Year 5, Day 348: Song of Songs 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Forgiveness

• Forgiveness: Forgiveness is when our sins are absolved by God.  We do not deserve this forgiveness, but God grants it to us anyway.  We cannot earn forgiveness, but God gives it to us anyway.  As we are forgiven by God, He also asks us to forgive others.  In fact, Jesus Himself teaches us to pray for our forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer when He says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Today we get the opportunity to complete what we began yesterday.  Yesterday we spoke about Solomon’s wife and her desire to be forgiven.  Today we get to see that forgiveness enacted.

Here’s the cool thing.  You’ll notice that when Solomon gets a chance to describe his love for his wife that his love is largely unchanged from his wedding day.  That might not sound like a big deal, but think about it.  His wife has created an emotional barrier between herself and him.  His wife has emotionally turned him aside.  The natural response to this would be for Solomon to build a barrier of his own and shut out his wife.  But that is not his response.  His response is to say that his love for her is unchanged.  She may have put up a barrier, but he will not retaliate in kind.

That’s forgiveness.  In fact, I find it a brilliant example of the forgiveness that God gives to us.  We put up all kinds of barriers against God as we seek to do our will and not His will.  How does God respond to us?  He loves us all the same.  He sends His Son to us to die for our sake.  He sends His Spirit to dwell within us.  That’s forgiveness.

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