Related Posts: Loving Your Spouse
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
Genesis 2:24 {NIV]
- Which relationship is God’s priority for a couple – the parents or the spouse?
- Discuss this statement: Most marital problems arise out of inadequate leaving on one’s parents or incomplete being unite with one’s spouse?
- How is leaving different from abandoning?
- Becoming one flesh means . . .
May your fountain be blessed,
Proverbs 5:18-19
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
A loving doe, a graceful deer –
may her breast satisfy you always,
may you ever be captivated by her love.
- Solomon uses the word-picture of a well as a symbol of our sex life. Identify at least 3 lessons here to be lived out (there are nine!)
- How helpful is it to you that God not only speaks poetically about sex (a well, a doe) but also specifically (breasts, her love-making)
I belong to my lover, and his desire is for me.
Song of Solomon 7:10
- What two aspects of married love do you see here?
- Is it possible to belong to someone and not desire her? To not belong to someone in marriage and yet desire her?
- How can you keep both belongingness and desire within your marriage?
Come, my lover, let us go to the countryside,
Song of Solomon 7:11-12
let us spend the night in the villages.
Let us go early to the vineyards
to see if the vines have budded,
if their blossoms have opened,
and the pomegranates are in bloom
there I will give you my love.
- What activity is recommended in this text to keep the romance alive?
- Once babies enter the family picture the parents’ time and energy are directed towards the child’s survival needs. Practically, how can you two get away as partners and still care for your child?
Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm.
Song of Solomon 8:6a [NIV]
- Your wife/husband longs to be a priority of your heart and your arms (actions). How will your spouse know she/he your priority this week?
- How you express your heart (Valentine’s is all year long!)?
- What you do for your spouse?