3rd March 2026

3rd March 2026


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Song of Solomon 1v1) 


Message (Scott Woodburn)
 
How does an omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God interact with limited creatures such as humans? Paul would say in Romans "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor?” “Or who has given a gift to him    that he might be repaid?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." (Romans 11v33-36. Similarly Elihu would state in Job 36v26 "Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable." So how can anyone have any meaningful relationship with such an awesome God? The answer is covenant.


The Westminster Confession says "The distance between God and the creature is so great that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of him as their blessedness and reward but by some voluntary condescension on God’s part, which he hath been pleased to express by way of covenant." (WCF 7.1).


The Lord deals with us by way of covenant and by means of His own gracious "voluntary condescension" or in other words, He willingly lowers Himself in order to have a relationship with us. We spent last weeks three devotions considering the Bible's two main covenants - the Covenant of Works & the Covenant of Grace (part of which is the Covenant of Redemption). I'll not go deeply into the covenants again today aside from saying that the Covenant of Works was ripped up by human rebellion - the Lord kept His Word and we did not. The Covenant of Grace remains in place to this day and by it everyone who has ever or will ever be saved will come to know Christ as Lord - again the Lord will keep His Word.


It might seem odd to you that we are starting our look at the Song of Solomon with a look at the Biblical concept of covenant but it is at the heart of Solomon's love song. The Song is a story about a woman who passionately loved a man. She wanted to marry him and enjoy passionate physical intimacy with him but she was beautiful and had been brought into Solomon's hareem. What was a hareem? In the ancient world a King's wives and concubines would be kept behind lock and key and it was the King's right to sleep with any of his women whenever he liked. Life in the hareem offered a higher standard of living for the King's women but they were not free and had no right to deny the King his "rights."


Solomon famously had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines (1 Kings 11v3). His heart was turned away from God by his wives and the wisest of all Kings became a fool driven by his insatiable sexual desire. The woman we meet in the Song of Solomon was presented with a life inside Solomon's hareem or a life of covenant faithfulness with the man she called her "beloved."


We'll discover what way she decided to go but I'll finish today by simply reminding you that the Lord is faithful to all that He promises. Indeed Christ's relationship with His church is described in terms of a marriage - the church is the bride and Christ a faithful bridegroom. This is good news. God does what He says, always. This world might be faithless but He is always faithful and how we need such a God!


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q5 Are there more Gods than one? There is but one only, the living and true God.
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