Song of Songs 4:9-15 (The Message)
“You’ve captured my heart, dear friend. You looked at me and I fell in love. One look my way and I was hopelessly in love! How beautiful your love, dear, dear friend – far more pleasing than a fine rare wine, your fragrance more exotic than select spices. The kisses of your lips are honey, my love, every syllable you speak a delicacy to savor. Your clothes smell like the wild outdoors, the ozone scent of high mountains. Dear lover and friend, you’re a secret garden, a private and pure fountain. Body and soul, you are paradise, a whole orchard of succulent fruits – ripe apricots and peaches, oranges and pears; nut trees and cinnamon, and all scented woods; mint and lavender and all herbs aromatic, a garden fountain, sparkling and splashing, fed by spring waters from the Lebanon mountains.”
How beautiful are those word pictures? A picture of a man and his lover, his friend, and a picture of God’s love for us. Intimate. Adoring. Passionate. Alive. Interactive. We are his bride. His friend. It is hard for me to even imagine that God adores me. That I am His precious friend. That he confides in me. That is absolutely ridiculous. I am so unworthy of such love, and yet He declares it so descriptively and beautifully. I see Jesus as MY friend, but how on earth can I be HIS friend? It is easy to envision myself as His child. Willful. Obstinate. A slow learning child loved by her loving and patient and correcting Father. But His friend? I am completely baffled by that concept. And yet, eternally grateful, with a huge desire to be a good friend to Him. A pleasing friend. A friend that brings blessing. A trustworthy friend. A friend who loves fully and deeply.
Jesus, thank you for being my most precious friend and confidante. Please help me to be Your friend every minute of every day of my life…
