Every courtship, at least every healthy one, is moving toward a deeper heart intimacy that is the ground for the consummation of the relationship spiritually, emotionally, and physically. The first question in the orthodox confessions of faith tests our awareness of this wonderful truth when it asks, "What is the chief end and purpose of man?" And the answer: "To know God and enjoy knowing him forever."
If we hear that answer as creatures of the Enlightenment, that is to say, the Age of Reason, the answer does not take our breath away.
But listen with me to excerpts from a conversation between two lovers:
Lover: "How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes are doves."
Beloved: "How handsome you are, my lover! Oh, how charming! And our bed is verdant."
Lover: "Show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely . . . Your mouth is like the best wine."
Beloved: "May the wine go straight to my lover, flowing gently over lips and teeth. I belong to my lover, and [your] desire is for me. Come, my lover, let us go to the countryside, let us spend the night in the villages . . ."
Is this not a conversation that truly does begin to take our breath away? Do we not find ourselves wanting to follow these lovers to the country just to be close to such passion? This is not a conversation from the latest dime-store romance but from the Song of Solomon. God does not give us this look through the bedroom window at the love affair between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba just to be voyeuristic. As we turn from the window and look into his eyes, we realize that this is the kind of passion he feels for us and desires from us in return—an intimacy much more sensuous, much more exotic than sex itself.
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