A Biblical Perspective by Todd Redding<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Over filled with stories of sexual escapades, secret rendezvous, and extramarital affairs, today\u2019s media teach that immorality means freedom, perversion is natural, and commitment is old-fashioned. Sex, created by God and pronounced good in Eden, has been twisted, exploited, and turned into an urgent, illicit, casual and self-gratifying activity.\u00a0 Love has turned into lust, giving into getting, and lasting commitment into \u201cno strings attached.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is a moving poem in the bible that tells the story about a Jewish woman and her husband, King Solomon.\u00a0 The story behind this poem describes in intimate detail their feelings for each other and passionate desire to be together.\u00a0 Wherever mentioned in this message, sex and marriage are written about in their deserved, God-given perspective.<\/p>\n
Be encouraged in your relationship by this historical story with two layers of meaning.\u00a0 On one level, we learn about love, marriage and sex; and on the other level, we see God\u2019s overwhelming love for his people.\u00a0 As you read Song of Songs, commit yourself to seeing life, sex and marriage from His point of view.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Song of Songs 4\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cA Troubling Dream\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Lover Speaking<\/em><\/p>\n I slept but my heart was awake. Listen!\u00a0 My lover is knocking:\u00a0 \u201cOpen to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one.\u00a0 My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n I have taken off my robe- must I put it on again?\u00a0 I have washed my feet- must I soil them again?<\/em><\/p>\n My lover thrust his hand through the latch-opening; my heart began to pound for him.<\/em><\/p>\n I arose to open for my lover, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh, on the handles of the lock.<\/em><\/p>\n I opened for my lover, but my lover had left; he was gone.\u00a0 My heart sank at his departure.\u00a0 I looked for him but did not find him.\u00a0 I called him but he did not answer.<\/em><\/p>\n The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city.\u00a0 They beat me, bruised me; they took away my cloak, those watchmen of the walls!<\/em><\/p>\n O daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you- if you find my lover, what will you tell him?\u00a0 Tell him I am faint with love.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A Friends Doubting Response<\/em><\/p>\n How is your beloved better than others, most beautiful of women?\u00a0 How is your beloved better than others, that you charge us so?<\/p>\n Lover Speaking<\/em><\/p>\n M lover is radiant and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand.<\/p>\n His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven.<\/p>\n His eyes are like doves by the water streams, washed in milk, mounted like jewels.<\/p>\n His cheeks are like beds of spice yielding perfume.\u00a0 His lips are like lilies dripping with myrrh.<\/p>\n His arms are rods of gold set with chrysolite.\u00a0 His body is like polished ivory decorated with sapphires.<\/p>\n His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold.\u00a0 His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars.<\/p>\n His mouth is sweetness itself; he is altogether lovely.\u00a0 This is my lover, this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n APPLICATION<\/p>\n It is almost certain that over time and the growth of familiarity, a marriage will start to lose its initial fireworks.\u00a0 Eye contact and gentle touches no longer generate the same consensual response.\u00a0 Conflicts and the pressures of life slowly move in, causing us to lose our tenderness towards our spouse.\u00a0 The world is not a haven for lovers; in fact, external stress works against relationships, most of the time. \u00a0But spouses should learn to be a safe-haven for each other.\u00a0 If intimacy and passion decline, it can be renewed and regenerated.\u00a0 Try to remember those initial butterfly feelings, the excitement of sex, your spouse\u2019s strengths and the commitment both of you made to each other.\u00a0 When you reflect and focus on the positives, reconciliation and renewal becomes possible.<\/p>\n The girl in the story was outside by herself in the night.\u00a0 During this era, she was most likely assumed to be a criminal or a prostitute and treated as such.\u00a0 Although she inherited great risk, this image symbolizes the pain she felt at being separated from her lover.<\/p>\n She calls Solomon her \u201cfriend.\u201d\u00a0 Just as in any healthy marriage, lovers are also good friends.\u00a0 Too often people are driven into marriage by the exciting feelings of love and passion before they take the necessary time to develop a deep friendship.\u00a0 This involves listening, sharing responsibilities and caring as much, if not more, about your spouse\u2019s satisfaction rather than your own.\u00a0 Friendship takes time and patience, but it makes a love relationship much more satisfying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Biblical Perspective by Todd Redding Over filled with stories of sexual escapades, secret rendezvous, and extramarital affairs, today\u2019s media teach that immorality means freedom, perversion is natural, and commitment is old-fashioned. Sex, created by God and pronounced good in Eden, has been twisted, exploited, and turned into an urgent, illicit, casual and self-gratifying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myaiowebstaging.com\/thepiagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myaiowebstaging.com\/thepiagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myaiowebstaging.com\/thepiagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myaiowebstaging.com\/thepiagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myaiowebstaging.com\/thepiagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/myaiowebstaging.com\/thepiagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myaiowebstaging.com\/thepiagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myaiowebstaging.com\/thepiagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myaiowebstaging.com\/thepiagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}