More than a year ago I was teaching the “mystery” of Ephesians 5 as revealed in the relationships between Christ and the church, husband and wife, parent and child and master and slave. I went diving for it because my overly rational brain cannot deal with a “mystery”,  to me it’s an unsolved algebraic equation or a puzzle not yet pieced together. God was generous and as is so often the case, over time, He showed me through a series of new people I met, what it meant but more on that later … I’m guessing I got it right because when I shared my results online my audience polarized, some saw it along with me and rejoiced and some appeared to openly hate it, but the “mystery” of Ephesians 5 is another blog post and I digress.

I was a romantic when I was young, I read The Girl in a Swing and thought I’d found the great romance in its pages until I stumbled across its tragic ending; in hindsight I know that God was showing me my future. I would continue to believe in a great love but sometimes walk away from it and other times have my love betrayed — that story is here. I was never able to find love without great pain attached to it.

A few months ago I read the Song of Solomon and decided that was my next “mystery” to figure out. I wasn’t having a lot of luck with it, so I read it 99 more times. I bought Paul Wilbur’s “A Night of Extravagant Worship” that featured a song with lyrics directly from the Song of Solomon called “Dance With Me“. I listened over and over and over …

A new Twitter friend recommended a movie that renewed the fires in me once lit by The Girl in a Swing. The novel, followed many years later by 100 readings of the Song of Solomon, many viewings of the video for “Dance With Me” and repeated viewings of the movie did not lead me to think of my relationship to God as my great love though I expected that. Instead it led me to reflect on my great earthly loves like great teachers, great sports moments, my best friend, my kids, and finally the major romantic interests of my life. I did this for months — I’m still doing it, my heart and mind won’t stop.

Why is the Song of Solomon in the Old Testament? I don’t think it’s a parable, I think it’s a biography, that is, I think the lovers are real historic figures. How often does God show us something that matters without using real and flawed people to do it? What God has shown me through real people and events is this:

We are given great loves to instruct us in stages; they are parodies of God’s love. They have real value for us, but they are only shadows. Every great moment that we love, every person we love greatly, for that moment in time mimics God’s perfect love for us. We cannot comprehend it so we’re given shadow figures that dance on our stage and point us to the maker of shadows represented by the lovers in Song of Solomon. The “mystery” of Ephesians 5 is first and foremost the relationship between Christ and the church. The lovers of Song of Solomon foreshadow the perfect love that will be fulfilled when the church as bride becomes one with its Lover. The reason the highly-charged sexual dialogue of this book is included in the Old Testament is because sex itself is being celebrated; sex is also a parody of things to come following the wedding of all weddings. There will be a moment of union and ecstasy following that wedding as we become one with the groom.

Do you remember your great loves? Can you feel them fully right now? Whether they are people or events, meditate on them, cry your way through the video below and then read Song of Solomon. I promise you it will read differently than before. Lose yourself in it while swimming in the memories of great love.

What moment or person in your life most instructed you in great love?

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