This part of the LoveLife story focusses on the reality that love can “grow cold,” and what used to be romantic becomes routine, to the point that the hard hardens and we lose the love and hope we once had.
Married couples lose love and joy, and single people loose hope and joy …
- There are those who are empty of hope because they haven’t found love and hope deferred has made the heart sick (Prov 13:12)
- Then there are those who did have love, are in a marriage relationship that by design and commitment should be fulfilling my love desires… but it no longer does… that’s a very empty place to be.
Our Song of Songs text is from chapter 5 v 2-9. Read it below and then we’ll summarise this part of their story:
2 I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one… 3 I have taken off my robe— must I put it on again? I have washed my feet must I soil them again?4 My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening; my heart began to pound for him. 5 I arose to open for my beloved… 6 I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had left; he was gone. My heart sank at his departure. I looked for him but did not find him. I called him but he did not answer.7 The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. They beat me, they bruised me; they took away my cloak, those watchmen of the walls! 8 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you— if you find my beloved… Tell him I am lovesick / faint with love…
Here’s the summary of where they are at:
This part of the story also starts on a bed. But this isn’t about sex, like the past two weeks. This is more about their hearts, and more specifically what happens to these hearts that started out full of hope & passion. It also starts with the woman alone in a bed and hears her lovers knock, but she doesn’t get up. … Last time when we saw her on her bed, she longed for her lover. This time, she can’t bother to get up when he knocks on the door…
From his side, he knocks, and when she doesn’t open straight away, he turns away. His love is no longer patient. He doesn’t answer when she calls. Last time he stood behind their wall, he fought for her. He was like a stag bounding over the mountains of separations. He wouldn’t be put off. He was the hunter, now he’s like a lion whose had his fill and just doesn’t seem that desperate and interested… Previously when she longed for him she went into the city, when she found him they ended up in a bed full of passion… now the same seeking gets her all beaten up…
- She’s on the bed… He come knocking…
- She can’t bother to get up… He cant bother to wait…
- She looks… He leaves…
- She calls…. He doesn’t answer…
- Last time they ended up in bed… now she’s beaten up…
She says “I am lovesick”, but she’s let love die… they have let the love they had fade away…
Jesus called this “the hardening of the heart” (Matthew 19v8). He also lamented that His own Bride, the Church, has “lost her first love”. He longs for our hearts to be “hot”, not “lukewarm”…
In my message (see video below, or download from our website), I talk about the “Routines, Ruts, & Romantic notions” that cause true love to fade, and I urge us to REMEMBER why we started this journey in the first place so that we still have a good answer to the question that her friends ask in verse 9: What’s so great about your lover, fair lady? What’s so special about him that you beg for our help?
Remember: Jesus demonstrated unconditional love to us. He loved and died for us “while we were still sinners”. His hope does not disappoint, and His Holy Spirit can fill your heart with His love to restore you to all hope and love…
Wolfi's View from London 