“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.”
My wife is a great cook. She has also taught all of our daughters to cook. I can also cook but not like she can. When baking something with her, she is always giving me little tips along the way. “This goes in first and then that, use a fork to blend it, a couple more minutes, etc.” These are just a few of the hints I hear all the time. Although I have learned a lot about cooking I still have much more to learn. I watch as she is bakes a pie. All of the ingredients go into the mix, then into the shell, and she puts into the oven. Although the batter tastes great, it has to bake the required amount of time before you can take it out of the oven. For some pies, they even have to sit for a while in the fridge or on the counter before they can be eaten. Nobody wants to eat an unbaked pie; hot partly congealed pile of goo in a pie shell is not my idea of something that is ready to eat.
The above verse appears in the Song of Songs 3 times (2:7, 3:5, 8:4). The wife to be is speaking to the daughters of Jerusalem or it could be to a crowd of younger females that have been listening to how she is so totally in love with her engaged man. Being a girl dad, I am very aware of how the love thing can capture a young girls mind. From Barbie weddings to the Game of Life, I have heard and seen many weddings played out right before my eyes by my young daughters. Love seems to capture their minds and takes them away from reality to a place of weddings, marriage, kids, and family time much like daydreaming of an epic bike ride takes me away.
Reading Song of Songs, it is very clear that the wife to be is captivated by her man. He is completely in love with her as well. They spend time together, they know each other backwards and forwards. Their relationship is very strong and it shows because of the desire to be together. The wife to be represents the church of God and the husband to be represents Christ. For us, this should somewhat resemble our relationship with Christ. Always wanting to get to know each other, spending time with Him by reading the Word and praying. Today, I would like take the literal meaning of the verse above, “Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.”
For most of us in today’s world we would like to try on clothes before we purchase them. We also test drive cars to see if we like to purchase them. Does it feel right? Can I see myself driving this? Does this make me look fat? On and on we go testing things out before we take the plunge. After all, we don’t want to waste our money or time in something that does not fit or won’t do what we want it to do. When we talk about marriage and dating we do much of the same. We date people to see if we like them. Dating meaning getting to know them personally. How do they think, what they are like, their beliefs and so on but it should not include “love”. Abstinence still exists for a reason. It is still taught in many homes and for very good reasons. For us lets take the warning we see in Song of Songs, “Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.” or “(to the young women) You of Jerusalem heed my warning. By the gazelles and deer of the field, I charge you not to excite your love until it is ready. Don’t stir a fire in your heart too soon, until it is ready to be satisfied.” (The Voice).
That fire is ready to be satisfied only in a marriage. Genesis 2:24 tells us, “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”, or get married in today’s terms. After the wife to be warns the ones listening the friends speak up in verses 8:8-9 and vow to protect the young girls from awakening love by building a tower to keep her safe and enclose her in a room to ensure that she does not let love awaken. I am not advocating locking your daughter in a room until she gets married, but I am saying lock the sexual intimacy away and don’t let it out until you get married. Marriage is a God thing and it is to be honored and protected as such. In honoring this union, it is paramount that love stays dormant until one is married. Three times the young girls listening to the wife to be are warned of this letting love get aroused before its time.
Today, whether you fit the married women/man or the unmarried, I can say that the when the Bible warns us of things I would pay attention. An unbaked pie is not ready to be eaten yet, it has to have more time in the oven before it can be enjoyed. Don’t awaken love in its undone state by sexual intimacy in a dating relationship. It will open up a can of worms you don’t want to deal with.
Prayer: Father help us all abstain from opening up what needs to be closed until the time is right. I pray for strength and endurance as some of us weather the relationships we are in. Help us to be committed to you and you only in body mind and spirit. In Jesus name, amen.
Let It Go 
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