THE PRINCIPLES OF A LOVING, GODLY RELATIONSHIP – WOMAN TO MAN (PART 8 – YEARN FOR YOUR PARTNER)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.” I have taken off my robe—must I put it on again? I have washed my feet—must I soil them again? My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening; my heart began to pound for him. I arose to open for my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh, on the handles of the bolt.

I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had left; he was gone. My heart sank at his departure. I looked for him but did not find him. I called him but he did not answer. The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. They beat me, they bruised me; they took away my cloak, those watchmen of the walls!

Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you—if you find my beloved, what will you tell him? Tell him I am faint with love.

If only you were to me like a brother, who was nursed at my mother’s breasts! Then, if I found you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me. I would lead you and bring you to my mother’s house—she who has taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates.

Under the apple tree I roused you; there your mother conceived you, there she who was in labor gave you birth. Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned.

Song of Songs 5:2-8, 8:1-2, 5b-7

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Yearn: a noun meaning a feeling of intense longing for something. Synonyms include longing, wanting, craving, hungering or thirsting for something.

Have you ever yearned for someone?

It really is at the heart of joy and heartbreak as we consider the matter of relationships.

We can yearn to be with someone who does not care to be with us, so much so that their rejection buries us in pit of despair and depression and hurt. Maybe you’ve been there. I know I have.

But I have also been in a place where I was in a deeply committed, loving, Godly relationship and had to endure times of separation through military deployment. Grace and I found ourselves apart on multiple occasions (and still do in my current job), sometimes as long as six to eight months and in one instance 14 months. Those are long periods of time to be away from one another.

During those times, we would both long for the day when we would be back together, reunited and able to share the deep affection we had for one another once again. And when that day came, the homecoming and reunion were the best as were once again in each other’s arms, joyfully able to share life hand-in-hand with one another once again.

This is how relationships were made to be, that we would patiently wait for the Lord to bring us the right person to share life with and then we would always cherish that person, value them as priceless in our lives, relish in their companionship, and yearn for them always, whether together or apart.

Did you catch the key point in that?

As we have seen in all of the other prior seven devotions, the key is the Lord.

When we trust Him to bring us into the relationships He desires us to be in, then our yearning becomes legitimate. When we are seeking relationships based on our own desires, then yearning can become lusting after someone the Lord does not intend us to be with and disastrous results typically come out of it.

Want to see how a true yearning looks, a yearning for someone that the Lord has blessed you with?

Look at the words of Shulammite as we finish this series of devotions based on her words:

I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.” I have taken off my robe—must I put it on again? I have washed my feet—must I soil them again? My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening; my heart began to pound for him. I arose to open for my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh, on the handles of the bolt. I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had left; he was gone. My heart sank at his departure. I looked for him but did not find him. I called him but he did not answer. The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. They beat me, they bruised me; they took away my cloak, those watchmen of the walls! Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you—if you find my beloved, what will you tell him? Tell him I am faint with love. Song of Songs 5:2-8

  

These words are such an amazing expression of how much Shulammite desired to be with her mate, Solomon. Through this dream passage, we know she was obviously separated from Solomon and waiting for his return. She longed for him so much that she thought he was at the door, even seeing his hand thrust through the latch opening, a vision that caused her heart to pound with anticipation and excitement. But when she went to the door she dreamed he had gone, causing her heart to sink into despair. Such was her desire for Solomon that she went out into the streets to look for him and was attacked by men who were supposed to protect her. We get the sense that the only security Shulammite truly felt was when she was in the arms of her beloved partner. The main point in this dream is that Shulammite longed for Solomon so much when they were apart that she even dreamed about him returning to her. She was faint in love and missed him so very much.

Friends, that’s the essence of yearning, that’s the essence of loving someone. You attach importance to every moment you have together and you spend every moment apart anticipating being back together again.

This is what a relationship looks like when it is loving and Godly, a relationship that was ordained by the Lord who continues to bless a woman and man with the opportunity to share in life together, a life to live and love and learn while walking with Him and seeking to bring Him glory and honor in all things.

It’s this kind of relationship that Grace and I share. It’s this kind of relationship I hope for you.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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