“Don’t look down on me because I’m dark, darkened by the sun’s harsh rays. My brothers ridiculed me and sent me to work in the fields. They made me care for the face of the earth, but I had no time to care for my own face . . .” (Song 1:5b-6, The Message).
One of the first things to understand when studying this book is that the word symbols used are not really “strange”. They just reflect a different culture, a different way of thinking. Despite the differences in symbolism, however, it is clear in this passage that this woman is a victim of prejudice, and quite probably of verbal and physical abuse as well, to the point that she sees the need to explain that her brothers made her care for the face of the earth, so that she had no time to care for herself!
Yet despite the fact that she calls herself, “dark, darkened by the sun’s harsh rays,” she knows that she is still beautiful in the eyes of her king: “I am weathered BUT STILL ELEGANT, oh, dear sisters in Jerusalem, Weather-darkened like Kedar desert tents, TIME-SOFTENED LIKE SOLOMON’S TEMPLE HANGINGS.” (Song of Solomon 1:5a, The Message)
And was the woman, whoever she was, REALLY beautiful? Solomon obviously thought so! “Oh, my dear friend! You’re so beautiful! And your eyes so beautiful – like doves!” (Song of Solomon 1:15).
But what does this have to do with us?
Friends, we are all “weathered” and “weather darkened!”
Huh??? What does THAT mean?
It means that as human beings, we were all born into a dark, sin-filled world. Due to no fault of our own, we inherited a sin-stained human nature at conception. At birth, we were sent out into the harsh, dark world and forced to work. There was nothing we could have done to stop the stains of the world from darkening our nature. We are who we are! But just like Solomon found this woman beautiful, we are beautiful in God’s eyes! He doesn’t see the stains of the world, for once we accept God’s gift of forgiveness through His Son Jesus, they have been removed from us as far as the east is from the west: “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (Ps 103:11-12) God doesn’t see our “weathered” skin! He sees us as transformed, beautiful, a new creation: “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17, NIV)
If God sees us as beautiful, do we need to be ashamed of our sinful nature??? The woman in Solomon’s song says NO!!! “Don’t look down on me because I’m dark, darkened by the sun’s harsh rays.” (Song 1:5b) Why? Because no matter what we have done in our lives life, God still says: “Oh, my dear friend! You’re so beautiful! And your eyes so beautiful – like doves!” (Song of Solomon 1:15)
Now here’s a new thought: If God sees you as beautiful, then shouldn’t you, just like the woman, see yourself as “still elegant”? As “time-softened like Solomon’s temple hangings?”
Enough to ponder for today. Please DO ponder this, my friends. Ponder the truth that no matter what you have done in your life, you are BEAUTIFUL in God’s eyes! You don’t need to be ashamed. You don’t need to think of yourself as dirty or unworthy. God sees you as BEAUTIFUL! And since this is how God sees you, you should see yourself in the same way!
Please join us next Saturday for Lessons on Relationship From Solomon, Lesson 3: You are as pure and innocent as the day you were born!
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, moderator, The Nugget, Scriptural Nuggets ( www.scripturalnuggets.org), Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org .
(To access the entire “Lessons on Relationship From Solomon” mini-series, please click here.)