THINK TOGETHER
Do you have a favorite love story? What is it?
READ TOGETHER
For the past few days we’ve been reading from the middle part of the Bible, the part that is sometimes called the Wisdom Books of the Bible – Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and now, the Song of Solomon. These books were written in order to help us be wise. Which means they were written to help us trust God.
The book of Proverbs shows us that if we trust God things will be good for us.
But then the book of Ecclesiastes shows us that often life is hard and sad even when we are trying to trust and obey God. And you might remember from yesterday’s reading that the writer of Ecclesiastes even questioned if God loves us or not.
And then comes the Song of Solomon. This book is a love story. Do you like love stories? Like Beauty and the Beast, or Cinderella, or The Princess Bride?
The Song of Solomon tells the story of a husband and a wife and how much they love each other. But it’s also the story of God and us, and how much God loves us and wants to be with us forever. Listen to this part of the Song and see if you can hear the love between the husband and the wife in the story. In this section the wife will talk, then the husband, then the wife again.
Song of Songs 2:8-16.
8 The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes,
leaping over the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is like a gazelle
or a young stag.
Behold, there he stands
behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
looking through the lattice.
10 My beloved speaks and says to me:
“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away,
11 for behold, the winter is past;
the rain is over and gone.
12 The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree ripens its figs,
and the vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away.
16 My beloved is mine, and I am his;
The Song of Solomon reminds us of just how much Jesus loves us. Like the husband in the story, Jesus comes to us asking us to come away from our sadness to be with him forever and ever. Jesus calls us his lovely one. Jesus says to our hearts that winter is over and spring has come. Like the husband, Jesus runs and jumps to get to us. Nothing could ever keep him from getting to the one he loves – YOU.
And like the wife in the story we can say these words: “My beloved Jesus is mine, and I am his.”
Do you have any idea how much Jesus loves you today? Maybe you know in your head that Jesus died for you and maybe you can even quote John 3:16. But do you know that Jesus loves you in your heart? Do you know that there is nothing you could ever do to make Jesus love you less? And do you know that there is nothing that you could ever do to make Jesus love you more? His love for you is perfect, and complete, and unchanging. He loves you no matter what, and he can’t wait to live with you forever.
Because of Jesus you are never separated from God and his love.
With Jesus you can trust his love and choose to love others like he does.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Watch one of your favorite love stories together like Beauty and the Beast (or just watch this trailer below). Talk about how the Beast was changed by the curse breaking power of Belle’s love. How is this like Jesus’ love for us?
Note: Jesus’ love is even better than Belle’s because Jesus loved us from the beginning – he didn’t have to “fall in love” with us like Belle did with Beast.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus,
You love me no matter what. Nothing will stop you from being with me forever. And I can’t wait to be with you too.
Amen.
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