Cindy Powell

Can you hear it? It’s in the air. It’s in our hearts. It surrounds us …

It’s the Song of all songs.

It’s His song.

But it’s also your song.

It’s my song.

It’s our song.

It’s the song He sings to us. It’s the song He sings over us. Its the song that calls us and woos us. It’s the song that surrounds us and fills us.

It’s the song that reveals His heart.

It’s the song that invites us into a sacred romance. A sacred dance.  A dance on the waves of destiny and delight.

Do you hear the song? It’s resounding through eternity. It’s growing louder, stronger, more compelling – with every passing moment.

He wants you to hear. He wants you to dance. He wants you to sing.

He wants you to believe.

I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine. This is the sum of life’s all. This is the heart of the song. This is His desire … for all.

He is the Lover of your soul. He is good. His is singing over you. The King of all kings wants you to know that the Song of all songs is a love song …

A love song He is singing over you.

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The book of Song of Solomon (or even more accurately, The Song of Songs) is probably my favorite in all of Scripture. I know that may sound odd since so many don’t quite know what to make of the book. It has many possible applications–all of which may have some merit–but I know what the book means to me.

I recently heard a really great teacher do a series on Song of Songs and he started off by saying he was going to address it “head on” as a love story … between a man and a woman. His thought was that too many teachers try to make the book symbolic or try to overly “spiritualize” it because they’re uncomfortable with the intimate terms in which the book portrays romantic love between a husband and wife.

Um, no.

The referenced series actually had a ton of great content that needed to be discussed in church, it just didn’t have much to do with the Song. While some people undoubtedly are uncomfortable discussing the intimate topic of sex and marriage in church, I think the biggest discomfort people have is something entirely different  …

They are uncomfortable discussing the very intimate and passionate longing God has  toward them. 

There are many places in the Bible where God uses extremely explicit terms to describe the intensity of His longing. The male/female relationship–especially as expressed in the context of a healthy committed marriage–is the most intimate on earth and a “type” God uses to describe the depth of intimacy He desires with His beloved. Some of the ancient Rabbi’s referred to the Song as the “Holy of holies” because they believed the treasures it unveiled regarding the depths of God’s love and faithfulness were so sacred. But in our modern day culture, we are often so carnal in our imaginations that we have a difficult time translating God’s longing through a lens of pure holy love. So we ignore it altogether and seek other less scandalous interpretations.

He never really gave me that option. His love and grace are scandalous – a fact He has revealed to me in a multitude of tangible ways through the years. One of the first was over twenty years ago as I was reading the Song of Songs. Prior to that time I had never (that I recall) paid much attention to the book. In fact, I don’t know that I had even read it all the way through and I had definitely never heard any teaching on it. But one day an acquaintance “happened” to mention she was doing a study on the Bride of Christ and she made a reference to the Song in that context – that the book could be read as the Lover of our souls calling out to His beloved.

That thought stuck. Soon after, I picked up the Amplified Bible and decided I was going to read Song of Solomon. I can’t adequately describe what happened next, but from the first word to the last, I was not “reading” the book – the Book read me. From the very first word I was caught up into the Song. I was transported into the romance of the ages as He sang the words over me and I responded.

I can’t explain it. I’ve reread the book dozens, if not hundreds, of times since. I’ve studied it, I’ve taught it, and I’ve written about it – but nothing remotely close has ever happened again.

But that first “reading” marked me. Regardless of the validity of several other possible interpretations, absolutely no one, anywhere, under any circumstances, will ever be able to convince me that, at its highest and purest interpretation, this song … this eternal song of the ages … this Song of all songs …  is anything less than the greatest love song ever written. How could it be anything less?

It is the Song of all songs that the King of all kings sings over the one* He loves.

Have you heard the song?

I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine. I belong to my beloved and his desire is for me.  –Song of Songs 6:3, 7:10 NIV

*I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one. –John 17:21 NLT