You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling,
as lovely as Jerusalem,
as majestic as troops with banners.
Turn your eyes from me;
they overwhelm me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
descending from Gilead.
Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin,
not one of them is missing.
Your temples behind your veil
are like the halves of a pomegranate.
Sixty queens there may be,
and eighty concubines,
and virgins beyond number;
but my dove, my perfect one, is unique,
the only daughter of her mother,
the favourite of the one who bore her.
The young women saw her and called her blessed;
the queens and concubines praised her.
Song of songs 6:4-9
In this passage the man speaks of the beauty of the one he loves, he uses lots of metaphors that are probably lost on us and yet the overall feeling is beautifully put in verse 5: “turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me.” How easy it would be to say “now this it too far, surely we don’t have that effect on God!” I believe that the depth of this statement should not be ignored especially if it can be projected onto the relationship between Jesus and the ones that He has chosen.
In this situation it is the man’s response to the woman’s beauty that he finds so overwhelming and as we have seen it is the beauty of Christ that we can claim as our own. And yet that which overwhelms is still authentically us, it is our transformed selves!
Picture a mother and father holding their new-born baby, is it not reasonable for them to be overwhelmed by the new gift of life that God has brought into being? This is what Jesus feels for us who believe! God’s response is not only a response to the beauty that He has given us, but it is a true and perfect reflection of the heart that He has for His children.
With this reflection that God is overwhelmed by our eyes how do you feel about coming into His presence? Are you encouraged to come before Him in prayer? Are you eager to lay before Him every worry on your heart?
Dan Scott