Love’s Lens
Opening Prayer
Thank You, God, for the local church family You have placed me in. Bless them, Lord.
Read Song Of Songs 2:8—3:11
8 Listen! My beloved!
Look! Here he comes,
leaping across the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Look! There he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattice.
10 My beloved spoke and said to me,
“Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, come with me.
11 See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me.”
He
14 My dove in the clefts of the rock,
in the hiding places on the mountainside,
show me your face,
let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely.
15 Catch for us the foxes,
the little foxes
that ruin the vineyards,
our vineyards that are in bloom.
She
16 My beloved is mine and I am his;
he browses among the lilies.
17 Until the day breaks
and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved,
and be like a gazelle
or like a young stag
on the rugged hills.
3 All night long on my bed
I looked for the one my heart loves;
I looked for him but did not find him.
2 I will get up now and go about the city,
through its streets and squares;
I will search for the one my heart loves.
So I looked for him but did not find him.
3 The watchmen found me
as they made their rounds in the city.
“Have you seen the one my heart loves?”
4 Scarcely had I passed them
when I found the one my heart loves.
I held him and would not let him go
till I had brought him to my mother’s house,
to the room of the one who conceived me.
5 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
until it so desires.
6 Who is this coming up from the wilderness
like a column of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and incense
made from all the spices of the merchant?
7 Look! It is Solomon’s carriage,
escorted by sixty warriors,
the noblest of Israel,
8 all of them wearing the sword,
all experienced in battle,
each with his sword at his side,
prepared for the terrors of the night.
9 King Solomon made for himself the carriage;
he made it of wood from Lebanon.
10 Its posts he made of silver,
its base of gold.
Its seat was upholstered with purple,
its interior inlaid with love.
Daughters of Jerusalem, 11 come out,
and look, you daughters of Zion.
Look on King Solomon wearing a crown,
the crown with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
the day his heart rejoiced.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
“My beloved is mine and I am his.” Do you belong fully to the Lord, heart and soul?Today’s passage has three sections. The first section, 2:8–17, is a celebration of the vibrancy of the relationship. In 3:1–5, we see the experience of separation followed by reunion. The final section, 3:6–11, is a description of Solomon’s wedding procession. In fact, 2:8 and 3:6 portray similar scenes, as the lover approaches his beloved. In 2:8 the lover is coming alone for an intimate reunion. In 3:6–11 he is accompanied by an entire procession as he arrives to claim his bride from her home. The difference in tone and focus suggests that this latter description may have been spoken by the friends rather than the bride: onlookers remarking on his carriage and his crown instead of anticipating the lover’s arrival.
I turned to this passage at exactly the time of day that I expect my husband to get home from work. The first few verses really chimed with my own emotion. He wouldn’t exactly come leaping across mountains, but I felt the same sense of anticipation. And he wasn’t likely to invite me poetically to explore the beauties of spring; nevertheless there is a sense in which winter turns to spring as we unload the stresses and strains of the day by talking to each other. Everything looks better seen through the lens of love.
Apply
Is there someone you could be giving more time to, helping them to see the signs of hope and new growth?
Closing prayer
My King, teach me through Your example of love how to love others the way I should.
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