I’ve long wrestled with how exactly I was to interpret Song of Solomon and find some tangible meaning for it in my life. Whether it was 7th grade Britni giggling at innuendos I pretended to actually understand, or 19 year old Britni trying to examine the text under the lens of the Old Testament course I was taking in school, I just couldn’t quite make it fit.
Sometime around my junior year of college, God gifted me with a season of unique interpretation of this scripture. I am in no way claiming that the original intent of the text was to emulate how God views us, or anything even close to that. However, during that tumultuous time in my early twenties of beginning to learn just who I really am in Christ, this book was for me.
God gently prompted me to open His word to the seemingly forbidden pages of this book and whispered the instruction to read it as a love letter from Him to my heart, with His Spirit providing the depth of meaning that pierced in the way only He can do.
He bathed my questioning heart and uncertain mind with reassuring words of how I captivate him, capture his heart, and stand alone and unique as his chosen lily in the fields. I relished in the freedom of being vulnerable, transparent and…accepted.
Isn’t it true that we so often find ourselves needing to be reminded of how he views us? We are his treasured ones, the ones he deemed worth dying for, and he sees us as nothing less–even in our most shameful moments.
And the tender words of Solomon, and for our sake today, of Jesus, remind us that we hold deep wells of life and meaning. Jesus himself has planted within us a secret garden, meant for only him to trod its paths and enjoy its beauty. May we be able to recognize the wellspring that abides within us, and have the courage to invite him in.
To read more of Britni D'Eliso's writing and from the Come to the Garden series, visit: http://coalescetribe.com/
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