January 20, 2023 – Our Daily Bread Devotional Message|| ODB for Friday

Read January 20, 2023 – Our Daily Bread Devotional || ODB for Friday Message

READ FRIDAY ODB DEVOTIONAL, OUR DAILY BREAD 20TH JANUARY 2023 WRITTEN BY WINN COLLIER (OUR DAILY BREAD MINISTRIES)

TOPIC: Love like Blazing Fire

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Genesis 49-50; Matthew 13:31–58

KEY VERSE: Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Song of Songs 8:6

SCRIPTURE: Song of Songs 8:5–7

5 Who is this coming up from the wilderness
leaning on her beloved?

She
Under the apple tree I roused you;
there your mother conceived you,
there she who was in labor gave you birth.

6 Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy[a] unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.[b]

7 Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of one’s house for love,
it[c] would be utterly scorned.

January 20, 2023 – Our Daily Bread Devotional INSIGHT

Scholars have long had difficulty interpreting Song of Songs (also called Song of Solomon). Perhaps uncomfortable with its theme of intimate love, many have attempted to turn the book’s storyline into allegory. Most scholars today, however, view the song as a description of physical love between a man and a woman. In today’s reading (8:5–7), the woman initiates the intimacy. Her reference to the “seal over your heart” (v. 6) represents her desire to claim mutual ownership of her beloved. She has exclusive rights to him and all that he has, as he also has those rights with her.

The book can also be viewed as symbolic in representing genuine marital love as a complete commitment to each other. This comprises an apt representation of the church as the bride of Christ (see 2 Corinthians 11:2).

Our Daily Bread Devotional 20th January 2023 MESSAGE

Poet, painter, and printmaker William Blake enjoyed a forty-five-year marriage with his wife, Catherine. From their wedding day until his death in 1827, they worked side by side. Catherine added color to William’s sketches, and their devotion endured years of poverty and other challenges. Even in his final weeks as his health failed, Blake kept at his art, and his final sketch was his wife’s face. Four years later, Catherine died clutching one of her husband’s pencils in her hand.

The Blakes’ vibrant love offers a reflection of the love discovered in the Song of Songs. And while the Song’s description of love certainly has implications for marriage, early believers in Jesus believed it also points to Jesus’ unquenchable love for all His followers. The Song describes a love “as strong as death,” which is a remarkable metaphor since death is as final and unescapable a reality as humans will ever know (8:6). This strong love “burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame” (v. 6). And unlike fires we’re familiar with, these flames can’t be doused, not even by a deluge. “Many waters cannot quench love,” the Song insists (v. 7).

Who among us doesn’t desire true love? The Song reminds us that whenever we encounter genuine love, God is the ultimate source. And in Jesus, each of us can know a profound and undying love—one that burns like a blazing fire.

REFLECT AND PRAY
Where have you encountered strong love? How does Jesus’ love encourage you?

Dear God, please help me to receive Your love and share it with others.

Our Daily Bread Devotional 20th January 2023 || ODB for Friday Message . Our Daily Bread Ministries (ODB) is a Christian organization founded by Dr. Martin De Haan in 1938. It is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with over 600 employees. It produces several devotional publications, including Our Daily Bread. our daily bread devotional for today audio our daily bread booklet.