Song of Songs 6, Bible Reading and Devotionals

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Max Lucado Daily: God is for You

“God is the strength of my heart.”  Psalm 73:26, NKJV

God is for you. Turn to the sidelines; that’s God cheering your run. Look past the finish line; that’s God applauding your steps. Listen for Him in the bleachers, shouting your name. Too tired to continue? He’ll carry you. Too discouraged to fight? He’s picking you up. God is for you.

Song of Songs 6

Friends

6 Where has your beloved gone,
    most beautiful of women?
Which way did your beloved turn,
    that we may look for him with you?
She

2 My beloved has gone down to his garden,
    to the beds of spices,
to browse in the gardens
    and to gather lilies.
3 I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;
    he browses among the lilies.
He

4 You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling,
    as lovely as Jerusalem,
    as majestic as troops with banners.
5 Turn your eyes from me;
    they overwhelm me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
    descending from Gilead.
6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
    coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin,
    not one of them is missing.
7 Your temples behind your veil
    are like the halves of a pomegranate.
8 Sixty queens there may be,
    and eighty concubines,
    and virgins beyond number;
9 but my dove, my perfect one, is unique,
    the only daughter of her mother,
    the favorite of the one who bore her.
The young women saw her and called her blessed;
    the queens and concubines praised her.
Friends

10 Who is this that appears like the dawn,
    fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
    majestic as the stars in procession?
He

11 I went down to the grove of nut trees
    to look at the new growth in the valley,
to see if the vines had budded
    or the pomegranates were in bloom.
12 Before I realized it,
    my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people.[a]
Friends

13 Come back, come back, O Shulammite;
    come back, come back, that we may gaze on you!
He

Why would you gaze on the Shulammite
    as on the dance of Mahanaim?[b]


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Psalm 142

A maskil[b] of David. When he was in the cave. A prayer.

1 I cry aloud to the Lord;
    I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.
2 I pour out before him my complaint;
    before him I tell my trouble.
3 When my spirit grows faint within me,
    it is you who watch over my way.
In the path where I walk
    people have hidden a snare for me.
4 Look and see, there is no one at my right hand;
    no one is concerned for me.
I have no refuge;
    no one cares for my life.
5 I cry to you, Lord;
    I say, “You are my refuge,
    my portion in the land of the living.”
6 Listen to my cry,
    for I am in desperate need;
rescue me from those who pursue me,
    for they are too strong for me.
7 Set me free from my prison,
    that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me
    because of your goodness to me.

A Long And Winding Path

April 29, 2012 — by David H. Roper

When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then You knew my path. —Psalm 142:3

Sometimes the path of life seems impossibly steep and lengthy. I have no strength and no will for the journey. Then I remember God knew this path long before I was called to walk it. He has always known the difficulties I would experience, the pain that I could never explain to another. He knows and offers His presence.

Perhaps you’re overwhelmed with sadness today. It may be the weight of a difficult ministry; the worry of a hard marriage; the sorrow of a struggling child; the care of an aging parent; other troubles that come with life. “Surely,” you say, “God would not have me walk this way. There must be another, easier path for me to travel.”

But are any of us wise enough to know that some other way would make us into better and wiser children? No, our Father in heaven knows the best path, out of all possible paths, to bring us to completion (Ps. 142:3).

His ways are higher than our ways; His thoughts higher than our thoughts (Isa. 55:9). We can humbly take the path He has marked out for us today, and do so in absolute trust in His infinite wisdom and love. He is wiser and more loving than we can ever know. He who sees has foreseen and will not lead us astray.

Be still and know that He is God
For pathways steep and rough;
Not what He brings, but what He is
Will always be enough. —Anon.
God will never lead you down a wrong path.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 29, 2012

Gracious Uncertainty

. . . it has not yet been revealed what we shall be . . . —1 John 3:2

Our natural inclination is to be so precise—trying always to forecast accurately what will happen next—that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing. We think that we must reach some predetermined goal, but that is not the nature of the spiritual life. The nature of the spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty. Consequently, we do not put down roots. Our common sense says, “Well, what if I were in that circumstance?” We cannot presume to see ourselves in any circumstance in which we have never been.
Certainty is the mark of the commonsense life—gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, not knowing what tomorrow may bring. This is generally expressed with a sigh of sadness, but it should be an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God. As soon as we abandon ourselves to God and do the task He has placed closest to us, He begins to fill our lives with surprises. When we become simply a promoter or a defender of a particular belief, something within us dies. That is not believing God—it is only believing our belief about Him. Jesus said, “. . . unless you . . . become as little children . . .” (Matthew 18:3). The spiritual life is the life of a child. We are not uncertain of God, just uncertain of what He is going to do next. If our certainty is only in our beliefs, we develop a sense of self-righteousness, become overly critical, and are limited by the view that our beliefs are complete and settled. But when we have the right relationship with God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy. Jesus said, “. . . believe also in Me” (John 14:1), not, “Believe certain things about Me”. Leave everything to Him and it will be gloriously and graciously uncertain how He will come in—but you can be certain that He will come. Remain faithful to Him.