365 Reflections

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 ...

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 (E...

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...