IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

Daily Bread

I Looked for Him and Called Him

Date: Jul. 10, 2023

Passage

SongofSongs 5:2-6:3

The Bride Searches for Her Beloved

She

2   I slept, but my heart was awake.
  A sound! My beloved is knocking.
  “Open to me, my sister, my love,
    my dove, my perfect one,
  for my head is wet with dew,
    my locks with the drops of the night.”
3   I had put off my garment;
    how could I put it on?
  I had bathed my feet;
    how could I soil them?
4   My beloved put his hand to the latch,
    and my heart was thrilled within me.
5   I arose to open to my beloved,
    and my hands dripped with myrrh,
  my fingers with liquid myrrh,
    on the handles of the bolt.
6   I opened to my beloved,
    but my beloved had turned and gone.
  My soul failed me when he spoke.
  I sought him, but found him not;
    I called him, but he gave no answer.
7   The watchmen found me
    as they went about in the city;
  they beat me, they bruised me,
    they took away my veil,
    those watchmen of the walls.
8   I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
    if you find my beloved,
  that you tell him
    I am sick with love.

Others

9   What is your beloved more than another beloved,
    O most beautiful among women?
  What is your beloved more than another beloved,
    that you thus adjure us?

The Bride Praises Her Beloved

She

10   My beloved is radiant and ruddy,
    distinguished among ten thousand.
11   His head is the finest gold;
    his locks are wavy,
    black as a raven.
12   His eyes are like doves
    beside streams of water,
  bathed in milk,
    sitting beside a full pool.
13   His cheeks are like beds of spices,
    mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.
  His lips are lilies,
    dripping liquid myrrh.
14   His arms are rods of gold,
    set with jewels.
  His body is polished ivory,
    bedecked with sapphires.
15   His legs are alabaster columns,
    set on bases of gold.
  His appearance is like Lebanon,
    choice as the cedars.
16   His mouth is most sweet,
    and he is altogether desirable.
  This is my beloved and this is my friend,
    O daughters of Jerusalem.

Others

6:1   Where has your beloved gone,
    O most beautiful among women?
  Where has your beloved turned,
    that we may seek him with you?

Together in the Garden of Love

She

2   My beloved has gone down to his garden
    to the beds of spices,
  to graze in the gardens
    and to gather lilies.
3   I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;
    he grazes among the lilies.

Daily Bread

Key Verse: SongofSongs 5:6:3

I opened to my beloved,
but my beloved had turned and gone.
My soul failed me when he spoke.
I sought him, but found him not;
I called him, but he gave no answer.

The Shulamite woman recalls a time (or her dream) when she had lost the king. The king comes back late at night drenched wet. He knocks on her door, but she hesitates to get out of her warm bed to greet him. Her attitude has considerably changed from that of chapter 2. She has lost her first love and prefers a little physical comfort over her beloved king.

When she comes back to her senses and goes to open the door, she realizes the king is gone, and her heart sinks. She goes out to look for him and is treated like a street woman (5:7). As she is desperately looking for the king, she remembers his great qualities (5:10-16).

Then she realizes that the king is not gone, but in the garden (4:16). He is waiting for her in their personal sacred garden. This story is a metaphor for our relationship with the Lord. Sometimes our hearts may turn lukewarm, losing our first love for the Lord (Rev 2:4). We may get lost in the burdens of reality, and we may neglect our relationship with the Lord. But you don’t need to search far when your heart becomes weary and desperate. When you remember your love for the Lord, he is already there waiting for you.

Prayer: Prayer: Father, thank you for always being faithful. Help me never to lose you but always make you as the priority of my life.

One Word: One Word: Remain in his love.

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Daily Bread

God Stills the Conflict

Psalm 76:1-12

Key Verse: 76:6

At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
both rider and horse lay stunned.

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