Good morning. Have you ever tried to explain something to a young person that was beyond their understanding? It is…challenging. They often do not have the life experience to relate to the words, references, or illustrations that we would like to use to explain our subject or to make our point. It can be a bit frustrating for both the child and the adult.
Imagine for a moment what it is like for God to try to explain to us what is beyond our ability to understand. How can He explain the wonders of heaven to His children who have no experience or language with which to relate? We are given a hint of the difficulty in 1 Corinthians 2:9 when we read What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind can even imagine— these are the things God has prepared for those who love him—
Consider, then, God’s dilemma in explaining His love of us. God is love (1 John 4:7-8). It is His very nature, the spiritual reality of His being. How can God explain the power, the depth, the wonder, the heat of His love for us? It would require that He explain to us the very essence of who and what He is, which is undoubtedly more than our minds can comprehend.
God uses the example of a parent and their child to describe His love. Sometimes the reference is of Him as our heavenly Father, and sometimes it is the tender love of a mother, such as in Isaiah 66:13 “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.”
There is great power in those images of love, and great truth, for the love of a parent for their child is awesome. But is there more? Is that description sufficient to completely describe the love God has for each of us?
Apparently not, and that brings me to one of the least quoted books of the Bible, The Song of Solomon. This book is a poetic love letter and it is at times…intense. It is God’s purpose in this letter to describe the fervency, the passion, the urgency of His love for us. The example He uses is that of two young lovers. I would like to suggest that you partake of the entire book, but I will share the 2nd chapter to intrigue you:
She – I am a rose of Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.
He – 2 Like a lily among thorns
is my darling among the young women.
She
3 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.
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.
What is God trying to tell us in these verses? Consider the greatest, most intense, nearly out of control love you have ever experienced in your life, and realize that God’s love is greater.
He will love you every day. He will love you no matter what. He will love you and pursue you and find you and hold you close. God’s love poem to you is quite wonderful, please read it!
Vern