November 19th, 2013
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Emotions Out of Control?

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Dear God, I call on You today, confident that You hear me. Speak to me now and I will listen.

Read SONG OF SONGS 1:1-2:7

[1] Solomon’s Song of Songs. [2]She Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth- for your love is more delightful than wine. [3] Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the young women love you! [4] Take me away with you-let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers. FriendsWe rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. SheHow right they are to adore you! [5] Dark am I, yet lovely, daughters of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Kedar, like the tent curtains of Solomon. [6] Do not stare at me because I am dark, because I am darkened by the sun. My mother’s sons were angry with me and made me take care of the vineyards; my own vineyard I had to neglect. [7] Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock and where you rest your sheep at midday. Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your friends? [8]Friends If you do not know, most beautiful of women, follow the tracks of the sheep and graze your young goats by the tents of the shepherds. [9]He I liken you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariot horses. [10] Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels. [11] We will make you earrings of gold, studded with silver. [12]She While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance. [13] My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts. [14] My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi. [15]He How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes are doves. [16]She How handsome you are, my beloved! Oh, how charming! And our bed is verdant. [17]He The beams of our house are cedars; our rafters are firs. [1]She I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. [2]He Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the young women. [3]She Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste. [4] Let him lead me to the banquet hall, and let his banner over me be love. [5] Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love. [6] His left arm is under my head, and his right arm embraces me. [7] 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.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION

Meditate

“Confining sex to marriage can create an environment of safety, intimacy, and trust where the true meaning of sex, the sacramental meaning, can sometimes break through” (Philip Yancey).

Think Further

There is a difference between romantic love (eros) and divine love (agape, charity). What if we were to see them, not as opposites, or even points on a spectrum, but as part of what we are, humans in need of redemption? I wonder if this helps us to understand the sudden rushing impact of these opening verses of the Song. “What … manifests the imprint of God on the human soul is the power of desire (eros) within the soul … and the impetus which a sanctified eros lends the soul” (G. Capsanis, The Eros of Repentance). Desire for fulfillment can be selfish, but it is a measure of our Godlikeness as well.

The words for kissing and wine-drinking in Hebrew are close in sound, so one translation renders v. 2 as, “Kiss me, and make me drunk with your kisses!” Now, most Christians would probably advise teenagers in love to go easy on both, but that first great onrush of passion is still a wonder, and shouldn’t be reduced to hormones, a mad biological imperative or animal sensuality. When in our history (cultural or ecclesiastical) can we point to a time when the balance between sexual expression and wise self-discipline has been more or less satisfactory?

From this opening colloquy between lover and friends I take three things. First, that God can transform our desires more readily than our indifference (Rev. 3:15, 16). Second, that long-married couples and longstanding Christians alike need not look back on their first love with nostalgia alone, but can seek to recreate it, and use the memory of it as a stimulus to gratitude for a deeper love. Third, that each generation of Christians needs to work out afresh the difference between their society’s expectations of sexual behavior and the full witness of Scripture.

Apply

How can you order you own acts and thoughts, while supporting younger Christians as they sort out theirs?

Closing prayer

Father, I want You to be Lord of this part of my life, the arena of my sexuality. Help me navigate safely through all the minefields around me.

Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.

© 2024 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.

Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.

View all readings

Get ENCOUNTER:

in your email:

in Print:

Become a Member | Visit our store