As we begin, the woman is the one that is speaking; and she is speaking to the King. She begins by having an interior dialogue with herself to finally a dialogue with the Beloved.
Solomon's Song of Songs: BELOVED: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love-making is sweeter than wine;
The woman in this dialogue is talking about how she wants to be loved by a man, the King. We can see that the King is our King too- God. But, Beloved... that’s you. The Lord is calling you His beloved. Beloved means adored, much loved, treasured, prized, highly regarded, admired, esteemed, revered; a much loved person. The Lord is telling you, in that word alone, how highly he thinks of you. He is telling us how he wants to love us. So many times we, as women, have an interior dialogue with ourselves on how we want and desire to be loved. The Lord knows that desire and seeks to love you like that. But what he also seeks is to be loved back.
Delicate is the fragrance of your perfume, your name is an oil poured out, and that is why girls love you.
You know that feeling, where someone is talking and you just become intoxicated with every word that is being said. You start to linger on every word and dive into it. We should be lingering on every word the Lord says too, whether it's in scripture, through the Saints, or through our very own prayer lives. We should become so intoxicated in the Lord that we are intoxicating others with our love.
Draw me in your footsteps, let us run. The king has brought me into his rooms; you will be our joy and our gladness. We shall praise your love more than wine; how right it is to love you.
We are His joy and His gladness. We are his Beloved. We are his pride and joy. We are called to praise Him. We are called to love him. We are called to do this because it is what is right, and we are called to do this because he holds us as his joy, gladness, pride, and beloved.
BELOVED: I am black but lovely, daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the pavilions of Salmah.
The woman, is talking about how her skin is black (or tanned) from working outside in the vineyard. We are also called to work in the vineyard of the Lord. We are called to go out and proclaim the good news, to cultivate what people think they know, and make them fall in love with the Lord.
Take no notice of my dark coloring, it is the sun that has burnt me. My mother's sons turned their anger on me, they made me look after the vineyards. My own vineyard I had not looked after!
Rather than only working in the vineyard, we need to ensure that we look after ourselves. I know for me, I am so consumed many times with x, y and z. Especially this time of year, we just got off the Christmas & New Year high and I feel as if I am still running full speed. But when we are out, working the vineyard of the Lord we still need to take care of ourselves. Think about it; its hot, you need to make sure you get your nourishment to flourish. If we are neglecting the nourishing of our own hearts and our own spiritual lives, then we aren’t really giving the correct message away! In order to share the Good News we have to be nourishing ourselves with the Good News in order to keep going.
Our Desire is to love and be loved by the Lord.
