365 Reflections

The power of love cannot be overstated. Song of Solomon is a book about love between a husband and wife as a picture of God's love for us in Christ and our requisite love for Him. The book is in the Bible because of love's unrelenting power. Studying this short book reminds me that God is fully aware of our reality, our emotions, and our true need to know and love Him as we know His love for us.  Song of Solomon 8:6 (ESV) Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Notice those words in verse 6. "Love is strong as death" and "jealousy as fierce as the grave." Wow. Everyone who has ever loved or lost loved knows this is true. Love can make us do incredible things, and foolish things, and love can be one of the riskiest things we do in life.  Song of Solomon 8:7 (ESV) Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown

Marriage cannot last when it's about what you GET out of it. Because you will get into it to get and it's not meant for two people to get, it's meant for two people to give. Song of Solomon opens that reality to us in every chapter. The Woman must give her body to her husband. The man must give his love to his wife in physical ways (verbal or otherwise). There has to be this foundation or the house cannot stand.  Coming to the end of chapter seven we see how the woman responds when the man gives her compliments and verbally praises her.  Song of Solomon 7:11–12 (ESV) Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields and lodge in the villages; 12 let us go out early to the vineyards and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love. What is her response when he gives her the verbal affirmation she needs? She gives him sex.  It's amazing to see this play out in chapter-by-chapter de

Having talked about how important sex is for a man in the last post you may think the Bible is misogynistic. This is the accusation of many. It is not true. Of course, there were many misogynistic men in the Bible, but the moral truth of the Bible clearly elevates the status and value of women to equal regard with men.  In Song of Solomon 6, Solomon describes the importance of sex for a man and how his wife's giving this to him opens her up to passion as well. But now in chapter 7, he shows us the great gift a man can give his wife in exchange.  What is that gift? Compliments.  But what does he compliment? Song of Solomon 7:1 (ESV) How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O noble daughter! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a master hand. He starts with her feet! The ugliest part of a person is typically found here. But to the husband of this love story, they were beautiful. He works his way up to the legs. And then things get spicy.  Song of Solomon 7:2 (ESV) Your na

We last left off with the bride of Song of Solomon in search of her lover after having missed the chance to be with him. Fast-forward to chapter 6. When the women ask the Shunammite where her beloved has gone she is ready with an answer: Song of Solomon 6:2–3 (ESV) My beloved has gone down to his garden to the beds of spices, to graze in the gardens and to gather lilies. 3 I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he grazes among the lilies. What is this talking about? She is the gardener. And the lilies refer to her body. The physical love captured in Song of Solomon is very apparent.  The text teaches us the importance of physical love between husband and wife. Earlier she missed out on this and deeply regretted it. She then sought him out and apparently found him again. What created the distance from before in chapter 5? They missed out on love making that belongs in the marriage bed.  It is very true that sex binds a husband and wife together. It must not be avoided or withheld. Ev

In Song of Solomon 5, the other women want to know, what makes this man so special? Song of Solomon 5:9 (ESV)  What is your beloved more than another beloved, O most beautiful among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you thus adjure us? The woman has just once again advised the young maidens to make sure he knows how much she longs for him in verse 8 having missed out on the moment he offered but to which she was at first to apathetic to respond. The women, therefore, want to know - why? What's so special? And just as the bridegroom has spent the larger portion of Song of Solomon 4 praising her beauty, she now praises his.  Song of Solomon 5:10–11 (ESV) My beloved is radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand. 11 His head is the finest gold; his locks are wavy, black as a raven. Sometimes we forget how beautiful the Lord is because we've grown comfortable with the temporary beauty offered in this world. And perhaps this is why He sometimes wit

The tendency of our faith is up and down. I'm sure I'm not the only one who experienced that frustration. One day you're hot and ready for the Lord's work, the other day you're cold as ice. I believe part of it is being human. Our flesh does not want the Lord. Our flesh wants our own way, rest, ease, and isolation. But it is then we find ourselves in desperation for the very One who saved us from all of that in the first place.  In Song of Solomon 5, what began as a hot torrid love affair has slid into apathetic coolness. Song of Solomon 5:2 (ESV) I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking. “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.” The woman hears the knock of her lover calling out to her. What is the response? Song of Solomon 5:3 (ESV) I had put off my garment; how could I put it on? I had bathed my feet; how could I soil them? She had gotten comfortable, and

The longing for beauty is universal. What person does not want to be seen and noticed? It's inherent in our youth, and in marriage, we can kill a relationship when we no longer notice one another's individual beauty that attracted us to them in the first place. For this reason, the Song of Solomon is filled with edification from lover to lover of the captivating beauty they beheld in each other.  Song of Solomon 4:1 (ESV) Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead. The king will not simply tell her she is beautiful, he will describe her beauty in poetic fashion, drawing allusions to the animal kingdom, industry and architecture of their world. The picture is of a bride from Earth loved and seen for all she is. The descriptions may seem funny to us. Some of them seem rude. But all of them are chosen and thought out for the original author. One key elemen

Song of Solomon 3:1–2 (ESV) On my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not. 2 I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but found him not. The thing about love is that it can be scary. In this case, the woman in Song of Solomon doesn't know where her lover has gone. She is either dreaming or awakening from sleep and he is not there. She goes out to search for him and nothing.  Scary.  That's love.  Love can thrill you and terrify you. I can cause you great joy and great grief. Why? Because love can be lost. And that hurts. Divorce destroys so many families, adultery attacks the soul, and broken relationships take years if not decades to heal in our hearts. This is the story of love.  The woman finds herself with strangers. She beckons for help.  Song of Solomon 3:3 (ESV) The watchmen found me as they went about in the city. “Have you seen him whom my soul love

Song of Solomon 2:7 (ESV) I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases. This passage in Song chapter 2 is a very important warning for young women. The writer (who in this case is the voice of Solomon's love interest) is warning young girls to keep themselves away from premature sexual expression until the right person arrives.  But the eternal question is this: How do we know the right person? The previous and following verses paint a picture for us.  In the first verse of this chapter, the woman calls herself this: Song of Solomon 2:1 (ESV) I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. But in the next verse, her lover, the king elevates her status: Song of Solomon 2:2 (ESV) As a lily among brambles, so is my love among the young women. Brambles are thorns. While she saw herself as singular among others, he sees her as far better than all others. He esteems her worth more than she does herse

Song of Solomon is a love story between Solomon and what appears to be a lowly servant girl who was forced to work outside and bear the heat of the sun: Song of Solomon 1:6 (ESV) Do not gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has looked upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept! Notice her attitude about herself. She's ashamed. She doesn't feel worthy. What has made her like this? She has been hated by those who should have loved her - her own brothers. She has been worked in ways a woman should not have been. And she has not been able to attend to herself.  What a picture of the unregenerate person. The pain of life, the brunt of hardship, and the hatred faced by those around them cause them to cower in shame. YET, the woman is not without hope. She seeks the lover of her soul.  Song of Solomon 1:7 (ESV) Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down

Today we begin a look at one of the most evocative books in the Bible - the Song of Solomon. It's a collection of love poems between a man and his bride. It exults the explicit and singular sexual relationship scripture admonishes - a husband and wife in marriage. There IS no other Biblical definition of marriage than man and wife. And yes, you have the right to disagree but God is the ultimate judge, not me.  How does this book begin? Song of Solomon 1:1–4 (ESV) The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s. 2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine; 3 your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you. 4 Draw me after you; let us run. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will exult and rejoice in you; we will extol your love more than wine; rightly do they love you. The woman is already in full response to the husband's love. Here is a pro tip for me. Love your wife into loving your kisses. She lo

Ecclesiastes 12:1 (ESV) Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them” Solomon ends his old age treatise with an important lesson to the young. Let God be the center of your life when you are young. If not, you'll grow old, discontent, angry at the world, regretful, and perhaps bitter. Why? Because as you get older, life gets harder. Not so much in that you are challenged with new problems but that your body and mind are challenged to do old things.  Solomon's last admonition is a simple yet profound truth. You will be the result of your life when you get older. And when you're young you're far too uninformed to know what decisions you should make. So look to God when you're young and your life will be pleasurable when you're old.  He then uses a series of metaphors to describe the process of getting older: Ecclesiastes 12:2 (ESV)  before the sun and the

One thing I love about scripture is how often it speaks to us in very practical ways to this day. When you consider that the Bible is THE holy book of the ages. The Bible is the ultimate collection of Holy Spirit writings that teach us how to get to know and come to God. YET in many places, such as Ecclesiastes 11, it meets us on the ground level of life.  In Ecclesiastes, Solomon drops wisdom on investing and managing risks. A book from the business section of your local store couldn't do it better.  Ecclesiastes 11:1–4 (ESV) Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. 2 Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth. 3 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. 4 He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. The term "waters" refers

Having extolled the virtues of wisdom, Solomon gives us the devastating results of foolishness. And if you care about your future at all, you want to pay attention.  Ecclesiastes 10:1–3 (ESV) Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. 2 A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right, but a fool’s heart to the left. 3 Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense, and he says to everyone that he is a fool.  Think of how something small like a fly, if there are enough dead ones, can make perfume stink! That's the power of foolishness - a bunch of self-seeking SMALL choices that come from the flesh can lead to death.  As Romans says: Romans 8:6 (ESV) For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Think of how foolishness makes your life obviously destructive? Your very walk shows the community you've ruined your life.  Then this line: Ecclesiastes 10:4 (ESV) If the

So much of the conversation we carry on with ourselves is useless. And by conversation, I mean that constant voice of comparing our lives to others. We did this before social media but far more distant. Today we are in each other's lives far too intrusively to make endless measurements our constant state of play.  Look at what Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 9: Ecclesiastes 9:11 (ESV) Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. First, he begins with the word, "Again". Solomon is picking up the constant refrain of what he noticed when looking at life "under the sun." And here he notes what's inevitable and often unmentioned. Time and chance have a LOT to do with what happens to us.  Some people are billionaire successes. Why? Because they met the right teacher or mentor at the right tim

Ecclesiastes 9:4 (ESV) But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. Sometimes the lesser of two bad things is better. And sometimes understanding that simple fact is wisdom.  In discussing death Solomon acknowledges both its inevitability and its equality. It comes for all, and it comes for certain. There's no stopping it. So stop wasting time complaining about your life while you have it. He has already said: Ecclesiastes 9:2–3 (ESV) It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the d

Live long enough and you'll eventually find yourself stuck. You cant change the conditions of your life. You can't change the people around you. You can't find your way out of a season that seems to last forever. What do you do? Solomon explores this in Ecclesiastes 8. He starts by giving practical advice when you find yourself working for a difficult person. Perhaps a king.  Ecclesiastes 8:2 (ESV) I say: Keep the king’s command, because of God’s oath to him. God's oath here refers to the sovereign choice of God to elect certain people to high office and remove others. Daniel backs this up well: Daniel 2:21 (ESV) He (God) changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; It was God who gave the people their kings - Saul, David, and now Solomon. It was God who used Pharaoh to show His glory in delivering His people from Egypt's grip and God who used Nebuchadnezzar to punish them

One of the best proverbs in the scripture is found in Ecclesiastes 7. Ecclesiastes 7:21–22 (ESV) Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. 22 Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others. In these two verses, we have so much Gospel-centered truth. What is the Gospel's first statement to man but that we have sinned! We are therefore all flawed and stained by sin. Since this is so, we must regard the insults of men or their praises as rooted in such flaws. The insult or praise is not necessarily true as it comes from a heart navigationally off course from the truth. In the end, the words or opinions of men and women must not be the definition of our lives. And we should consider that from our own hearts we have cursed others.  James rightly agrees: James 3:9 (ESV) With (our tongue) we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. Solomon further enumerates our own des

Ecclesiastes 7:1 (ESV) A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. When we come to Ecclesiastes 7 we meet a few proverbs concerning the inevitable reality of death. What seems odd to say back to back - a good name + the day of death - really tie together in this particular sense: Your name (reputation) is finalized on the day of your death. How you start in life does not necessarily determine how you finish. And if you keep your end in mind, rather than your past, you'll live wisely.  In simpler terms - CONSIDER the END of your LIFE and what you want people to say about you. Thus the next two proverbs: Ecclesiastes 7:2 (ESV) It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. And then verse 4: Ecclesiastes 7:4 (ESV) The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. We are told by cultur

Solomon was wrecked with emptiness. It's on every page of Ecclesiastes. He has so much and finds so little joy in all of it. And he comes to some conclusions: Ecclesiastes 6:1–3 (ESV) There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: 2 a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil. 3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. Notice the great evil of this man's life. He doesn't enjoy what he has. What a terrible kind of life. To have all kinds of things, all kinds of money and honor, and yet to find no enjoyment in them. No wonder Jesus came to Earth being born to a poor family in Nazareth.

The preacher talks about money in Ecclesiastes 5. And if we want to live full lives, we best pay attention. For Solomon had more money than we can imagine. And he realized the danger in ways few will understand. So what does he have to say? Ecclesiastes 5:10–12 (ESV) He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? 12 Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep. Is it a coincidence that money is discussed RIGHT AFTER Solomon instructs us in repeated terms to come to God's house with silence to listen rather than offer the "sacrifices of fools?" (See Ecclesiastes 5:1). Not at all. Solomon knows that money and riches can stop your ears and darken your heart to God. And so many of our prayers are sustenance related. Th

Ecclesiastes 5:1–2 (ESV) Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. 2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. The answer to true companionship as Solomon has observed in Ecclesiastes 4 is the know the Lord and come to Him and enjoy fellowship with Him. But that approach must be done with great care and contrition, with seriousness and sincerity.  The first command - listen.  Think of how often we do NOT consider this. We usually approach God with words, saying whatever is on our minds. But the first part of our approach should be to hear what He has to say. Notice how in several different synonymous participles, the text calls on us to silence our speech. This is so counterintuitive. For most of us believe God is pleased when we vocalize our n

Are you like me? Do you languish over the state of our world? Do you see the oppression and injustice and long to give up? Do you wonder where hope is to be found? That was Solomon's case in Ecclesiastes 4.  Ecclesiastes 4:1 (ESV) Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. The world is full of oppressors and oppression. They are those who take power or gain power and abuse power over those whom they overpower. It hurts to see and it causes many to question God's existence.  What is at the heart of oppression? It is segregation of mankind. The division of brother and sister, neighbors, boss and employee or ruler and citizen. When we forget that we belong to each other, oppression is one of the inevitable results.  Then Solomon looks at the rat race: Ecclesiastes 4:4 (ESV) Then I saw that all toil a

I know we will spend most of our lives obsessing or dreaming or at least thinking of the things we want in life. But between getting them there will be long and diverse seasons where we get the opposite of what we want.  For me, I like birth, gathering, embracing, laughing, keeping, love and peace. But those events are not guaranteed for us as constants in the universe. Solomon saw both the good and bad times of life and realized that everything has a season. Ecclesiastes 3:1 (ESV) For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: Then he writes: Ecclesiastes 3:2–8 (ESV) a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 a time to s

What Solomon teaches in Ecclesiastes is one of the hardest lessons to learn. That pleasure and pursuits of this life cannot fulfill our lives. Why is this hard? Because every stage of life offers us another set of diverse pleasures and pursuits to chase. When we are young it's just fun with friends, then in our teen years, it's romance or partying. Then when we get older it's either harder partying, more serious romance, or professional accomplishment. We settle into marriage and it becomes weekend getaways and raising great kids. We get established in our work and it's a boat, a golf membership, something else we think will surely fill us up.  Solomon had every opportunity to chase every offering at every stage. Born to the already rich King David, Solomon inherited and increased his father's fortune exponentially.  Ecclesiastes 2:1–3 (ESV) I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. 2 I said of l