Who needs wine?

 

READ Song of Solomon 5–8

My parents seldom touched alcoholic beverages. Before I became a Christian, I had been married to an alcoholic and was divorced. Before the split, someone had to drive home so I didn’t drink, except once after a terrible event. I learned something from that: drinking too much did not erase the pain of that event but it did make it seem farther away, less hurtful.

After Christ came into my life, drinking liquor was even less interesting to me. The gift of God’s Spirit was far better in giving me whenever I felt a need for: joy and peace, confidence, or anything else that a shot of alcohol could promise but really didn’t deliver.

When the Holy Spirit came upon those first Christians after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, they were filled with joy and the ability to speak in other languages, but some of those looking on mocked and said, “They are filled with new wine.” (Acts 2:13) Later, Paul wrote:

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:18–21)

It was more than fifty years ago, but I still remember sitting on my front step in the sunshine and thinking how wonderful to feel God’s joy. I was divorced, had two children to raise, no job and a large farm to care for, but the peace of God was overwhelming, much better than booze could do.

However, in the book of Ecclesiastes, the intimacy of being in love is described in comparison to drinking fine wine . . .

I came to my garden, my sister, my bride, I gathered my myrrh with my spice, I ate my honeycomb with my honey, I drank my wine with my milk. Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love! (Song of Solomon 5:1)

Your mouth like the best wine. It goes down smoothly for my beloved, gliding over lips and teeth. (Song of Solomon 7:9)

This feeling of euphoria that comes with booze, or even with love is the best a human writer can do to give any non-Christian reader a description of what it is like to be ‘wed’ to the Lord Jesus Christ. I think of the people I know that need a glass of wine to settle their nerves, or give them some sort of boost after a hard day, or to help them ‘fit it’ with everyone else at a party, or whatever it is that wine does for them — and the Holy Spirit does all that and more. Instead of thinking of my own need or issues, the Spirit sets my mind on the needs of others. He gives me a supernatural focus — and for me, a generally selfish, me-first kind of person, it is supernatural. Normally I don’t like small talk or crowds. I’d rather work alone than with friends. Some might call me an extreme introvert, but when the Holy Spirit takes over, I’m the opposite. Like being in love, it is simply joyful (unless I ruin it by turning that joy into a gift for me instead of for others, and glorying in it instead of in God who gives it).

Today’s reading ends with, “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised.” (Song of Solomon 8:7) There is nothing more valuable, more enduring, more delightful than the love of God poured out through a person filled with God’s Spirit. When I am around those who fit this description, it feels like the best of parties without the hangover and without a need for a designated driver. This is a party with unity, not loud arguments, and with a deep care for the joy of others rather than a desire for personal well-being. The only way to describe it is like Solomon did — by comparing it to two people who are madly in love with each other!