Bibledoorajar examines redemption which calls for maturation

    Years ago I met a newly married christian couple. One day I was speaking with the husband and asked him about how the couple met. He told me that as he was praying about whom the Lord might wish him to marry, he felt impressed that he would marry a girl younger and less mature than he. It would be his role to love her and to help her mature in the faith. As things turn out sometimes, this is exactly what happened. Years later the couple have five children and administer a large christian ministry in North Carolina.

     The love song we are studying is about a girl who is redeemed from an inadequate lifestyle to one that will be suitable for marriage to the king. She was freed to become a new woman, very different from the immature young girl she was when selected. Many of her attitudes were wrong for one who was to spend her married life with the king. The story is a wonderful story of love that is patient and resolved. The king makes every effort to secure a mature marriage relationship with the young girl.

As the story opens the view is on her current life. She is a solitary figure working in the vineyard in which she was placed by her brothers. She is sunburned and dressed in work clothes. She is really not that good of a worker and her vineyard is not all that productive. Let's put it this way, she is a long way from how Solomon described the productive woman in Proverbs 31.  But when she meets a shepherd out there in the countryside, he/she is entranced. Her whole future, unbeknown to her, will now be hinged on her relationship with this man. She has no idea that "her shepherd" is really King Solomon. You see, he is not in the countryside to care for sheep but rather to see if his people have needs. It does not dawn on her that he is the king until sometime later when she has been taken to his palace in Jerusalem with the intent of marriage to him. Not ready for the demands of palace life, she simply longs for the kiss of the shepherd whom she met in the countryside. We will see that the girl will eventually mature and in the end be happy with a relationship with the king.

                                                                           
The Bible speaks often of maturation. When the Jewish people read this story, I am sure many realized just how much God loved them and understood that He wanted a mature, productive wife. When we Christians read the story, we should reach the same conclusion about our Christ. The bridegroom loves us and desires that we mature beyond our first blush of love (our forgiveness) and become productive with Him. So much so that He gives us the Holy Spirit to help us in every way. And what is our great assurance? In the end, we will be perfect for Him ( 1Corinthians 13: 9-13 ). Thank you Shepherd for loving us and leading us into the paths of righteousness for your Name's sake. And thank you for being patient with us as we mature into the productive bride---your perfect reward.