True Love Waits!

This Week's Scripture:  Songs of Solomon 2:7, "Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field:  Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires." (NIV)

Many of us have heard or even spoken the phrase, "true love waits."  I have a purity ring that says that very thing.  But what does it really mean?  Some of you might say it means exactly what it says.  Yes it does; however, let's examine each word closely.

True.  In the dictionary* true is defined this way: 1. real; genuine; 2. faithful; loyal; 3. right; proper; correct; exact; accurate; 4. rightful; lawful.  If you say "true love waits" by replacing true with one or all of the words above, does the phrase take on a new meaning for you?

Love.  Love is defined like this: 1. warm and tender liking; deep feeling of fondness and friendship; great affection or devotion; 2. have such a warm liking or deep feeling for; 3. a strong liking; 4. like very much; take great pleasure in.

Waits.  Wait or Waits is defined as follows: 1. stay or stop doing something until someone comes or something happens; 2. look forward; be expecting or ready; 3. delay or put off.  In other words, do not progress forward until you know it is God's will and timing for you.

Putting this all together may make it sound somewhat as follows:  [True]Genuine, faithful, and proper [Love] deep fondness, affection, or devotion to others [Waits] is expectant, ready, and looking forward to what God has planned for their life.  In other words, to truly love someone, you must wait for God's "yes" to move forward in that loving relationship.  A good way to do this is to listen to what the Bible says in Songs of Solomon 2:7b, "Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires." Or you could say it this way, do not allow love to wake up in you until God says it is the right time!

In the first part of that same verse Beloved (aka the girl in this book of the Bible) is charging (or placing under oath) the other women of Jerusalem to do this very thing.  In the same way we should not artificially stimulate love before God's perfect timing.  Flirting and the dating game are just a couple examples of "fake love" that many people participate in which really hinder their following God's path and plan for their future.

I hope that this has helped you ponder whether or not you are truly loving others by waiting on God's plan.

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Blessings!

~ S*