also praying for the marriage of my family, my relatives and my friends.  I am praying for God’s blessing on their marriages, and God’s blessing on their expressing of their love within their marriages as well.

What is the Word leading you to pray about today?

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