8/12/19 

Song of Solomon 8:6-7

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.
⁷ Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.

Does this not remind you of I Corinthians 13?  It is in some ways a summary of the great poem in I Corinthians.

I heard a friend use this illustration many years ago and I have thought often of it.  “There are four things you cannot buy, a baby’s smile, a good man’s friendship, a good woman’s love, and the grace of God.” The comparisons struck here seem very apt.  As the writer in Song of Solomon, if he would offer “he would be utterly despised.”

I must confess again how I have taken for granted friendships, love, and beyond all else the grace of God.  But I know I have done it and failed to consider what I have done.  The failure is lost in my hardness.

If you consider your own heart, you will not find me unique.  You too have failed to consider and give a proper return both to man and God.

And now, I John 4:10.

¹⁰ In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.