Song of Solomon 1:2

Song of Solomon, also called Song of Songs, is a book of love poetry in the Bible — and one of its most surprising books. Likely written in the tradition of King Solomon, it celebrates romantic love between a man and a woman with vivid, unashamed language. This opening verse is spoken by a young woman longing for the man she loves. In the ancient world, wine was the symbol of celebration, abundance, and life's finest pleasures — the thing you brought out for a wedding, not an ordinary Tuesday. She is saying that being loved by him surpasses even that. Jewish and Christian readers across the centuries have also read this book as an allegory for God's passionate love for his people, with the longing here mirroring the love God has for those who belong to him.

God, thank you for making us creatures who long and love. Thank you that you are not distant or unmoved. Help me receive your love not as a doctrine I agree with but as something warm and real — and to offer that same warmth, without holding back, to the people around me. Amen.

It might genuinely catch you off guard to find this in the Bible. A woman, openly and without apology, expressing longing for her beloved — not spiritualized, not hedged. The church has historically been awkward about this book, treating it like an embarrassing relative you don't introduce at gatherings. But here it is, sitting right inside the canon of Scripture: human desire in its most honest form. Love that can't be reasoned into being calm. The Bible does not frame desire as something to be managed out of existence or confessed as weakness — it frames it, in its right place, as something that reflects the very character of God. Whether you're married, single, grieving a love that ended, or quietly hoping for one that hasn't started yet — this verse touches something that most of us carry but rarely name. The longing she expresses — for presence, for closeness, for *this specific person* — mirrors something deep in human experience. And for those who read it as allegory: this is the kind of love God is described as having for you. Not a detached, administrative affection that processes your prayers like a help desk ticket. Something that looks more like longing. That God would use the most intimate human metaphor available to describe his love for his people is worth sitting with longer than a moment.