My Beloved.

“For love is as strong as death, and its jealousy as enduring as the grave.  Love flashes like fire, the brightest kind of flame.  Many waters cannot quench love; neither can rivers drown it.”  (Song of Songs 8:6b-7a, NLT)

May this be an encouraging reminder of His pursuance of your heart and desire for your affections…

Know that the first time I read this, I was bent to read it with worldly eyes…desiring what any woman wants from a man that pursues her heart…which are all good things (a strong, enduring, purifying, unquenchable love that will not drown, but withstand the test of time…one that challenges us…edifies to make us holier).  But as I prayed through it, allowing the Scriptures to read and align my heart with His, I realized God was wanting me to see a picture of how HE is a pursuer of my heart.  Humbled and incredibly thankful, I re-read with new eyes…and received a fuller heart.

A few personal thoughts here…

Love is as strong as death.

Death is final.  Complete.  Nothing halfway…when it’s done, it’s done.

He died on the cross for me.  This is love.  True, final, complete Love.

Its jealousy as enduring (unyielding; NIV) as the grave.

We cannot stop the grave from coming…each second, one second closer to our death.  No slowing it down.  Love’s jealousy is the same way…unyielding, that it will stop at nothing.  The Lord is jealous of our hearts being anyone’s but His.  He wants our deepest desires, innermost longings, and uninhibited affections…and he will stop at nothing to draw us nearer to Him.

Love flashes like fire.

His love is passionate…like the roar of flashing fire.  Ever just stared at fire? Amazing.

His love purifies us.  His wrath-absorbing sacrifice on the cross makes us holy and blameless in God’s eyes… a saint.  His love, a refiner’s fire.

Waters cannot quench love.

I pray my thirst for Him is never quenched.  I was once told in VBS when I was little, that I had a “God-shaped hole in my heart that only God could fill.”  It’s shaped only for Him to fit.  Nothing can “quench that thirst” or “fill that hole” (if you will) but Him.  Until the day He calls me home, I’ll long for the fulfillment and completeness of my One True Love.

Rivers cannot drown it.

A river’s flow is of a definite course…but even it’s strong current cannot drown or wash away this Love.

Nothing I do can separate me from the love of Christ Jesus.  Nothing.   Period.

 

Thank you, Lord, for being an intimate pursuer of my heart…and for teaching me what the pursuance of my heart should look like. 

Strong, intentional, unyielding, passionate, pure, withstanding all…a love that makes me holier. 

Your Love for me does not have to be worked for, but rested in.  You’ve already fought for my heart, and now long for the return of it’s affections.

I pray you have ALL of my desires and affections…my WHOLE heart.  Be my Beloved.