Song

I have to say, of all the books of the bible, I have the most trouble with the Song of Solomon. I get that it is supposed to be a picture of God's love for us, but at times it is a bit odd. I found it very hard work to read this book! This part I liked:

2:11 See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.

12 Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.

This part I had a bit of trouble with:

5: 2 I slept but my heart was awake.
Listen! My lover is knocking:
"Open to me, my sister, my darling,
my dove, my flawless one.
My head is drenched with dew,
my hair with the dampness of the night."

3 I have taken off my robe—
must I put it on again?
I have washed my feet—
must I soil them again?

4 My lover thrust his hand through the latch-opening;
my heart began to pound for him.

5 I arose to open for my lover,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with flowing myrrh,
on the handles of the lock.

6 I opened for my lover,
but my lover had left; he was gone.
My heart sank at his departure. [a]
I looked for him but did not find him.
I called him but he did not answer.

7 The watchmen found me
as they made their rounds in the city.
They beat me, they bruised me;
they took away my cloak,
those watchmen of the walls!

It puzzled me that the Jesus/God character would knock and then leave, as there is a scripture in the NT about knocking and it being opened, etc.
In http://www.ldolphin.org/ssong.shtml they suggest that the passage talks about Jesus at Gethsemane- how he wants the disciples there, but they waver and then He is gone. Then they have to defend their faith.
When God is hard to find, I generally find that the problem is me, not Him. That He wants to be found. But that watchmen beat you up all the time, yeah, I understand that!

Ecclesiastes

I finished reading Ecclesiastes last night. It's a very different sort of book in the old testament because through it all it seems to be asking- 'what is the point?' and then only at the very end does it conclude by saying that the point is to "fear God and keep His commandments" (Ecc. 12:13) It's ok to ask questions. It's ok to think about things. In fact, by including this book, maybe it is encouraging questions and thinking about eternal things.

where you are going

Proverbs 20:24 A man's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?

In thinking we can know and understand it all, even with God's help, we are wrong. We are so small compared to a God so big. We can't even understand how we get to where we are in our own life. Sometimes we think we are directing our own paths, and sometimes we do. Looking back we just need to be thankful that God knows what He is doing, even if we can't always understand it at the time.

I found reading this verse amusingly painful, considering the swollen state of my ears:

12 Ears that hear and eyes that see—
the LORD has made them both.