Passage Read: Song of Solomon 3-6
Meditation Verses: 5:6-8
Thought
This is such a strange part of this love poem! Her liver comes to her but the door is locked. By the time she gets up to let him in, he is gone. She seems him in the night and is found by the watchmen. It had happened before with no consequence, but this time they beat her and bruise her! And how does she respond? "Tell my lover I am faint with love." The beating is lost in her love for her husband! Nothing about it. Why the beating in the first place? Why is that even here? Why is that a part of this love poem? And why mention it if it is forgotten in the next breath? Were there rules against being out and about after dark? Is her love so all-consuming that she thinks nothing of the hardships involved in seeking her lover?
Application
Perhaps that's a message in all this, that my love for the Lord should eclipse any hardship that comes my way in seeking His presence. Hardship in seeking the one I long for should be counted as nothing, in comparison to finding and being with them. Hardship in seeking Rachel didn't matter, compared to being with her. Hardship in seeking the Lord, even far greater suffering in order to know and belong to Him should be of little consequence compared to being with Him. Shame, embarrassment, even abuse for my delight in Him, none of these things should matter, compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing and serving and exalting Him.