Seize the Moment – Day 1359
The Wedding Night!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, December 6.
In America, marital conflict often arises in two primary places – money and sex. The key to success is to be generous with whatever is in your power to give to your spouse. Sex in the marriage is God’s precious gift of intimacy, intended to be the consummation of the marital vows on their wedding night, twining their souls and making them one flesh. Utilizing imagery from nature, the consummation of Solomon’s marriage to the Shulammite is poetically shared in the call and response of husband and wife, starting with Solomon’s description of his new wife in Song of Solomon 4:12-15:
A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a rock garden locked, a spring sealed up. Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, henna with nard plants, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all the trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, along with all the finest spices. You are a garden spring, a well of fresh water, and streams flowing from Lebanon.
Solomon’s poetic wooing of his wife on their wedding night is followed by her response to him in verse 16, “Awake, O north wind, and come, wind of the south; make my garden breathe out fragrance, let its spices be wafted abroad. May my beloved come into his garden and eat its choice fruits!” This garden imagery is powerful, as it reminds us of the generous nature of God – the Sower of Matthew 13, who abundantly sows the good seed with the intent of growing the Kingdom of Heaven in humanity, so that we will bear the good fruit of the Spirit in and through our lives.
Seize the moment and trust God for His gift of love – “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:6-7).
God bless you!
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YOUTUBE:
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