Her story is found in the Song of Songs.
The authors of this devotional book point out many things about her story, but two of the points they made stood out the most to me.
The first point is that God does not promise every one of us that our marriage will play out like the words in Song of Songs. Marriage, romance, and love were all designed by God, but not all of us will experience the kind of passion with our spouse that is shared between the Lover and his Beloved. Many marriages are blessed with it, but it is not promised to everybody.
The second thing they point out is that although not all marriage relationships experience this kind of passion, God promises to love each and every one of us with the all consuming love written about in Song of Songs. We can all have this love relationship with our Creator, even if we never experience it in our marriages.
God is the true Lover of our soul.
We are all God's Beloved.
He longs for our company.
He loves to spend time with us.
He cares more for us than we care for ourselves.
He delights in us.
He never tires of us.
Lamentations 3:22-23
"Because of the LORD'S great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."
He loves us!
Jeremiah 31:3
"I have loved you with an everlasting love."
I recently attended a Shannon Ethridge conference and she said, "God gets giddy over us!" Giddy! Let that sink in. She told us all to say out loud, "God gets giddy over me!" Make it personal.....because it is. God loves you!
Our Sunday school class did a Song of Songs study by Tommy Nelson. It is a video series. It is one of the most amazing Bible studies that we have ever done. He is a wonderful teacher, and he is able to make the words in Song of Songs come to life. If you haven't done this study, I highly recommend it. God didn't create marriage for us to fumble our way through. He gave us all the information that we would need to have a fulfilling life and marriage. We just have to open up His Word and see what He says.
Shannon and I have a favorite verse from Song of Songs. It is engraved on our wedding bands.
Song of Songs 6:3
I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine.
You are God's Beloved. Nothing will ever change that.
Romans 8:38-39
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
2 comments:
what a great way to start my day by reading of God's love for me. i have discovered another reason why you and i ride around in the same boat together... michael and i, too, have a fav verse from song of songs 8:6-7, " place me like a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. it burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away." i remember at the beginning of last year right before michael and i started out reconciliation we were up late IMing each other and i asked him if he remembered the verse and he said yes that he thought about a few days before and had wanted to get song of songs 8:6 tatooed on his forearm. i just couldn't believe that it would have crossed his mind. i honestly feel like that love still exists, but satan has tried to cover it with other things. my God is a God who restores so thats were my hope lies. just look again at what the verse says... waters cannot quench it, rivers cannot wash it away.
Amy, thanks for a great post! I will have to check out the study you mentioned. I appreciate your heart for God (and marriage!)
Love,
Amy Hale
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