We also see this longing for the spouse in the man who is away from home because of his work in the garden. After he has been working for a while, the longing for his wife gets too much. He has been away from her too long. His longing for her is expressed very clearly in Song of Solomon 6:12: Before I was aware, my desire set me among the chariots of my kinsman, a prince. That feeling involves the desire that he cannot control and it takes him home as if on a chariot.

We see how marriage presents the picture of the relationship between Christ and his church. Christ’s love continually goes out to his church. He always wants to be there for us as our God, King, and Saviour. He died for our sins, including the sins of not loving the other person in our marriage enough. We can always go to him with our marriage problems and seek forgiveness, new love, and a revival in our marriage.

In this sense our marriage should also be a picture of our relationship with Christ. Our desire, our love should be directed to him in all things. We should focus on him of whom we know and believe that his love is so faithful, so inconceivably great and deep. Then we can no longer live without Christ. If your relationship with the Lord has been broken up by sins, by an imperfect relationship in your marriage, you will feel truly sorry. You want to be in the right relationship with Christ again, because he means everything to you. Thus, you seek the Lord within your marriage and outside of it. Then you make the words of Psalm 63:1–11 your very own words: O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.