Day 22 - Song of Songs

Some call it the Song of Solomon, some the Song of Songs.  Either way, it's a different kind of book.  The Song of Songs is full of erotic and romantic language.  We see a different side of God in this book.  You can get a lot about romance from Song of Songs, but there is a verse that speaks to an important aspect to sexuality.

"Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and the does of the field:  Do not awaken love until it so desires." 
     -Song of Songs 2:7

That phrase is actually repeated in the book again.  It's that important.  It's a lesson to young people (and to parents).  Song of Songs is full of passion.  Passion is a good thing, born of God.  Our creator put our sexuality in us.  For years, the church has been too prudish to talk about sexuality, especially some of the explicit scenes described in the Song of Songs.  But this is a Godly relationship.  God blesses romance, passion and a sexual relationship between a husband and wife.  But this little passage speaks an important word to all of us.  When it comes to sexuality, there is a 'not now' element to it.

Our young people today are bombarded with sexuality in a way that I wasn't and certainly in a way that the generation before me wasn't.  There is a tendency to rush, which often leads down the wrong path.  What this passage is saying is:  "Wait.  It's okay to feel the way you're feeling.  It's a good thing, but wait.  Not no...just not now."  When young people or singles dive into sexuality before marriage, we do things out of God's order.  It's not that you're not supposed to want to.  We see the desire in the passages of Song of Songs.  It's that we abstain because God says 'not yet.'

There simply no other way to say:  God intended sexuality for the confines of marriage.  When we do things out of God's order, our lives get out of order.  Our bodies are making promises that we're not sure our hearts can keep.  Moreover, our bodies began to cloud our judgment.  In God's plan, we have decided to love someone and vowed to spend the rest of our lives with them before we even experience the joy of a sexual relationship.  It's the icing on the cake.  But the cake is important.  The foundation of love is the cake.  If all you don't let that foundation of love develop God's way and dive into a sexual relationship early, then all you end up with is the icing.  And, while icing is good, you eat enough of it without the cake and you'll get sick.  Young people, there's simply a better way.  I'm not saying it's easy, but it will be worth it.

I don't know a single couple that waited until they were married that regrets it.  To me, that's the testimony of God's blessing in doing things His way.