Read Song of Solomon 2:3-7 in your personal Bible or at the link provided.
Review
1. How does the speaker feel about her lover?
2. What does she want her listeners to promise?
3. When is the right time?
Reflect
Three times in the Song of Solomon does the young woman in the poem warn her friends, the women or daughters of Jerusalem, not to rush into love before the time is right. This poem is lush with desire and anticipation, illustrating the deep love the young man and woman have for each other around the time of their marriage. It’s a celebration of the joy that comes with a relationship centered around God.
Love has the potential to make us blind to things we’d otherwise see, which is why we need the warning to slow down. When everything in us wants to go ahead to the next step of intimacy, we need to have space to pause and listen to wise counsel from others who’ve been through the same things. God has these warnings in place because He doesn’t want us to get hurt.
No matter where your relationships are today, you can receive this wisdom from God. It might be applicable to you right now, or it might be something you can encourage another believer with soon. Don’t walk through this alone – God has given you a body of believers to lean on.
Respond
What comes to mind when you hear the warning from today’s Scripture reading? Do you agree with it, and why or why not? What might God be asking from you in your current season?