Lost While Seeking the Right Answer

Walking in the Forest of the Song of Songs

When I read the Word, what am I looking for?

Doctrine, theology, sermons.

I have already been taught so much about the Bible.

And yet, when I actually stand before the text itself, I can find myself at a loss.

Who is speaking?

To whom is it spoken?

What is written here?

I should know, and yet I do not.

I myself had become lost in the forest of the Song of Songs.

I examined the original text, followed the persons, and checked the subjects.

Even so, I could not understand.

Now I look back and wonder.

Was I seeking the right answer even from the original text?

I wanted to understand correctly.

I wanted to read without mistakes.

That desire was so strong that perhaps I failed to hear the very words being spoken.

With right answers alone, I could not hear love.

Only now have I finally noticed.

Examining the original text will not change.

But what I seek from the original text —

that is what has begun to change.

Now, Song of Songs 1:12.

Today again, I will stand quietly before the Word.