Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death. (Song 8:6)
When I was in fifth grade, our school upgraded its classroom projectors. We now had special markers that we could use to write our answers with on the screen, and later our teacher would use a special solution to clean them off. It was the highlight of our week as we engaged with our math problems more than ever before—just so we could take a turn writing on the new board. One day, a classmate got the correct marker mixed up with another one. Before our teacher knew what was happening, he had drawn a nice big “4” on the new screen in permanent marker!
I am not sure whether our teacher was ever able to get that “4” off the screen. Maybe it is still there all these years later. Permanent markers have a way of never really disappearing, no matter how hard you try.
The maiden is committed to her beloved in a very permanent way. She compared their marriage—and our marriages—to a “seal on your heart,” something that should not and cannot be broken. She is so serious about it that she compares it to the finality of death. When we enter into this marriage covenant, we should treat it as such: something that is permanent, lasting, and cannot easily wipe away.
Enter into marriage knowing that it should not be easily wiped away.
Lindsey Gorveatte is an ordained Wesleyan pastor who currently serves with her husband at The Center Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
© 2021 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
