Song of Solomon 1:8-17: a reflection

8If you don’t know, most beautiful among women, follow the tracks of the sheep. Graze your young goats beside the shepherds’ tents. 9I have compared you, my love, to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots. 10Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels. 11We will make you earrings of gold, with studs of silver. 12While the king sat at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance. 13My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh, that lies between my breasts. 14My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi. 15Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are like doves. 16Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, yes, pleasant; and our couch is verdant. 17The beams of our house are cedars. Our rafters are firs.

This passage from the Song of Solomon is love poetry, an exchange of delight between a bride and her beloved, each praising the beauty of the other. Behold, you are beautiful, my love, the beloved says; and she answers, you are beautiful, my beloved. It is a picture of mutual delight, of love that sees beauty in the other and delights to say so. And through the ages, God's people have heard in this poetry an echo of God's own delight in those he loves.

Notice the mutual delight at the heart of this poetry: each delights in the other and says so. There is warmth here, tenderness, the joy of being cherished and of cherishing in return. And read as an echo of God's love, it hints at something we may find hard to believe: that God delights in his people, that he looks on those he loves and calls them beautiful, cherishing them not grudgingly but with delight. The love pictured here is not cold duty, but warm delight.

That God delights in his people is a truth many of us struggle to believe. We may think of God as tolerating us, or accepting us grudgingly, but not delighting in us. Yet the Scriptures, and this poetry read as an echo of God's love, speak of a God who delights in those he loves, who looks on his people with the warmth of a lover, not the coldness of a grudging judge. Do not think of God as merely tolerating you; the God who redeemed you delights in you, cherishes you, looks on you with love. Let yourself believe that you are not merely tolerated but delighted in, cherished by a God whose love has warmth and tenderness in it. Rest in being loved like this, not grudgingly but with delight, by the God who calls those he loves beautiful, and let that warm your love for him in return.

Lord, this poetry from the Song of Solomon is an exchange of delight between a bride and her beloved, each calling the other beautiful; and through the ages your people have heard in it an echo of your own delight in those you love. Help me believe that truth, which I struggle to believe: that you delight in your people. I may think of you as tolerating me, or accepting me grudgingly, but not delighting in me. Yet the Scriptures, and this poetry read as an echo of your love, speak of a God who delights in those he loves, who looks on his people with the warmth of a lover, not the coldness of a grudging judge. Keep me from thinking of you as merely tolerating me; you, who redeemed me, delight in me, cherish me, look on me with love. Help me believe that I am not merely tolerated but delighted in, cherished by you, whose love has warmth and tenderness in it. Let me rest in being loved like this, not grudgingly but with delight, by you, who call those you love beautiful; and let that warm my love for you in return. Thank you that you delight in me, Lord; help me believe it.