Daily Devotions
The Power of Covenant Love
Reading for July 14th: Song of Solomon 5-8
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
jealousy is fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very flame of the Lord.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
all the wealth of his house,
he would be utterly despised.
Song of Solomon 8:6-7
How strong is the love of marriage? Solomon tells us that it is as strong as death. It's stronger even than the grave. It's fire burns with flames that come from the Lord himself. The burning embers of love are so powerful that even a flood of waters couldn't extinguish it. The power of love is such that if someone offered you every dime they had in exchange for it, you would be insulted by the offer. That's how strong marital love can be and should be.
So, what gives marital love such strength? It is the covenant that undergirds it. A covenant is not the same thing as a contract. A contract is merely an agreement between two parties. A covenant is a promise that intimately binds two people together as one.
In a wedding ceremony, how much attention does the bride and groom pay to the wedding vows? With all of the decorations and fanfare associated with a wedding (that often requires months of planning and preparation), it's easy to be distracted from the truly significant thing that is taking place. Through the vows that are made, God joins that man and woman together. The two become one.
I encourage every couple out there to go back and review your vows. These vows lie at the heart of your marriage. They bring to your marriage the "flame of the Lord" and they will cause your marriage to burn with the white hot embers that cannot be extinguished by a flood of worries, troubles, or trials.
So I challenge you to do this! Remind yourself of what you promised. Repeat these vows to each other. And pray that God might rekindle the flame of love in your hearts for each other.
Father, thank you for marriage and for example of unconditional, covenant love you've given us. Help those of us who are married to renew the covenants we've made, to remind ourselves of the promises we've made, and to rekindle the flame in our hearts for each other.
