Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“I am my beloved’s.
    His desire is toward me.
Come, my beloved! Let’s go out into the field.
    Let’s lodge in the villages.
Let’s go early up to the vineyards.
    Let’s see whether the vine has budded,
    its blossom is open,
    and the pomegranates are in flower.
    There I will give you my love.
The mandrakes produce fragrance.
    At our doors are all kinds of precious fruits, new and old,
    which I have stored up for you, my beloved.”
(Song of Songs 7:10-13)

“There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God. For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I? For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.”
(Ecclesiastes 2:24-26)

The key to the relationship between the Shulamite woman and Solomon is their exclusivity. Within the sanctity of their covenant relationship (marriage), they can celebrate their love unashamedly. They can admire the nakedness of each other and the pleasure that they bring to each other. This is the same as the principle of God’s eternal covenant with us (first with Israel, and now also through Jesus). Nothing can separate us from Him. We are in an exclusive relationship. When we are secure in our trusting in Jesus, we are secure in our relationship with God and can turn our efforts to enjoying Him and getting closer to Him. Becoming more like Him every day.

Instead of giving over to despair or being upset about the paradoxes of life, it is important to see that God provides us with pleasures throughout our lives. Not monumental ones, but simple ones that can be enjoyed daily again and again. We get our true enjoyment of life by a relationship with God. This is what true living really is (John 17:3; 3 John 2). Our wealth is not truly found in our labour. It is a gift of God. We find our worth and our journey by embracing God’s ideals of charity and justice, His moral character. This is the life Jesus came to bring us (John 10:10).

Summary

For the sake of the love that God has for us, we are sealed in Him (Ephesians 1:13). Our trust in Jesus becomes the secure wall behind which we live, knowing that we will never forsake Him (John 10:27-29). The world won’t understand us, but that is not our goal. We are to embrace God’s teaching, His moral character, and His standards of living regardless of what anyone else thinks about it. We are a witness IN this world, true. But we are not PART of the world. We have a one-on-one, exclusive relationship with God Himself. We can go deeper and deeper into our understanding of Jesus’ love. A love with no end. A love we are empowered to understand (Ephesians 3:14-19). We NEVER have to be ashamed of it or of Him. We are His, and He is ours. Amen.