Boy meets girl.
Boy falls in love with girl. (And girl falls in love with boy, of course!)
Boy asks girl to marry him.
Boy and girl live happily ever after.
That’s the scenario I wish could happen to me. It’s simple, typical, yet seemingly unattainable in my life right now. I can’t help but wonder, Will it ever happen for me?
Are you like me, wondering when the love of your life will appear?
Wondering if any guy will ever pick you?
Wondering if you’ll ever know what it’s like to be a bride?
Do you secretly wonder if you’re really worth pursuing in the first place?
I understand if those are the painful questions your heart is burdened with. They are mine as well. “Isn’t there anyone out there who would love me enough to want to marry me?” Slap! The answer hit me in the face one dismal afternoon as I was dreaming and wishing and wondering when and if a man could ever fall in love with me.
With a jolt, I was reminded that there is Someone who is madly in love with me! He kept pursuing me even when I wanted nothing to do with Him. When I was tempted to give up, He refused to accept my resignation. When I was unfaithful to Him, He patiently and lovingly followed and forgave me. He never gave up on me. He gave His life for me!
Wow!
The story I long for has already been written, and it’s bigger and better than I’ve imagined in my most elaborate daydream.
God creates girl.
God loves girl even when girl doesn’t always love God.
God sent His Son to die for girl.
God has already made a way for me to be a spotless, radiant bride (Rev. 19:7–9).
This isn’t wishful thinking. It isn’t something just to daydream about. It’s true! We are chosen by God to be Christ’s betrothed. Right now, He is preparing a place for us in heaven so we can be with Him forever and enjoy the eternal wedding feast. The Bible calls it the marriage supper of the Lamb.
An Invitation to Think Again
Knowing these deep truths doesn’t necessarily diminish our desire for marriage, and God isn’t asking us to crush our desires! Marriage was His idea, after all. But when we look to God’s Word we find that:
We are loved.
We are desired.
We have been pursued.
When our emotions and desires tell us otherwise, they are lying to us. In that moment, we have a choice to trust our feelings or to trust our God.
You Have Captivated My Heart
Have you ever read the Song of Solomon? It is saturated with romance and alludes to Christ’s love for us, His Bride.
Check out verse 4:9:
You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.
We have captivated Christ’s heart! Isn’t that a staggering thought?
Don’t think for a minute that I have mastered contentment with being single or that I never doubt how truly treasured I am by the Lord and that He is more than enough for me. I do! But God’s Word points my heart back toward the truth.
Can Jesus truly satisfy? Can He really be enough? The bride was asked this question in Song of Solomon 5:9:
What is your beloved more than another beloved, O most beautiful among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you thus adjure us?
In other words, what made him so much more special than any other man? The bride declared her groom to be “altogether desirable” (v. 16). So is Jesus! When we look to Him, we will discover that we can never get enough of Him. He is an ocean of love whose depths we can never reach. When our hearts get tied up in knots, if we would stop and consider the lengths that Christ went for us on the cross and the vast depths of His passionate love for us, any notion of not being valued enough would go out the window. We are so cherished! We are so wanted!
We may not have a diamond ring to put on our finger, but one day we will receive a crown in glory (1 Peter 5:4). We have a choice. We can continue to put our hope and sense of worth in a possible human marriage, or we can look at Christ’s love for us and see how deeply loved we are. May the knowledge of that vast love help us trust He is working for our good, even while He is (at least temporarily) withholding from us that which we so long for.
For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you (Isa. 62:5).
By Kaitlin Dendekker
