God As The Divine Lover

He entered into the room, which was filled with noise and activity. There was music, laughter and talking. His eyes scanned the room, searching for that one whose very face caused his breath to quicken and his heart rate to increase. He loved her, yet it was more than that. He wanted her. He wanted her to be his, and not just tonight, but forever.

Then he saw her. Across the crowded room, she stood — as if she had been unknowingly waiting for him all her life. She was beautiful. No, not beautiful. She was stunning. “God, I must have her!” every fiber of his being resonated. “I want to spend my life with her. I want to love her and cherish her and hold her. I want to take care of her and spoil her.”

He walked across the room, never taking his eyes off her for even a moment. The room was filled with people, but his eyes were on her. As he approached her, his presence caught her attention and she looked upward into his penetrating eyes. This was the moment he had been waiting for, the time he had longed for as long as he could remember. Gently and lovingly he spoke: “Would you care to dance?”

The description I have given is a true story. The two did begin to dance that day and they have never stopped. He asked her to marry him and she said “yes.” His plan is to do exactly what he intended from the beginning — to share his life with her and to love her so much that she will never regret the day she met him.

Not only is the story true, but you actually know the people involved. The one He desired to have so much is you. The Person who wanted you so badly is Jesus Christ. One day He walked into the room of this world to find you. He was captivated by you and determined that He would make you His own. He knew in His heart that He must have you, that He wouldn’t live without you.

If you doubt my words about His love, read the following marriage proposal that He wrote you. These aren’t my words, but are His, copied here word for word exactly as He wrote them to you:

How beautiful you are my darling. How beautiful you are! There is no blemish in you! Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, And come along. You have made my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes. How delightful you are, My love, with all your charms.

This note to you is recorded in the Bible, in the Song of Solomon. (Song of Solomon 1:15; 2:13; 4:1,7,9; 7:6.) This book of the Bible is a love story about you and Jesus. Its words are sometimes so graphic, so intense, that throughout church history there have been those who have argued that it shouldn’t even be in the Bible. However, your Divine Lover has made sure it is there. The Song of Solomon is a love poem written for you. It’s eight stanzas call you beautiful no less than fifteen times!

Jesus is consumed with you. Speaking about you, He said, “Who is this . . . fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars (Song of Solomon 6:10)? You may not feel that way about yourself, but it makes no difference. What He says is an objective fact, whether you believe it or not. If you don’t believe it now, rest assured that you will believe it, because He is going to keep telling you how beautiful and precious you are to Him throughout all eternity. One day, either now or later, the reality of His words will transform you.

Do you remember the day that He asked you to dance? It was the day you believed the gospel. Maybe it was in church, or perhaps it was when a friend shared his faith with you. Maybe it was when you were all alone and heard the voice of the Holy Spirit. Do you remember what you experienced then, as He reached out to you? The bride in the Song of Solomon spoke for us all when she said, “My feelings were aroused for him” (5:4). That happened to us all when Jesus swept us off our feet and we trusted Him.

Don’t think it irreverent to view Christ in a romantic way. He is the One who calls us His bride. He is the One who wrote to us in terms of passion and romance. We simply respond to Him. “We love Him because He first love us” (1 John 4:19). We didn’t initiate or set the pace for this relationship. He did. We have simply responded to His irresistible charm, affirming by faith, “My beloved is mine and I am His” (Song of Solomon 2:16)! Like every new bride, our profession of faith in Him is nothing less than the thrilling realization that, “I am my beloved’s and his desire is for me” (7:10, emphasis added)!

I didn’t imagine the idea of the dance as a literary metaphor to describe your relationship to Him. That is how He described it. In Zephaniah 3:17, the Bible says, “He will exult over you with joy” (emphasis added). Strong’s Concordance defines the word “exult”(sometimes translated “rejoice”) in the following way: “To spin around under the influence of a violent emotion.”

One character quipped, “I grew up in a church where we were taught that premarital sex was wrong because it might lead to dancing, and now you tell me that the Lord dances over me??” It’s true, He does. The love of Jesus Christ for you is not just a “gentle Jesus, meek and mild” kind of love. It is a love filled with passion. It is a love that caused your Prince Charming to wield His sword (of the Spirit) and fight the dragon (the devil, see Revelation 12:9) for you!

His love for you is great! One might say that the love of Jesus for you could be X-rated, not because of impurity, but because of intensity. Does that idea make you feel uncomfortable? It shouldn’t, because He really does love you with an intensity beyond human comprehension. You are the pearl of great price for which He paid everything He owned in order to possess you. (See Matthew 13:45-46) Don’t be afraid of an intense love from Him. His love is intense, but His ways are gentle.