Song of Solomon 5

In this chapter we see the bride in a room ready for bed as her husband tries to get in the room. At last she goes to him to let him in but he is gone. She goes throughout the city looking for him and as she is looking the gate keeper (like a police officer) thinks that she is up to no good and manhandles her. She then is crying for all of the women in Jerusalem to help her find her love. She is desperately looking for her love.

As anyone that is married will tell you marriage is not the easiest thing and in marriages there are disagreements. This chapter may be a picture of an argument that the bride and husband had. Even if it was not, we see the bride looking for her husband wanting his presence and knowing that she should be with him.

The Reality of the Christian Life

If we look at this in a spiritual sense we need to know that just like in marriage there will be some hardships so too in the Christian life there will be trials. We need to know how to handle these trials when they come. We have looked in the past at different passages that say we will face trials (John 16:33; Romans 5:3; and James 1:2) and when those trials come we need to be prepared. Just like in marriage when the tough times come, you must be willing to work through the trial and endure and when you do, your marriage comes out stronger than before. If we assume that there was something that was going on for the bride and husband to not meet because of a disagreement we see that the bride then wanted to resolve it.

When we face trials realizing that as Christians we are going to go through hardships, we cannot throw in the towel. We can not give up and think God has abandoned us; we must persevere through and see our faith shining through. When we do we see that God never abandoned us. In verse 8 we see the bride’s motivation for searching for here husband and it was love. She was sick with love for him. We need to be sick with love for our Savior, that is how we endure through the hardships, the evil, in this life. When we know this we see that we can make it. When we mess up and fall short, it is not over. We are forgiven when we seek forgiveness and we grow from these trials and shortcomings.

The reality of the Christian Life is that it is not easy, it is not for the faint of heart. You have to look at it has a marathon not a sprint race and in this marathon there will be obstacles that you would not be ready for. The great news is that your coach is there with you at all times helping your through. Our heavenly Father is our coach in this race. Be prepared and keep going.

Song of Songs (Solomon) 1

We come to a new book today, the Song of Solomon or Song of Songs. This book seems to be one that is overlooked in our Bible readings and can make some feel uncomfortable because of the content. Gary Brady in his commentary said about the location of Song of Songs as “Some like that order, saying Ecclesiastes does a negative, preparatory, convicting work while the Song is more positive, complete and edifying. Song of Songs is part of the wisdom literature section of the Bible. When we come to the Song we need to know that it is about love but not just any love the love of God and the way we can see his love towards us the church. Christ is the bridegroom and we are the bride, Revelation 19:7 says, “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready.” I believe this book is an image of the true love relationship as we can read that Christ is the bridegroom and we the church are the bride. He loves us unconditionally.

A Love for the Lord

In Revelation 2:4 John wrote this to the church in Ephesus, “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.”  As the church was busy doing work, they had their eyes of the motive of that work, Christ. We need to have a love for Christ and the book of Song of Songs shows how we should desire to love Christ, just like a bride and groom love each other. We should love Jesus, be appealed to Jesus, even attracted to who Christ is. Christ is beauty and glory; which this book portrays. Try to see the love of God in this book as well as be encouraged with your love for the Lord.

Song of Songs 3

When reading chapters 1-3 we read about a courtship developing and growing and in this chapter we see a change with that courtship, the wedding. Most commentators agree that vs 6 is the change in the relationship to marriage.

A Dream

We see that the bride was the one that had a dream (vs 1-5). The dream was about the love of her life and being able to marry him one day. It is interesting that little girls do dream about their wedding day, the play wedding, they fantasize what it may look like and where they would like it.  We see in verse 2 about how she will seek the one her soul loves. As this may be a dream we can see that this is the type of love we should have for our spouse (if not married, this is how it should be imitated). We should desire our spouse and want to see them and seek them. This is a good and healthy love we should have for the one we marry. It is mutual and shows your love.

In a spiritual way, this love should show our love for our bridegroom, Christ. We should seek and desire the Lord with all our soul. Could you imagine not wanting to be around the one you marry or desire their presence? Yet, as this would be somewhat stupid to marry someone that we do not want to be around, so many people do not desire God, the Word, or salvation. They may say they do but there is no desire, there is no joy or excitement of being able to be in the presence of God. As someone may sing out of excitement of a marriage, do we get excited about the marriage with the Lamb? Psalm 51:12 says, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” As in the dream, the bride was seeking for her love, and we see that the wedding day arrives, we too need to know that we seek the Lord and one day that wedding feast will come. There will be no more pain, suffering, death, or disease. It will no longer be a dream but a reality, Christ coming for his bride, the church.