The Greatest Invitation
Song of Solomon 2:8-11: “The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice. My beloved speaks and says to me: ‘Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, for behold the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.’”
For centuries, Song of Solomon has perplexed preachers, teachers, and authors as well as the common lay person. What are we supposed to do with this unusual, romantic sounding verbiage? What kind of love story is this?
I will not seek to give a full explanation of the Song of Solomon. What I will do is invite us to hear the Lord calling us his beloved; the Lord seeking for us; the Lord pursuing us with his love. The Lord sees our beauty, beauty that we often do not see, and the beauty others so often miss. The Lord sees who we truly are, who he designed us to be, and he is filled with joy. He longs to be in relationship with us, not just a superficial relationship but an intimate relationship—one in which there is mutual delight of each other, authentic knowing and sharing, and a deep abiding love.
This is the intimacy that we are designed to have. Marriage is to be a picture of this committed, covenantal love. However, marriage is just a glimpse of the intimacy we can have with the Lord. He stands before us, calling us to come out, inviting us into the greatest love story of our lives: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.”
Will you come?
For centuries, Song of Solomon has perplexed preachers, teachers, and authors as well as the common lay person. What are we supposed to do with this unusual, romantic sounding verbiage? What kind of love story is this?
I will not seek to give a full explanation of the Song of Solomon. What I will do is invite us to hear the Lord calling us his beloved; the Lord seeking for us; the Lord pursuing us with his love. The Lord sees our beauty, beauty that we often do not see, and the beauty others so often miss. The Lord sees who we truly are, who he designed us to be, and he is filled with joy. He longs to be in relationship with us, not just a superficial relationship but an intimate relationship—one in which there is mutual delight of each other, authentic knowing and sharing, and a deep abiding love.
This is the intimacy that we are designed to have. Marriage is to be a picture of this committed, covenantal love. However, marriage is just a glimpse of the intimacy we can have with the Lord. He stands before us, calling us to come out, inviting us into the greatest love story of our lives: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.”
Will you come?
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