Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: Song of Solomon 1-8
Song of Solomon 5:8
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.
The maiden is lovesick. What will a person do for love?
They will let others know of the object of their love. In today’s verse the maiden speaks to others about her beloved. “Hey, if you see my beloved tell him that I am lovesick over him.” To say this indicates that her friends know who her beloved is. Interestingly, I Corinthians 8:3 states, But if any man love God, the same is known of him. How? Because of one thing: the man speaks of God and his love for Him. Individuals the world over speak of the ones they love, and/or the things they love. Almost any grandparent will be glad to tell you all about their grandkids. Right? Right! Almost to ad nauseum.
A lovesick person also cares not how much they spend on the one they love. Those in love will spend time, money, energy, and more money on the object of their love. They will inconvenience themselves, give up sleep, travel to go see them, and other ways that are not convenient just to show them their great love. They are not like the one who wrote his love saying “I would cross the driest desert, climb the highest mountains, traverse the most dangerous wilderness, tightrope walk across the greatest canyon, swim the snake infested river, and walk miles upon miles to see your beautiful face. PS. I’ll be at your place Saturday night if it doesn’t rain.”
The person in love will gladly give themselves to the one they love. The preponderance of the book of the Song of Solomon highlights this thought. They give attention. Notice the precise ways, the various ways, the insightful ways, that those who love each other in this book describe the other. Now, probably no one would tell their love that their neck is like the tower of David wherein a thousand shields of the mighty men hang. Not today. But everyone in love can tell the specifics of their love in great detail for they pay attention to even their minutest feature.
When it comes to the very first, and greatest commandment, which is, …thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (Deuteronomy 6:5) these three aspects are always demonstrated. For those who love God preeminently will: let others know they love Him, care not how great the cost is of loving Him, and will gladly, freely, and without reservation give themselves to Him.
Reader, congratulations. If you started at the first of the year you have read 22 of the 39 Old Testament books. Tomorrow, you begin its last two sections: major prophets and the minor prophets. Much is yet to be learned. If you just started this Rēad to Read program, remember the goal is to move you from “I will read the Bible to I have read the Bible.” Somehow, I hope to make these devotions available to you until you finish. Get ready, for Isaiah has some things to say to us, as do Ezekiel, Daniel Jeremiah and the others. Some of their words are unfolding before our eyes today. Stay tuned!
Dr. William T. Howe
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