Day 220 · Saturday, August 8
"Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised."SONG OF SOLOMON 8:6-7
Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 220, Sealed on the Heart.
"Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised." Song of Solomon 8:6-7.
This is, perhaps, the poetic peak of the entire book — and maybe of the whole Bible when it comes to human love. Let me walk through this text with you slowly, because every image here carries enormous weight.
"Set me as a seal upon your heart." A seal, in the ancient world, marked something as final, authenticated, unmistakable property. This isn't a request for occasional remembrance — "think of me now and then." It's a request for a permanent mark. Engrave me. Don't let me be forgotten, erased, replaced.
And then comes the most striking comparison: "love is strong as death." Think about that. There is no force on earth more irresistible, more final, more inescapable than death. No one negotiates with it, no one talks it into waiting. And true love, the text says, carries that same relentless force. It doesn't politely ask permission — it claims, it takes hold, it refuses to be ignored.
And look at this line: "its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD." In the original Hebrew, there's a direct link between this flame and God's own name. That's no coincidence. The deepest, most genuine human love carries within it a spark of God's own nature — because God is the source of all love that exists. When you love truly, you are reflecting, even on a small scale, the fire of the Creator Himself.
And then the most beautiful promise of all: "many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it." Think of the floods in your own life. The losses, the disappointments, the hard years, the nights you doubted anyone could truly love you. None of those waters — however powerful — had the power to put out God's love for you. It kept burning, even under the strongest current you've ever faced.
And finally: "if a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised." True love cannot be bought. And here is the deepest beauty of all this: God's love for you was not bought — not by you, not by anyone. It was given. Freely. Which only makes it more precious — because there is no price in the world that could equal its worth.
So today, I want to invite you to pray something simple but powerful. Tell God: "Set yourself as a seal upon my heart." And then take a piece of paper and write down one specific situation in your life where you urgently need to remember that this love does not go out — not through the waters, not through time, not through your failures.
Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.