All his wildness and all his fierceness are inseparable from God’s romantic heart. That theologians have missed this says more about theologians than it does about God. Music, wine, poetry, sunsets . . . those were his inventions, not ours. We simply discovered what he had already thought of. Lovers and honeymooners choose places like Hawaii, the Bahamas, or Tuscany as a backdrop for their love. But whose idea was Hawaii, the Bahamas, and Tuscany? Let’s bring this a little closer to home. Whose idea was it to create the human form in such a way that a kiss could be so delicious? And he didn’t stop there, as only lovers know. Starting with her eyes, King Solomon is feasting on his beloved through the course of their wedding night. He loves her hair, her smile; her lips “drop sweetness as the honeycomb,” and “milk and honey are under her tongue.” You’ll notice he’s working his way down:
Your neck is like the tower of David, built with elegance . . . Your two breasts are like two fawns . . . Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of incense. (Song 4:4-6)
And his wife responds by saying, “Let my lover come into his garden and taste its choice fruits” (Song 4:16).
What kind of God would put the Song of Songs in the canon of Holy Scripture? Really now, is it conceivable that such an erotic and scandalous book would have been placed in the Bible by the Christians you know?
-John Eldredge, Wild at Heart, 32-33
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