OUR DAILY BREAD READING (Published Daily by Our Daily Bread Ministries)
READ: Song of Songs 8 (Focus vs. 5–7)
MEMORY VERSE
[Love] burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Song of Songs 8:6
BACKGROUND
Poet, painter, and printmaker William Blake enjoyed a forty-five-year marriage with his wife, Catherine. From their wedding day until his death in 1827, they worked side by side.
Catherine added color to William’s sketches, and their devotion endured years of poverty and other challenges. Even in his final weeks as his health failed, Blake kept at his art, and his final sketch was his wife’s face.
Four years later, Catherine died clutching one of her husband’s pencils in her hand.
The Blakes’ vibrant love offers a reflection of the love discovered in the Song of Songs. And while the Song’s description of love certainly has implications for marriage, early believers in Jesus believed it also points to Jesus’ unquenchable love for all His followers.
The Song describes a love “as strong as death,” which is a remarkable metaphor since death is as final and unescapable a reality as humans will ever know (8:6). This strong love “burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame” (v. 6).
And unlike fires we’re familiar with, these flames can’t be doused, not even by a deluge. “Many waters cannot quench love,” the Song insists (v. 7).
Who among us doesn’t desire true love?
The Song reminds us that whenever we encounter genuine love, God is the ultimate source. And in Jesus, each of us can know a profound and undying love—one that burns like a blazing fire.
By: Winn Collier
INSIGHT
Scholars have long had difficulty interpreting Song of Songs (also called Song of Solomon). Perhaps uncomfortable with its theme of intimate love, many have attempted to turn the book’s storyline into allegory.
Most scholars today, however, view the song as a description of physical love between a man and a woman. In today’s reading (8:5–7), the woman initiates the intimacy.
Her reference to the “seal over your heart” (v. 6) represents her desire to claim mutual ownership of her beloved. She has exclusive rights to him and all that he has, as he also has those rights with her.
The book can also be viewed as symbolic in representing genuine marital love as a complete commitment to each other. This comprises an apt representation of the church as the bride of Christ (see 2 Corinthians 11:2).
By: Tim Gustafson
APPLICATION
Where have you encountered strong love? How does Jesus’ love encourage you?
(PASTOR RICHARD) TAKE
You can’t buy love. You can only give and receive. pr
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave[a] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 nlt
PR’s RE-EMPHASIS (From Post)
“…whenever we encounter genuine love, God is the ultimate source.
PRAYER
“Dear God, please help me to receive Your love and share it with others.”
TODAY’s HYMN/WORSHIP/PRAISE/GOSPEL SONG
“LOVE DIVNE, ALL LOVES EXCELLNG”
Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heav’n, to earth come down,
Fix in us Thy humble dwelling,
All Thy faithful mercies crown.
Jesus, Thou art all compassion,
pure, unbounded love thou art.
Visit us with Thy salvation;
Enter ev’ry trembling heart.
Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit
Into ev’ry troubled breast.
Let us all in Thee inherit,
Let us find the promised rest.
Take away the love of sinning;
Alpha and Omega be.
End of faith, as its beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.
Come, Almighty, to deliver,
Let us all thy life receive.
Suddenly return, and never,
Nevermore Thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
Serve Thee as thy hosts above,
Pray, and praise Thee without ceasing,
Glory in thy perfect love.
Finish, then, thy new creation;
True and spotless let us be.
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee.
Changed from glory into glory,
Till in heav’n we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before Thee,
Lost in wonder, love and praise.
READING THROUGH THE BIBLE DAILY IN 2023
GENESIS 49- 50
MATTHEW 13:31-58