The bride's beauty extolled
How beautiful you are, my love,
how very beautiful!
Your eyes are doves
behind your veil.
Your hair is like a flock of goats,
moving down the slopes of Gilead.
Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes
that have come up from the washing,
all of which bear twins,
and not one among them is bereaved.
Your lips are like a crimson thread,
and your mouth is lovely.
Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
behind your veil.
Your neck is like the tower of David,
built in courses;
on it hang a thousand bucklers,
all of them shields of warriors.
Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle,
that feed among the lilies.
Until the day breathes
and the shadows flee,
I will hasten to the mountain of myrrh
and the hill of frankincense.
You are altogether beautiful, my love;
there is no flaw in you.
Come with me from Lebanon, my bride;
come with me from Lebanon.
Depart from the peak of Amana,
from the peak of Senir and Hermon,
from the dens of lions,
from the mountains of leopards.
DEVOTION
Ah! Who doesn't love the lyrical beauty of the Song of Solomon! More than that, who isn't captivated by the love story and song contained therein?
There are some of us who are blessed to be a part of marital unions as strong and wondrous as this one. There are others of us who are working toward a marriage so healthy and beautiful!
In all cases, we recognize human marriage as a harbinger of even greater things to come!
In scripture The Church is the bride of Christ! Isn't it amazing to contemplate the fact that God loves The Church as much as a lover cares for his beloved?
My favorite lines in today's scripture passage are, "Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will hasten to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you."
Wow! I can just hear Jesus speaking these words over me..."You are altogether beautiful my love; there is no flaw in you."
These words are only possible because of Jesus' atoning sacrifice made on the cross for me. It is Jesus' love--life, death, and resurrection that makes me beautiful, for my sins are forgiven!
And it is Jesus' victory over sin, death, and the grave, which causes God to declare with Amazing Grace that there is no flaw in me--for I have been forgiven because of the Blood of the Lamb!
God does this for me; God does this for you! For we are God's beloved...
Now, ain'ta that good news?!
INVITATION
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