[Wisdom of Solomon] Keys to a Lasting Loveনমুনা

Lean On Me

The first key to a lasting love is leaning on one another. You might know the song “Lean on Me.” Maybe you can sing it in your head right now, or you will be humming it long after you finish this devotional.

In Song of Songs 8:5, you see Solomon’s wife coming out of the wilderness leaning on her husband. Marriage is not meant to be about independence, but rather dependence. Ultimately, you want to be dependent on the Lord, but when you grasp that marriage was intended for a husband and wife to lean on each other, everything fits.

If you were a Jewish person reading this passage about them coming from the wilderness, you would understand that “wilderness” was used to sometimes symbolize trials and suffering. You will be tested in life; you will for sure be tested in marriage. Every year will bring about different trials. One year it might be that your kids seem to always be sick; another, that the house seems to be breaking left and right. You will always go through tests. Martin Luther, the reformer from the 1500s, said “A man or a woman can become more like Christ in marriage than in a monastery.” This is because trials are meant to push you closer together, not to put a wedge between you and pull you apart. No person should be more for you than your spouse. This verse is amazing to think about, recognizing that the bride of Christ is the church and Jesus is the groom; we are to lean on Christ in the midst of trials.

No one can do it alone. We can’t make it by our own strength or our own bootstraps. We need one another and are supposed to be dependent on one another. Marriage isn’t supposed to be a ball and chain. Recognize the Lord is using this person whom you love to make you more like Christ. The stronger believers become, the more conscious they are of their personal weaknesses. This causes them to cast their whole self on the Lord, with joy and trust, and lean on Him completely, knowing that He is ever faithful and always good. Christ is our example. We can be the ones leaned upon. We can also be humble enough to do the leaning; Christ was dependent on the Father. Seeking to be like Christ will always be worth our while.