Ruminating On…

I’ve been doing this Bible reading plan that is pretty much the polar opposite of the read-the-Bible-in-90-days plan. (For the record, I have nothing against the Bible reading plans that have you read large chunks each day; it’s just not my preferred way of reading Scripture.)

This plan gives you a small section of scripture to read each day in the hopes that you will read and meditate on the passage. {Here is the link to the plan in pdf form.}

Anyhow, November 3rd’s passage was Song of Songs, chapter one, with the instruction to read “as Christ and believer.”
Y’all, I tried. I really tried. But it is hard for me to imagine Jesus saying to me, “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.” {Song of Songs, 1:9-11}

I know that many see this passage as a metaphor, but I just don’t get that. Song of Songs (or Solomon, depending on your translation), chapter one is one of the most overtly sexual passages of scripture in the Bible. And the rest of the book is more of the same. Song of Songs is a beautiful picture of love between a man and his bride-to-be (never mind that she doesn’t even have a name in the book, and that she is merely one of many of Solomon’s wives…).

So how is a sister supposed to read that and think about Jesus? I’m not being trite; I really want to know. I always just assumed that the people who read SoS as a metaphor were just uncomfortable with the sex. But at the same time, I do believe that our marriages here on earth serve as a picture of the marriage that will take place between Christ and his Church when he returns. We will become one. But still…

So I skipped over the rest of the readings from Songs and moved on to the next set of readings: Hosea. At first I didn’t give one teeny thought to the reason behind placing readings from Hosea directly after readings from Songs. There is a lot of skipping around on the rest of the plan. But I have been thinking about it a good bit this past week, and I don’t think it was an accident.

If you have read the “Jenn” section on this blog, then you know that I am all too familiar with the story of Hosea and Gomer. And I think that for many of us, the story of the unfaithful wife is the one that resonates with us because we have been her. This understanding of Gomer is one of the reasons I love Derek Webb’s song Wedding Dress.

So could you love this bastard child 
Though I don’t trust you to provide 
With one hand in a pot of gold 
And with the other in your side 

I am so easily satisfied 
By the call of lovers so less wild 
That I would take a little cash 
Over your very flesh and blood  

I am a whore I do confess 
I put you on just like a wedding dress 
And I run down the aisle 
I run down the aisle 
I’m a prodigal with no way home 
I put you on just like a ring of gold 
And I run down the aisle to you

I have come to this: Song of Songs is what a life spent with Christ is supposed to look like, and Hosea is what reality is for so many. And because our judgement has been clouded by culture, religion and our own experiences, we don’t believe that we can actually have a relationship with Jesus that looks like Song of Songs. It’s too intimate, too personal. It makes us twitchy.

And this is what I love about reading scripture and meditating on it; God does not let that time go to waste. The Holy Spirit has been using my internal confusion over this subject to teach me a plain truth: we can be totally, embarrassingly, bride-to-be shamelessly in love with our Savior.

Francis Chan illustrates this truth beautifully in Crazy Love, when he shares about his wife’s grandmother, Clara.

…Every morning Clara would kneel by her bed and spend precious hours with the Savior and Lover; later in the day, just the sight of that corner of her bed would bring joy-filled tears and a deep anticipation of the next morning spent kneeling in His presence. 
     Grandma Clara acted toward God the way we act toward people we’re madly in love with.

{Crazy Love, p. 100} 

So back to that metaphor- I don’t think Song of Songs needs to be read as a metaphor for Christ and believers. I think that it can be read as a true depiction of how we should feel about Jesus. I mean, yes, I still am uncomfortable talking about myrrh between my breasts and whatnot, but I want to have that silly, giddy anticipation over spending time with my Lord. Like that song says, he wants us to want him.

Do you want him? Do you want to want him? Here’s to praying you find the one your heart loves… and that you hold him and don’t let him go.

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