Session 4 – We are lovely to God
The word lovely, always brings to mind one face for me, my
13-year old daughter, Macee. There is just something about her that is so
lovely. Some people are dignified, some people exude creativity, Macee, she
reflects what is lovely in her face, her spirit, and her gentle heart. Do you
have any one that reflects loveliness in your life?
When God sees us, He sees lovely. He knit each of us
together and crafted us carefully. We are not random chances of an evolutionary
process, but made with care by a real Creator, who molds us with His hands out
of the dust. He shapes our DNA, our bone structure, and numbers the hairs on
our head.
The word lovely is found most often in the Bible in the
Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon, depending on your translation). This makes sense, knowing the context of the
book is in the courtship and marriage relationship of two people, as well as
the greater image of Christ and His Bride the Church. That, in itself, is
lovely.
This book is so very expressive. It details each loved
one’s beauty and the beauty and purity of the marriage relationship. It’s
intimidating, and sensual, but worth the time. Today, I’d like to dive into 4
verses within the Song that capture aspects of our physical selves that God
expresses are lovely to Him. Is our soul lovely to Him? Of course, it is of the
utmost value to Him. Is our heart lovely to Him? Yes. God sees our whole selves
as His precious creation. But sometimes we forget that our physical form was
made lovely by Him, and even with sin in the world and deformities, disease,
and abuse, He sees our face, our hands, our hair, our hips, all of it, as
lovely. Let’s open it up and see what He has to say. With each verse, consider
what is being called lovely. I’ll throw in Heidi’s Brief Commentary after each
verse to give you my thoughts on it.
Song of Songs 1:5:
(She) I am
very dark, but lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
like the tents of Kedar,
like the curtains of Solomon.
Our skin is lovely. All skin is lovely. God created a
myriad of colors in His people. He molded our DNA to allow for diversity as a
blessing.
Song of Songs 1:10:
Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
your neck with strings of jewels.
Our cheeks, our necks are lovely. These are not body parts we
look in the mirro and think, “Wow, I have a great neck.” But God does! I think
our cheeks are best on display when we smile…coincidence? I think not.
Song of Songs 2:14:
O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
in the crannies of the cliff,
let me see your face,
let me hear your voice,
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely.
Our face, our voice is lovely to God. Imagine the joy He
feels when we speak of Him with our lips. When we praise Him, or cry out to Him
with our voice. He gave us that voice. He crafted our faces.
Song of Songs 4:3:
Your lips are like a scarlet thread,
and your mouth is lovely.
Your cheeks are like halves of a
pomegranate
behind your veil.
Our
lips are lovely to God. He made them for speaking words of encouragement, for
kissing our husbands, and for tasting His bountiful harvest and sweet
communion.
Song
of Songs 6:4:
(He) You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love,
lovely as Jerusalem,
awesome as an army with banners.
All of us. We are lovely to Him. We are His army, standing
strong in His Spirit, proclaiming His name to the nations.
We can take all of these verses symbolically and apply them
to Christ and His Bride, the Church, but most commentators agree that it’s an
individual story of love too. Christ does in fact, love us as individuals, see
us as individuals, and shape our hearts as individuals. I think we rob
ourselves of His goodness when we do not see the love God is expressing for
each of us in these verses.
I hope today, you feel a bit filled with loveliness, because
the Bible tells you so.
Much love, sisters. Much love.
