I Am Dark But Lovely

The Shulamite rejoices with the daughters of Jerusalem over the Beloved (I Song of Solomon 1:4). She gives her stamp of approval by saying at the end of verse 4, "Rightly do they love you."

Then she looks at herself and in response says, "I am dark but beautiful, O women of Jerusalem--dark as the tents of Kedar, dark as the curtains of Solomon's tents."

Some speculate her race and origin but I want to suggest that her words were not so much about the color of skin, but her larger place with the daughters of Jerusalem. And most importantly, the smaller and more intimate place with the Beloved. This same Beloved was also a king who held a wider and powerful influence all over the known world. True, she may have felt like an outside because of her race or the color of her skin, but the longing of her heart was to belong.

We read that "sun has tanned" her so she was without shelter and shade from the heat of troubles and difficulties. The heat could come from her own refusal to take shade in those placed over her. She says her mother's sons (interestingly not her father's) were angry and regulated her to a menial and hard labor of taking care of a vineyard, but not her own.

She longed to know that all her wildness (as seen in the tents of Kedar - supposedly a nomadic tribe of Ishmael) that is her dreams and desires, including her history and experience all mattered to the Beloved.

Friends, in the eyes of God we are lovely but we often see ourselves as dark - darkened by shame, regrets, the stain of rejection and painful sorrows life brings.

But we have this promise in Ephesians 1:6, "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (KJV).

We are loved by God. He cares about our desires and dreams for He has His own to share with us. And we are beautiful in His eyes though life may be hard and we at times fall short. Yes, we are lovely.