“You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners. Turn away your eyes from me for they overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of ewes that have come up from the washing. All of them bear twins, not one among them has lost its young. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil. There are 60 queens and 80 concubines and virgins without number. My dove, my perfect one, is the only one of her mother, pure to her who bore her. The young women saw her and called her blessed, the queens and concubines also, and they praised her. Who is this who looks down like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awesome as an army with banners?”
– Song of Solomon 6:4–10
Before I read a text passage for today to lead us in prayer, I want to mention that over the course of this month, we’re going to pray each day for the spread of the gospel and the building up of the church, our brothers and sisters in Christ in Afghanistan. This was a major focus during Secret Church, just a couple of days ago. And we want to pray not just on that night, but on a daily basis over the next month, specifically for people groups and brothers and sisters in Christ, all across Afghanistan. So we will work that into our prayer based on these different passages, which is a bit of a challenge today, in Song of Solomon 6, but let’s go for it. In the last podcast episode, I read the wife’s words of praise for her husband.
Song of Solomon 6:4–10 Focuses on the Husband’s Adoration of His Wife
Now we’re going to turn it around and see the husband’s words of praise and adoration for his wife. Listen to this. Oh, there’s so much we could dive into there. And even the imagery is obviously unfamiliar to us. You might be thinking, wait a minute, did he say her hair is like a flock of goats? Is that an encouragement? And absolutely it is as it talks about these goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead. So just picture beauty.
And then even when he talks about her teeth, that not one of them is lost its young. So she has all her teeth. Yeah. So I would say that’s a very positive thing, but there’s beauty in that imagery too in all of these, get the picture, especially if you’re a husband or a future husband, like this is the way husbands talk to their wives. They talk to their wives like she’s the only one. And she’s the only one worthy of praise and adoration like this.
Song of Solomon 6:4–10 Reminds Husbands to Talk to Their Wives Like This
They talk to their wives like she’s the most beautiful woman in the world because he believes she is. That’s the picture God is designed for marriage and this is the way God is designed for husbands to speak to wives. I want to encourage every husband, talk to your wife like this. Every future husband, talk to your wife like this, about your wife like this like she is as awesome as an army with banners. Get the picture. There’s beauty and awe in his voice when he looks at his wife.
So, God, we pray for marriages like this. I pray for every husband who’s listening to this. Every future husband, God, we pray you’d help us to build up our wives for them to know that there’s no one more beautiful than them. For them to hear that from us and see that in us and believe that from us, especially in a world that constantly tempts and to compare themselves with others in unhealthy ways and in a world that drags them down in so many ways, God, we pray that you’d help husbands to build up wives in the same way, Lord Jesus, that you build up your bride, the same way you build up your church, and we praise you for the way you build us up.
This Verse Leads Us to Pray for Believers in Afghanistan
And along those lines, oh God, we pray for the building up of our brothers and sisters in Christ, in Afghanistan specifically. Today, we pray for the sustenance of their faith amidst suffering in opposition. God, may they know they are beautiful in your eyes. May they know they are loved by you. God, build them up. We do, we pray for that for our brothers and sisters in Christ amidst persecution in Afghanistan. Help them to know that they are built up by Jesus himself. We love your word, we love what it teaches us about things like marriage, the way marriage points us to the gospel, and ultimately to the way you love us and the way you love your bride around the world. We pray for your bride, your church in Afghanistan. In Jesus’ name, we pray for all of these things. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
