Song of Songs 1:2-7 Her First

We meet the first person in this love story; the future bride. She sings of her heart’s desire first. This is just her first time voicing her heart but we hear it loud and clear.

Here we are, jumping in feet first and waiting to see where the Spirit takes us today. What I hear right now in my mind is my aunt Victoria reading the plea of the future bride. She is breathless with longing and her lips drip with passion for her only love. I hear the deep longing for him that no other can satisfy. I wish you could hear her voice as she pours out her heart. Her love is for Jesus, her savior.

I wish I could hear the original bride’s voice as she yearns for her one love even before her friends. I don’t know if this was ‘polite conversation’ or if she was pouring out her heart before her closest friends, but her longing for her love is so strong she can’t be silent.

Her friends, or witnesses, are excited for her! They root for her and urge her forward in her quest for her lover.

I have to stop for a moment and make a confession regarding this story. It has to do with the word “lover.” In the society where I grew up, that word has a negative connotation. When someone speaks of having a “lover” it refers to taking an intimate partner outside of their marriage. The “lover” in my society is a destroyer of family, marriage, and fidelity. But that is not the “lover” of the Song of Songs/Song of Solomon. The term “lover” refers to the one who is dearer to the seeker that the air they breathe. The one that life is not complete without. The ONE who will become forever bonded with, till death do they part. THIS is the “lover” I want to speak about each time I use that word. The One I cannot live without is Jesus Christ, God’s Son. HIS name and character will fill the term “lover” to overflowing. The term cannot fully hold all He is, but it is the best my simple lips can do. And I believe, the best the author could do to convey the depths of his love towards God. Let’s get back to the story now.

Our woman has been near enough to the man her heart desires to smell the oils upon his skin. She has seen his mouth and desires for him to cover hers with it. His name rolls off her tongue and she practices using his name in association with her own. She dreams of him taking her by the hand and running to his home where she will become his.

I heard about Jesus as a child. I heard of His love for all who would call on Him. I saw the commitment of others who He had chosen. I LONGED to be one of them. For Him to find me ‘desirable’ and to take me into His ‘family’. Just as our bride knew of the one her heart desired most, I knew of Jesus and wanted to be one of His own.

But the would-be bride KNEW she was stained. She had spent her life in the service of her brothers, who had taken advantage of her. She did their bidding; their work. And it brought with it visible stains on her skin. She knew she still had some desirable qualities but the ‘stains’ made her feel unworthy. Oh, if only she could get close enough to even those who served him that they could see her value in her work. If they would only notice her and sing her praises to the man of her heart’s desire.

I wanted to be noticed by God. My greatest desire was for Him to desire me! But I felt unworthy and stained. I knew I carried the stains of sin on my life. What I wouldn’t have given to KNOW that He saw me, that He desired me as much as I desired Him.

I couldn’t see it at the firs, how he could desire me, but I would learn just as our bride to be will learn.

Father God, I’m SO GLAD that I saw You and had a desire to know You. To KNOW Your Son and the presence of Your Holp Spirit. I want to rush forward and tell the ‘rest of the story’. Of how You desired me even before I knew You. That part is coming. I have to be patient and follow Your timing.