September 16 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading:

Song of Solomon 7:1-13

¹How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman.
²Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies.
³Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.
⁴Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.
⁵Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries.
⁶How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!
⁷This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes.
⁸I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples;
⁹And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.
¹⁰I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me.
¹¹Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.
¹²Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves.
¹³The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.

Devotional:

Perhaps we shall not be sexually compatible, the young couple worries. Perhaps we should experiment and find out in advance to avoid incompatibility after marriage. This is the thesis for trial marriage.

What a pity that men and women are so misled! In this kind of relationship how can the true confidence of total permanent giving be experienced? Here is the relationship of this Song: 'I am my beloved's; and he is mine* (6:3). Not just tonight! Not until he leaves for someone else! Till death!

The totality of this confidence is not only in duration. It is in the whole life experience. There is no trial period to see whether there is compatibility. There is complete commitment that is willing to work on problems that may exist until they yield. It is a relationship that embraces everything around the clock. It is his kiss at the door. The holding of hands during prayer. The smile in his eyes across a crowded room. There is a constant reassurance of a belonging to each other.

The marriage where God is, the marriage for life, has, too, the confidence that tomorrow will bring an even closer relationship. There is no fear that it will not last. Rather, there is an assurance that as God does His work of sanctification in husband and wife they will be better able to know the meaning of selfless love. In a very real sense we may say that sanctification is the hope of Christian marriage.

'His desire is toward me' (7:10). Beautiful words of confidence with respect to the human lover! Amazing words of confidence with respect to the heavenly Bridegroom!