Matthew 22:1-22; Numbers 21; Songs 1:1-2:7
The competitive nature inside of me, as well as my selfishness, makes it hard to truly understand Jesus’ stories about the kingdom of heaven. Those who show up last still get the same thing? The good and bad are brought to the feast? Many are invited, but only a few are chosen? In many ways, I want to be the best Christian possible so that people can see me and say, “Wow, what an awesome woman of God!” But that is SO incorrect! That is so blasphemous! It cannot and should not be about who I am, but who God is. God does not and will not love me more just because I do all the right things, nor will he love me less if I make mistakes. The Lord loves me so much just because that is what he does. I pray that God helps us to learn that faith in Jesus is not about us, but about God.
Along the way around Edom, the Israelites got impatient with God and started to complain. They had just finished being blessed by God, and still they grumbled about the distance, the food, and anything else. God sometimes takes us what we view as “the long way around.” But really, it is just his way of leading us to the promised land. I believe that that is just as true today as it was then.
In Song of Songs, the love of her man is greater than any other material pleasure (like wine). That is such an incredible truth. Having the love of Austin is second only to the love of The Lord. The verse about her brothers and working in the vineyard is interesting. First, it reveals that she has baggage, a past, a history. It isn’t necessarily a disgraceful one in this case, but it has changed her. She was too busy focusing on the realities of life to concern herself with her physical aspects. However, that does not change how the man feels. It is like Austin says, he doesn’t care how I look in the morning, what matters is that he gets to wake up next to me. The woman feels like she isn’t anything special, but to her husband, she is the only one that matters. I think that is something that our culture is missing: that a man feels like his wife is special, unique, and beautiful in her own way. With the standard being set by models, us normal people have a harder time keeping the attention of those we love.
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