“Do not stare at me because I am dark, because I am darkened by the sun. My mother’s sons were angry with me and made me take care of the vineyards; my own vineyard I had to neglect.”
Song of Songs is a love poem. It is written such that the wife to be is expressing her love towards her soon to be husband. The husband does the same throughout the book. The wife, in the book, is a representation of the church here on earth. It represents all of the people who have accepted Christ and are living out the Christian life. The husband is the Lord, looking down and expressing his love for the church. Therefore, throughout the book, we will have to put ourselves in the place of the woman speaking and see what the Lord would say to us as his church.
Back before beach bodies and tanning beds, if you were sunburned it meant that you were a poor nobody who worked in the sun all day long. She declares that she is dark, or in other words, someone who is not refined enough to be seen as beautiful. In verse 6, she plays out her life up to the point where they fell in love. Her life has not been easy, she had to neglect her own personal desires and take care of someone else while watching her own life become neglected.
Maybe you are reading this and it hits home. Your life has been all about working someone else’s valuables while watching your own life just slowly atrophy like a muscle that is never used. You may have become harsh and callous toward others, dark if you will. Your situation currently might be telling you that the Lord, if he is real at all, has forgotten you.
The first thing that starts to fade when we push away from the Lord is our belief. The hope of Him starts to fade and soon will become clouded until you have lost all hope and darkened by the sun. Verse 8 is for you, it reads “If you do not know, most beautiful woman, follow the tracks of the sheep and graze your young goats by the tents of the shepherds.” In other words, the Lord is saying that if you will just follow my Word it will lead you back to Him where there is safety.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” What you think is an ugly mark on your life, Christ sees a testimony that will glorify Him and show everyone just how much He loves us. In fact, in the first chapter when the man, Christ, is speaking about his soon to bride, the church, he never mentions the darkness of His bride only that she is beautiful. You may be paying too much attention to the blemish you see and not enough attention to the beauty that Christ sees.
Another important part to note about verse 8 is that the shepherds at the tents are the people of God. In other words, we need to surround ourselves with other believers in the church. Stay in the tents and get fed the Word of God while you regain the hope of your calling from the Lord. Your past does not sway the Lord or his love for you. He sees us as precious, beautiful, and desires to have a relationship with us. A Christian comedian, Mike Warnke, once told of a drunk who stopped him after a show and asked if he needed to stop drinking and doing drugs to be saved. The answer was an emphatic NO! God wants us just the way we are. After He created you He smiled and said that it was good! You are loved by the Lord just the way you are. Commit to Him and let Him clean you up. You may feel tired and worn out, but Christ came so that we could be free from the burden of sin and live for Him.
Prayer: Father, with all of the world and its entanglements we are certain to encounter hardship. Your Word tells us that the rain falls on the just and the unjust so we do not fear the hard times for you promise to be with us. As we look at ourselves, I pray that we see the new creation of Christ in us and not the dark, worn out, overworked, unloved, secluded person the world wants us to believe. Satan would like nothing more than to tag us with this label but we rest on your Word that tells us we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us. We thank you Lord that your mercies are new every morning and we look forward every day to walking with you. In Jesus name, amen.
Let It Go 
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