September 14 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading:

Song of Solomon 5:

¹I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.
²I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.
³I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?
⁴My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him.
⁵I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.
⁶I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.
⁷The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.
⁸I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.
⁹What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?
¹⁰My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.
¹¹His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.
¹²His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set.
¹³His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.
¹⁴His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.
¹⁵His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.
¹⁶His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

Devotional:

'What is thy beloved more than another beloved?' (5:9) A beautiful thought lies in this question! How is it that a man regards one woman as so special above others, and she him?

Often we see a rather homely girl who is the beloved of a fine-looking man. 'What does he see in her?' we ask. He does see something very special in her that we do not see, because it is true that love sees. Love is not blind, it sees!

As we grow older we become aware when we look in the mirror that our physical beauty is fading along with our youth, but still our lover sees in us loveliness! The beauty is partly in his eye and his heart. What he sees is all tied up with the youth that was there, and with the kind heart and the loving deeds that characterize his beloved one. 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.'*

The world cannot understand our love for our Saviour. Why those hours in church? Why those dollars in the offering? Why that joy in fellowship with His children? Why a life 'wasted* on the mission field? 'What is your beloved more than another beloved?'

The world cannot understand, eitherand here we join in the wondermenthow the Heavenly Bridegroom can love us! We fail Him. We grieve Him. We disobey. Yet He loves!

And is it not a beautiful thing how a man responds to such love as the Saviour's? The acceptance and peace and joy that flourish in a heart which knows the love of Christ will transform the unlovely. 'The desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose' (Isaiah 35:1).

Lord Jesus, You are 'altogether lovely.' Increase our love for You and our love for one another.

* Hungerford, Margaret W., Molly Bawn, chap. 12.