Sexual Poetry

Day 145: Song of Solomon 1-4

I like poetry. Words sewn together to form images of something is a beautiful art. And Song of Solomon, it seems to me, is a book of poetry, specifically poetry dedicated to a loved one. Sensual poetry. Sexual poetry. It almost makes me blush reading this book, but then I think about my own marriage and the beauty that comes through the sexual relationship I have with my spouse, and these verses make me smile. For I know the beauty that comes through sex in the marriage relationship, and I'm glad that the Bible acknowledges this, too.

Hope in Christ, Value in God

Day 144: Ecclesiastes 9-12

After finishing Ecclesiastes today, I'm not quite sure whether or not Solomon reconciles the meaning of life--how he answers the question. At one point, he does say that we cannot understand the work of God who made everything (11:5), from which I infer that we don't understand God's ways and so there really is no answer to Solomon's question to why life is meaningless.

But maybe the reality is that even though our lives may seem meaningless at times, in Christ, we can have hope. We can have a new understanding of the meaningless of our lives. Christ gives us a context of interpreting hard times; he transforms the meaningless, the vanity, into hope. So even though there may not be an answer in Ecclesiastes, we have the advantage of looking at the book through the lens of Christ. Christ brought redemption; he brought hope. He still brings hope today.

It does seem that Solomon reconciled the meaningless of life in that he understands the importance of seeking God. At the end of the book, he claims in Ecclesiastes 12:13: "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."

Verses that Strike Me in Ecclesiastes

Day 143: Ecclesiastes 5-8

Ecclesiastes 7:1: "A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth."

Ecclesiastes 7:27-28:
"Look," says the Teacher, "this is what I have discovered:
"Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—
while I was still searching
but not finding—
I found one [upright] man among a thousand,
but not one [upright] woman among them all.

Ecclesiastes 8:17b: "No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. People toil to search it out, but no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it."

These are a few verses that stood out to me in the reading for today.

Meaningless, meaningless: Solomon's Thoughts on Life

Day 142: Ecclesiastes 1-4

In the first book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon declares that "Everything is meaningless." Then he proceeds to explain why this is so. I have felt this way before--that nothing matters--and it's not a fun place to be. Where you feel like nothing matters. Like you're living a groundhog day that just repeats itself over and over and over again. Nothing changing. Nothing happening. Meaningless. Everything is meaningless.

Even when Solomon sought greater wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, he still found them meaningless. Reaching for these goals were vanity; they meant nothing. Even pleasure was meaningless to him, and there was no point to even seeking it. To Solomon, "Nothing was gained under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 2:11).


Right after these first two chapters on the meaningless of life, of everything under the sun, comes the chapter on there being a time for everything. This placement is an interesting juxtaposition because even in the midst of life lacking meaning, he recognized that there was a time for everything. Maybe Solomon only felt this way at this certain time. Who knows? It does sound like someone who is depressed. Even though Solomon still views everything as meaningless, he still says that God will make everything beautiful in His time. Even those hard days when we wonder why we're doing what we're doing. Even those days matter to God. They aren't meaningless to him, and this actually brings me a great deal of comfort. But after four chapters of Ecclesiastes, Solomon is still pointing out all the stuff in this life that is meaningless. I really hope that we get to see how he reconciles these feelings. I can't remember. But since I've felt this way before, I'd like to find some hope in how he reconciled it

Poverty Proverbs

Day 141: Proverbs 29-31

One thing that has surprised me about reading the proverbs is how many proverbs concern the poor and needy, specifically how we need to defend the poor and come to their aid when they need it. This emphasis on having a heart for the poor indicates to me that God views this issue as extremely important. Poverty is a real concern in our nation. We have people working jobs that don't allow them to match their meager income to their expenses: even though they work hard, they still can't survive. This situation is just immoral, and God recognizes this. Wow. He's amazing. Another reason why God deserves our praise. He cares about the poor and the underprivileged and the marginalized. Who wouldn't want to have a God like that?

Advice from Women

Day 140: Proverbs 25-28

If women had contributed to the book of Proverbs, I wonder what they would have written. The main reason I ask this question is because there is a lot about living with a quarrelsome wife or being married to a nag. I recognize that there is wisdom in these references, but it has got me thinking that I'm sure women have wisdom to add about being married to men, too. Advice they could pass on to future generations. I wonder why God didn't include any of these proverbs in the Bible. I'm sure part of it was a cultural thing and the specific role delegated to women, but there are women prophets in the Bible, and stories about women as well. There are even prayers by women, such as Hannah's and Mary's prayers. So why not have a woman contribute a proverb or two?

If you are a woman reading this, what advice would you contribute? What wisdom would you impart to future generations? I think it's interesting to consider.

Thoughts on various proverbs

Day 139: Proverbs 21-24

Proverbs 21:30: "There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD."
The Lord has plans, and we have plans, and no plans will succeed against the Lord. I'm still processing the meaning of this proverb, but I think it's significant. 

Proverbs 22:1: "A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold."
My dad always stressed the importance of a good reputation. While we often are told to not care what other people think about you, I think it's important to have a good name for yourself. It's not necessarily that we should be so concerned about what others think that we succumb to negative peer pressure; rather, we should consider the source of all wisdom (God) and care about what He thinks. The reputation we have affects those around us and influences our families, but for Christians, it also reflects on God.

Proverbs 22:6: "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it."
This passage is encouraging to me, especially when parenting can be so hard. I've told this to myself many times. Now I know that this isn't always true; I know people who have been raised in godly, Christian homes, and this hasn't yet been the case. However, I do think that God isn't finished with them yet.

Proverbs 22:16: "Those who oppress the poor to increase their wealth and those who give gifts to the rich—both come to poverty."
 
Proverbs 22:22: "Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the LORD will take up their case and will exact life for life."

These two passages spoke to me specifically because in my Argumentative and Persuasive Writing course, we have been reading Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. This book investigates the lives of low-wage workers--those who work in all those hourly jobs who can barely make their income match their expenses. It's a really interesting look, and when you read passages like these Bible verses, it opens the reading up to a whole new perspective.