Introduction:
I had read the 'Song of Solomon' about three or four times in boredom and agony.  My first trip through it's passages was as the last book to finish before I had completed my first circuit through the Bible, so I was more interested in just finishing rather than seeing anything spiritual.  Sad isn't it.  I relate that thought for those of you who have similar confessions.  "Don't quit" is the moral of my tale.  Perseverance pays for itself someday.

One day, as I began to trod again through it's verses, the Holy Spirit tapped me on the shoulder and told me to read it properly with Him.  It was beautiful!

This is a love story, but when I was bored with it I knew that -- intellectually.  Spiritually however, this 'love story' manifests as a great teaching on prayer!

Rather than the Eros of love between a man and a woman, it is a story of the spiritual equivalent of physical love, it is all about becoming intimate with Jesus in prayer!  'Song' is another of the gobs and gobs of examples of how Jesus and prayer are intimately entwined in the Word of God.
Arranged Marriage
The Goodsoil Discipleship Ministry
By Bro. Andy Madonio
May 29, 1997
Arranged Marriage


[The Groom / Jesus]: "You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride (the Church); you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes".
[The Bride / The Church]: "Let my lover (Jesus) come into his garden and taste it's choice fruits" Song of Songs 4:9,16.

Arrangements:
In India today, marriages are often arranged by the fathers.  As the heads of their families, the fathers of the prospective bride and groom contact each other in order to plan their children's marriage long before they are grown.  It is an arrangement that envelopes business, convenience, politics and long-term social positioning.  Love, however, is an impractical nonessential.

Usually money is involved, and at least one of the families is wealthy.  This is the compelling incentive for the other family to participate.  If, for example, the bride's family knows they will benefit financially from this arranged marriage, then you can be sure they will raise their daughter (the plans are made when the 'couple' is quite young) to believe in the correctness and practicality of this pending arrangement.

Imagine this girl approaching the time of her wedding, knowing full well that the groom is exceedingly wealthy. Although she will spend the rest of her life with a man she has never met, she knows she will be rich.  To her and her family, the fact that she is a stranger to her groom-to-be is inconsequential; suffice to say that he is rich and all he has will soon belong to her as well.  Since she has no intimacy with him, she focuses on his wealth .  As the day looms, she begins to visualize his (her!) riches in her mind.  She imagines herself buying clothes, gifts, furs, jewelry, furniture, virtually anything she wants.  All this despite a complete lack of familiarity with her groom.  She has no affection for him since they have never met, but she is already making plans to spend his (her!) riches.

Following suit, she next begins to act pridefully; her 'poorer' former friends are no longer good enough to be seen with.  As befitting royalty and wealth she must distance herself from the mere common folk and cultivate a new crop of 'friends'.  Her outward demeanor changes, her attitude flip-flops, and finally even her thought processes are reworked.  She has been transformed from a fresh, simple, ordinary young woman into a spoiled aristocratic boor, who has, in American jargon, "counted her chickens before they are hatched."

The American Church:
[The Bride / The Church]:  "My lover (Jesus) is mine and I am his.  Let him (Jesus) kiss me with kisses of his mouth -- for your love (Jesus' love) is more delightful than wine" Song of Songs 2:16, 1:2.

The American church was built upon a sturdy Christ-centered foundation laid by the Pilgrims, the Puritans, and other early settlers.  The founding fathers based their concepts of national government upon Christian precepts.  America was birthed as a city on a hill to be a light for the world.  It was birthed by men and women who loved Jesus as a bride loves her groom.  Being Christ's bride requires obedience and faith while promising a future where all Jesus has is ours as well.  At some point in our upbringing however, we, His church, have neglected the former while salivating on the latter.  As a distinctly American Christian church, we have focused only on the entitlements of being Christ's bride.  From a legal standpoint we know what it means to be heirs and joint-heirs with Christ, our groom-to-be, but we have lost the intimacy we once shared with Him.  We have averted our gaze to a point just over His shoulder and directly behind Him.  We have focused on the glorious inheritance and have shunned our Lord.

It is this powerful and mighty realization of the future family's wealth which has dulled the gleam in the bride's once sparkling eyes.  Instead of gazing longingly upon our loving groom's countenance, the vision of heavenly grandeur just over His shoulder and beyond becomes our focus.  That, instead of Him, has become our goal; we now desire heaven and not heaven's creator.  We have begun, in our mind's eye, to decorate the mansions we think to inherit.  Our beautiful wedding gown has been rudely shoved aside to make room for wallpaper swatches and bolts of fabric.  It lies in a heap on the floor of our churches, soiled and wrinkled.  We have taken a beautiful love-filled courtship and sickeningly transformed it into a convenient arranged marriage.  A 'union' completely devoid of that which is impractical and nonessential -- love .  We understand the need for a Savior, but let's not make too much of it beyond that.

Return To Your First Love:
"I (Jesus) will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.  I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord" Hosea 2:19-20.

Jesus' words to us are these.  "Oh church, avert your gaze from the riches of heaven that you fancy as your own, from that which you think you desire and look again into My eyes, the eyes of your Savior!  You have fashioned for yourself an arranged marriage, and instead of an intense longing to be wed to your Christ in prayer and communion, you forsake Him and play church."

[The Bride / The Church]:  "This is my lover (Jesus), this is my friend . . ."  Song of Songs 5:16.
"The King is enthralled by your beauty; honor Him, for He is your Lord"  Psalm 45:11.

Make yourself ready church, as an eager lovesick bride.  Your suitor has sacrificed greatly to make you His own and He loves you in spite of your current condition.  Jesus is enthralled with you, church, He longs for you.  Won't you make yourself ready for Him?