During the fall quarter of my junior year of college at Cedarville University, we had a sex conference. Now, to be sure, it was a “Song of Solomon” conference with Tommy Nelson, the Christian sex guru, but it was a sex conference at my thoroughly fundamental Baptist school, none the less. And it was free for us Resident Assistance, which was cool because I didn’t have much money at my private school and talks on sex were very few and far between.
The 8-session conference was devoted to unpackaging this book as a literal “manual” to love, marriage, and sex. I walked away thinking, “Wow, God must love and want us to love marriage and sex enough to give us an entire book about it! How cool!” Because this book was definitely intentionally missing from my fundamental evangelical background, I walked away convinved the book was indeed God’s version of the Cosmo Kama Sutra. Conviced until last night, however…
Last night I was challenged again by the biography of the late Rich Mullins (you know, the Awesome God guy…). A chapter of the book describes his journey to understanding and dwelling in the “reckless raging fury they call the love of God.” He said, “Why can we think of God as Creator, but not think of God as Lover?” Good question? The book then recounts how Rich led a bible study through the book of Song of Solomon (especially dangerous back in HIS day!) and how it changed his and many persons lives after viewing God as Lover.
If the whole of Scripture is God’s self revelation to His Creation (which I firmly believe is the case with this ancient text called the Bible), why wouldn’t THIS book also exist to reveal our Creator to us? How about you, do you view God as Lover? Do you feel God loves you? If you met God in a coffeeshop tomorrow afternoon, would you know the first thing He would want to communicated to you about Himself is that he is a Passionate Pursuer? That He would want nothing more than to say to you three words: “I love you”? Look at the following verses from the first chapter and see a glimpse of this in the imagery:
1:2-4
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth-
for your love is more delightful than wine.
Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes;
your name is like perfume poured out.
No wonder the maidens love you!We rejoice and delight in you
we will praise your love more than wine.1:4-7
Beloved
How right they are to adore you!
Dark am I, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem,
dark like the tents of Kedar,
like the tent curtains of Solomon.
Do not stare at me because I am dark,
because I am darkened by the sun.
My mother’s sons were angry with me
and made me take care of the vineyards;
my own vineyard I have neglected.
Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock
and where you rest your sheep at midday.
Why should I be like a veiled woman
beside the flocks of your friends?1:9-11, 15
Lover
I liken you, my darling, to a mare
harnessed to one of the chariots of Pharaoh.
Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings,
your neck with strings of jewels.
We will make you earrings of gold,
studded with silver.
How beautiful you are, my darling!
Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes are doves.
Here is a little of what I think is going on in this first chapter:
Verses 2-4
Seems to be a reflection by the Beloved of the Lover. The Beloved desires to feel and experiencee again the expressions of love from the Lover and recognizes this love is superior above all other feelings of enjoyment (i.e. wine, perfume, etc…). The Beloved wants to be whisked away by the Lover, to be taken to another reality, something outside and different than the way she experiences life (the Lovers chamber).
How many of us might this reflect? We desire to newly and freshly feel and experience the love of God. But why doesn’t it happen sometimes? How many of us truly recognize that His love and expressions of it are far more pleasing than other feelings of enjoyment (alcohol, money, power, relationships, prestige, sex, materiaism, etc…)? What about the third thing: the desire to be taken somewhere outside our own reality. I think there is a desire sometimes to be rescued from our lives, to be taken away by Another into another Reality.
Verses 4-7
Now this is where it gets good. I see the Beloved knows she should think she is beautiful and treasured, but is completely uncertain. Her seemingly confident line “Dark am I, yet lovely” is betrayed by the contradictions that follow: she dwells on the fact she is Dark and goes into a drawn-out explanation as to why that is the case. In fact, She says “Do not stare at me because I am Dark.” The Beloved does not feel lovely, but rather repulsed by her own self, and reasons the Lover will feel the same. So to explain her seemingly hideousness, she launches into an explanation: My mom’s sons were angry with me so they put me too work out in the hot, dry sun to work the vineyards like a mule. So because I look ghastly, don’t look at me.
Wow, how close does this description come to our own feelings before the footstoole of our own Lover. “Lord, do not look upon me because I am dirty” or “Lord, I am such a disgrace to you and your presence” or “God, how can you be pleased with me, how can you love this dark, dried out prune of a person?” Why is this the case? “Because I am an utter failure in keeping your way…I still struggle with sinning, repenting, sinning, repenting. God, I am like the rag who has been soiled and cleaned and soiled again one to many times…do not stare at me, forsake me…”
Verses 9-11, 15
So what does the lover say in the face of this description and excuse: “You are beautiful; I love you the way you are!” The Lover plays Truth-Teller and describes the Beloved how she really is, how he sees her: She is not an overworked mule, but a choice mare who is so prized she is harnsed to the Pharaoh’s personal chariot; then the Lover describes her by saying “your cheeks are beautiful withearringss, your neck with strings of jewels. We will make you earrings of gold, studded with silver.” My guess (only a guess) is that the Beloved is not standing before the Lover with any of these things on. Rather, the Lover sees her like this regardless, or even sees what she will look like with all of these accoutrements on.
And to know and feel that our own Pursuer sees us as the beautifully, restored Eikons we were created to be is a beautiful thing. A beautiful thing, but rarely felt or experienced. Friend, have you viewed God as Lover, as One who accepts and embraces you regardless of who you are or how you look?
These are just some initial thoughts…what do you all think? Am I off my rocker?
be His,
-jeremy
