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Song of Solomon 4 Behold, you are fair, my love! … You have ravished my heart, My sister, my spouse… How fair is your love, …How much better than wine is your love … A fountain of gardens, A well of living waters,
The Song of Solomon tells of the intimate love God has for His people and their love in response. In the Old Testament, Israel was set apart for God. After the second covenant of Jesus’ Blood, God’s covenant of love is for His Church, the Body of Christ, which contains all followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. (1)
Lord God, so often You have shown me immeasurable love within my soul. No one can penetrate my innermost being except You! (Psalm 51:6 ) In this world of fleeting emotions and harmful controllers, You Lord Jesus are the One True Love. You heal me, correct & teach me, protect and bind me to Yourself by Your Word and Your Holy Spirit. You never leave or forsake me because You dwell within me. I will praise You for You are my salvation! (2)
Song of Solomon 5 I have come to my garden, my sister, my spouse; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice… His mouth is most sweet, Yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, And this is my friend,
Intimacy with God is for all who trust the Lord God Almighty because of Jesus’ blood covenant. The marriage is consummated by the Lamb of God. Heaven is our paradise home. (6)
Lord God, You provide all that is needed to live with You in sweet unity. When we seek Your face and righteousness, You reveal Yourself ever more clearly and closely. Your love for me compels me to love and trust You more deeply. The love You give in Spirit and Truth transforms me to be what You desire. Father, I am grateful that You will complete the work You began in me because I want to see Your glory here and in heaven! (3) (4)
Acts 7:22-43 When forty years had passed, and the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush … the voice of the Lord came to him, saying, …I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them.” … He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.”
Yet “… our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt… offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then God turned and gave them up … ‘And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’
The Lord Jesus Christ, the Angel of the Lord, brought His people out of slavery, releasing them from evil gods and evil rulers in Egypt. Yet the people rejected God’s mighty cleansing love. Instead they sought idols and “rejoiced in the works of their own hands.” So God brought them what they wanted, bondage again.
The people wanted painful patterns of sin rather than pure love and freedom for Joy in God. How can this be? How filled with self-hatred is that? This is a daily reality today. Hell is a viable choice. To choose captivity now and for eternity, or to flee self-rule and idolatry in exchange for worship of the One Who is worthy, the Creator and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Song of Solomon displays paradise heaven and sweet communion with God. Acts 7 shows the choice of bondage to sin, separation from God and a bent towards hell. This only magnifies the clarity of daily choices – for heaven or hell? To live with and for God or against God? To live as a lover or as a hater of God?
It’s not about me and my pleasures and pleasing me, it’s only about the Lord God Almighty and what brings Him pleasure and glory! God’s goal is to love each person actively, to magnify His Name for the salvation of souls, and for each person’s personal relationship with God based upon the Lord Jesus Christ’s atonement.
Which shall it be my dear soul, my heart, my mind, my emotions? Choose this moment Who You shall serve. Choose again, and again. Don’t forget Who drew You in His loving kindness. Who changed You into His image and made You His bride. Choose to live abiding in the intimacy of God’s Holy Word and Spirit! Rejoice in all things, for the Lord God goes before you for His Good purposes alone! Don’t cause yourself harm, but life everlasting! (5)
Bible insights –
1 John 15, Revelation 7:9, Romans 9:25
3 John 17, Ephesians 1, Philippians 1:6, 1 Corinthians 9:24
6 John 1:29, 36 ; Revelation 5:6, Revelation 5:12, Revelation 13:8
Crystal (PsalmThirty4)
Sixty-six books in a year 