Song of Solomon 4:12: “A garden enclosed / Is my sister, my spouse, / A spring shut up, / A fountain sealed.”

July 21st, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

“A garden enclosed” is a familiar title and theme often used for young single’s chastity seminars. God’s design for His wondrous gift of sexual intercourse is that it be within the constraints of marriage, which includes fidelity and faithfulness. Within those enclosing, protective walls are astonishing pleasures, which God has designed for His children who have committed themselves to their spouses.

British author G. K. Chesterton compares us to shipwrecked sailors marooned on a desert island, suffering from amnesia. We awake from our deep sleep and discover treasure strewn about us, relics from a civilization we cannot quite remember. One-by-one we pick them up, a delicious piece of fruit, a gold coin, a compass, a beautiful piece of clothing, and try to understand their meaning. As the children of Adam and Eve, living in a fallen world, we are currently locked in this condition. The good things on earth still bear traces of their original purpose, but because of our fallen human nature, they are subject to our misinterpretation and abuse.

One of this world’s most pleasurable “relics,” which we call sexual desire, seems to invite fixation and obsession. When we first experience sexual desire, it intuitively seems correct to follow wherever it might lead. As Elvis Presley sang decades ago, “It feels so right, so right / How can it be wrong?” But it is we ourselves that are the problem. These attractive things surrounding us—beautiful art, music, food, wealth, sex—are not broken, we are. They are the attractive relics of a shipwreck called Eden, where they once were the by-products, not the prime products, of a life lived in communion with God. Our amnesia can slowly be reversed, but it takes surrender and walking intimately with the Lord to regain our ability to discern their correct use.

“LORD, we need You to correct our desires again today and help us to put them in the correct place as we walk where You lead.”