Wedding Day

BY Kaitlin Wernet

Text: Song of Songs 3:6-11, Psalm 144:1-15, Luke 12:22-31

These are the unforgettable words my best friend chose to exchange with me, her maid of honor, before walking down the aisle:

“Don’t faint up there…or else.”

While most would have taken these words as a warning regarding the air conditioning-less chapel we’d soon be standing in for the ceremony, I knew we were both bracing each other for something else. The incoming emotional swell that would accompany this banner day was headed straight for us, and we weren’t quite sure where it would land. Maybe on tear-stained cheeks or sweaty palms, or in the excitement of our hurried steps?

Before we could manage to prepare for its arrival, it was my turn to walk down the aisle, followed closely by hers. The swell arrived as a flurry of tissues and gasps overcame the guests, each as bewildered as I was by our luck at witnessing such a glorious event.

Her face was ablaze with joy, but the feeling didn’t culminate until I glanced over at the flame’s source—her groom. His stance remained as steady as the stream of tears that fell from his face. It was the day of his heart’s rejoicing, and his joy caused a swell in our own hearts too.

I brace myself with this same kind of anticipation when we get to Song of Songs 3. Scripture tells us the wedding guests participated in Solomon’s own rejoicing as his attendants rose from the wilderness like clouds of smoke and his mother placed a crown on his head. Beauty and nature linked arms for this lavish celebration of love and promise, every detail covered and each onlooker provided for.

I hope the wedding guests didn’t miss it. I hope they turned their heads to behold the groom’s face, the evidence of his heart’s rejoicing. I hope we don’t miss our Groom’s joy, either. As we observe the details of this elaborate wedding day, we may feel like we’re only onlookers of Solomon and Shulamith’s vows. But we forget, the same vows have been made to us by God.

“Consider how the wildflowers grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! If that’s how God clothes the grass, which is in the field today and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more will He do for you—you of little faith?”
-Luke 12:27-28

Not even the day of Solomon’s heart’s rejoicing compares to the way our own hearts rejoice— partly now, in knowing Christ, and fully then, in seeing Christ (1 Corinthians 13:12). This passageway called Earth is the aisle we walk to our perfect love, perfect peace, perfect Prince. May we never take our eyes off Him, acknowledging the way His heart rejoices over His bride. Amen.

Happy are the people with such blessings.
Happy are the people whose God is Yahweh.
-Psalm 144:15