Song of Songs 1-2
-Devotion by Jerry Wierwille (NY)
The book Song of Songs (also known as the Song of Solomon) is one of the most beautiful and captivating books in the Bible. It is a collection of love poetry that celebrates affection, desire, beauty, commitment, and the joy of belonging to another person. Rather than treating romantic love as something embarrassing or unspiritual, Song of Songs presents it as something to be sought after, treasured, and protected.
Throughout Christian history, many believers have read Song of Songs as a figurative representation of the love between God and His people, or the love of Christ for His church. But that allegorization should not be the primary way to understand the book. Nevertheless, while we should read Song of Songs primarily as romantic poetry celebrating human love, the vivid imagery and language of longing, delight, pursuit, and belonging, though not romantic in nature, can also help us to understand the depth of affection found in our relationship with God—our love for Him and His love for us.
Song of Songs begins with a description about a deep longing. The unidentified woman figure desires the presence of the one she loves, and throughout the first chapter there is a strong sense of mutual delight between them. They speak about their admiration, affection, and tenderness toward each another. They take note of what they see as beautiful, and they are not afraid to express it.
Yet right in the midst of this jubilee of love is a hint of the woman’s insecurity. She says, “Do not stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has looked upon me” (1:6). Apparently, she is quite self-conscious about how she appears to others. She says that she works in the sun and seems aware of the fact that she has become dark because of it, and that may not fit the standards of beauty in her culture.
I think this expresses something deeply human as we all know what it is like to feel exposed, inadequate, or less than what we think others expect of us. We compare ourselves to others; we think about our weaknesses or our failures; and we often wonder whether people would still accept us if they knew everything about us.
What comes next pierces through that chatter. The response of her beloved counteracts her insecurity: “O most beautiful among women,” (1:8), and “Behold, you are beautiful, my darling!” he says (1:15). He does not respond to her insecurity by pointing out her flaws but speaks words of love, affirmation, and delight. He seeks to overwrite her negative self-image with truth. In his affirmation of her, the lover does not trivialize her mistaken view, but simply paints an entirely different picture on the canvas of her mind so that she can begin to believe a different narrative than the one she has been telling herself.
This can remind us of the way God sees us. God sees us more clearly than anyone else ever could. He knows every weakness, every hidden thought, every regret, and every place where we have failed. Yet through Christ, we are not defined by shame, guilt, and unmet expectations. Instead, we are forgiven, accepted, and brought near.
In our insecurity, we might imagine that God merely puts up with us. But we know that He loves us dearly since Scripture tells us He does. But perhaps we struggle to believe that He actually delights in us. And so, if we think about that passion and eagerness of desire that the woman and her lover express in the first chapter of Song of Songs, even though it is a picture of human love, then it can challenge us to dismiss any fictional view of God’s love that is less than the truth.
Let’s have the truth God has told us in Scripture be the narrative we believe, and not the distorted story our fears, insecurities, failures, or past experiences try to write for us. So when insecurity, shame, comparison with others, or regret begin to creep into how we see ourselves, don’t let it! Instead, allow the truth of God’s love and grace overwrite that false portrait of who we are. We are God’s beloved. And He desires us!
Reflection Questions
- What lies about yourself do you tell yourself? What insecurities, shame, comparison with others, and/or regret have you allowed to distort your image?
- Have you accepted Jesus’s sacrifice to save you? What do you think God sees when He looks at and in you? Pray for God to show you.
- How can you help someone else see the truth and the beauty (inside and out) God has made them to be?
Prayer
Dear God, You are worthy of all my desire and love and it boggles my mind that You indeed desire a deep relationship with me. The lengths of Your great love for me, which Your Son then learned from You, are extraordinary. Help me to see clearly who You have made and saved me to be, removing all lies, attitudes and actions that interfere with me receiving Your love, returning love back to You, and spreading Your love.
Seek Grow Love 