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Day 61: Celebrating Your Weakness (SoS 1:9)

“I have compared you, my love, To my filly among Pharaoh’s chariots. Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, Your neck with chains of gold.”

Song of Songs 1:9‭-‬10

God never holds back on expressing His affection for us. He does it at every opportune moment which is every time. If we don't think God loves us, it's not because He doesn't, hasn't proclaimed or shown us love, but because we doubt it.

So the Beloved starts by expressing his love. Then he says three things about his Bride. These three for us are not just components or affirmations, they are impartations of grace because grace is embedded in every truth God speaks.

These three for us signify three aspects of our love for Jesus that delights His heart. It can be related to a part of the most important prayer of the Jews called The Shema. It's recited often in morning and evening prayer gatherings. It's found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and Jesus quotes it again in the gospels as our first and greatest commandment. It states:

“...you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength...”
Mark 12:30

But first, what does the filly among Pharaoh's chariots mean?
  • A filly is a young female horse, a word usually used to refer to a young beautiful, attractive woman.
  • Egypt's horses were the best in those times. They were well-trained and skilled. 1 Kings 10:28-29 tells us Solomon traded them and each in today's currency would be at least about $48000 (about N22m). Pharaoh had many such horses but only the best of the best pulled his chariots, so they definitely would be more valuable than the ones traded.

This means to Jesus, we are beautiful and without blemish but it's not a common kind of beauty, it's rare beauty fit only for a king. It is also a statement of our worth to God. We were purchased with the priceless blood of Jesus that makes us spotless. So, like Psalm 29:2 says we can praise Him in the beauty of holiness. Jesus intentionally chose every single one of us to be His. We are the best of the best.

Second, a horse is a symbol of strength, power, and speed:

One of the dictates of The Shema we read earlier is we must love the Lord our God with all our strength. God requires we love Him not just in words but in deeds. It delights His heart when we surrender our strengths; time, skills, body, money, whatever it is that we can do for His purposes.

The Plain English Version says to love God with all our strength is to love Him in the way we do things.

In whatever we do for the Lord, we must make no boast in ourselves but in Him and His grace Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:10:

“But God’s amazing grace has made me who I am! And his grace to me was not fruitless. In fact, I worked harder than all the rest, yet not in my own strength but God’s, for his empowering grace is poured out upon me.”  TPT

He also said in Galatians 6:14:

“But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ...”

We must never take the praise for whatever we do for the Lord with our strength because whatever we use for the Lord, He gave.

The flip side of this is holding back on things we should do because we think we do not have the capacity. However, whatever task we're given, He gives because according to 2 Corinthians 12:9, His grace is always more than enough for us, and His power finds its full expression through our weakness.

In response to that, we must like Paul in verse 10 (The Passion Translation) celebrate our weaknesses. When we're weak His mighty power can be expressed through us. His strength can achieve in one moment far more than our human strength can achieve in a lifetime.

So, when the Lord asks us to do things beyond our strengths. It's not to embarrass us, it's because when we surrender those areas of weakness to Him and plunge forward, His strength covers our weakness.

PRAY WITH ME:
Dear Lord, I choose not to believe who or what I think I am but your opinions of me. I believe I'm beautiful and spotless to you. I make a decision never to be confident about my human strength and to let Your power be fully expressed in my weakness. Amen.

REFLECT AND ACT:
  • What is that thing you've held back on doing because you think you're not worthy or have the strength or skill for? Read and meditate on 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 and 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 preferably in different versions of the Bible.

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