I’ve said it before, gonna say it again: when it comes to the Scriptures, repetition is roaring, the same thing in succession is shouting, an echo is an exclamation point. Get the idea?

And even more so, I think, when the repetition is picked up over multiple days of the reading plan. It’s one thing to see something repeated three times in a single passage, but to pick up on the same reiteration over multiple days? Well, I’m thinking that’s some serious Spirit-fueled illumination happening through some heart-targeted reverberation — the Spirit’s whisper a shout as I read again, “I am my beloved’s.”

My beloved is mine, and I am his;
       he grazes among the lilies.

(Song of Solomon 2:16 ESV, Last Tuesday’s Reading)

I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;
       he grazes among the lilies.

(Song of Solomon 6:3 ESV, Yesterday’s Reading)

I am my beloved’s,
       and his desire is for me.

(Song of Solomon 7:10 ESV, Today’s Reading)

In this song of love desired, love lost, love pursued, and love found, the “beloved” has to be a foreshadowing of Christ and His bride a picture, to some degree, of the church. And so, hear the church’s echo of assurance, “I am my Beloved’s.”

Want to re-calibrate on identity? I am His.

Need to know you’re not alone. He grazes among the lilies, the places where His flock is found. The Lord is my Shepherd . . . He makes me lie down in green pastures . . . He leads me beside still waters (Ps. 23:1-2).

Want to know what the Beloved thinks of me on my best day? On my worst day? On every day in between? His desire is for me.

Literally, He stretches out after me. While I might know in measure a longing for Him, it pales in comparison to His longing for me. He wants me! He likes me! My Beloved loves me!

Just getting “mushy” over an ancient love song? Don’t think so. In fresh awe of the reality of a divine union and the jaw-dropping truth that I am His and He is mine and His desire is for me.

Jesus says so . . .

“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am . . . that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

(John 17:24a, 26b ESV)

I desire that they . . . may be with Me . . .

I am my Beloved’s . . . His desire is for me.

What grace! To God be the glory.